Curing Corporate Diseases

By

Emotivator

Kenneth Esrig, MHHA

Some people are the dreamers of dreams and other are the ones who make the dreams reality.  Since 1977 I have been taking other dreams and making them a reality by “curing corporate diseases”.  Organizations can start out with a clean bill of health but without proper planning and controls a series of infections and viruses can cripple a thriving enterprise.

              While a mission statement can be a great way to infuse life into an organization, it cannot assure that the mission will be obtained.  Whether the enterprise was created by an entrepreneur or a board of directors there are no guarantees of success based on the type of ownership, or organizational structure that formed the venture.  We all know of businesses that have failed in every field. 

              Who doesn’t know of a restaurant that has been forced to close its doors? What service industry has succeeded over time without adapting to changes in technology or the environment?  Healthy organizations with strong leadership can catch a business cold or develop a malignancy and succumb to its final demise, bankruptcy and closure. It happens every day.  Large public corporations and small family businesses alike have shut their doors in the face of a plague they could not control. Many of these have been saved by an infusion of common sense or dose of leadership and vision.

              Eastern Airlines, Enron, the corner candy store which became Woolworths which became history all suffered from corporate disease.  Mounting loses based on a business that once dominated its domain finally brought these models of management to the ICU of business and finally the morgue.

              What could save any company is always the same.  The formulas have been written for decades and the management schools turn out MBA’s with all of the answers each year.  The problems are convention and a failure to return to the prescription that is the foundation of all business management: Planning, Organizing, Control and let’s not forget Feedback.  If it is so easy than why are sick companies not diagnosed sooner and a proper cure prescribed.  Business professors perform post mortems on every type of failed business and the answers are always easily identified. 

              So how can you prevent your company from finding itself dissected post humorously under the MBA program of your choice?  My formula for success has worked for me and clients time and time again.  The first step is to take a fresh look at every aspect of the organization and develop a strategy for survival.  Remember “winners are those who can and do despite adversity”. 

              The first questions in diagnosing corporate illness is what are the short and long term goals of the organization.  Regardless of size, age, revenue or type of business, these are the fundental elements in finding a cure.  After all, how can one cure an illness if you have no idea what the illness is?  Again, return to the basics and qualify your corporate mission and objectives.  When the infamous buggy whip industry died why did the buggy whip companies which had sales organizations and manufacturing capabilities and facilities at its disposal end up in the corporate graveyard?

              This is a textbook case of the death of an industry which took with it the stagnant owners and operators who could not adapt to the future and establish goals to help the create an effective transition into the twentieth century.   Resources should be assessed and reassed regularly and adjustments made which may include changes in personnel that goes all the way to the top.  Who ever said that the dreamer would be an effective leader.  A dreamer usually has to step aside to allow qualified management to keep the dream alive.

              Manpower, facilities and funding are the key ingredients in the prescription for success.  After the short and long term goals have been set and the whole organization knows and understands the goals then it is time to take the pulse and temperature of the organization.  Are the proper people in place?  Is there enough money to keep the patient alive?  Are the facilities adequate to allow growth, the ultimate sign of good health in any business?

              If the planning is properly done, and the goals realistically but aggressively set, then the organization has a chance for a recovery.  Adequate controls are necessary to assure that the team is doing its job and that the resources are adequate to cure the corporate cold without vision and a feel for the future.  The future is unforgiving for those who fail to read the vital signs of their organization.

              Build a team of supporters who will be honest with you to guide you through the recovery process.  Anyone can be replaced and those who are not interest in adapting need to be surgically removed without damaging the rest of the company.  The products and services must be able to be adapted to keep ahead of the completion and to lead the way.  Each and every industry has similar problems of corporate dominance and consolidation of cottage industries. 

              Since the beginning of time there has always been someone who has succeeded in finding the solution of curing the ailments that afflict there organization.  Those who have not adapted have failed. Those who have not lead in their field have been taken over or closed their doors leaving behind a postmortem of broken dream, unemployment and case studies.

              Diagnose your organization today.  If it is sick, find a cure.  If you cannot find a cure, find someone who can.  Don’t let the grim reaper, knock on your door.  Be a leader and expand when others warn you against it.  Believe in your plan but be wise enough to adapt.  Make sure that every member of your organization knows the goals and helps you achieve them.  And finally, reward them when you have achieved your short term goals.  That is a prescription to follow for achieving your long range goal of corporate fitness.