ulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blamin

The precise start is always difficult to pin down. Typically trouble is not recognized until slipping revenues and eroding profits span two or more calendar quarters. These are difficult problems and catch many managers unprepared to deal with the rapidly deteriorating situation. These problems are symptoms of many underlying problems. These underlying problems are often unrecognized or simply overlooked as the financial slide gets worse.

What causes a good company to go bad? It can be anything or any combination of things that began the all too quick slide into financial trouble.

Way posts on the journey include nervous bankers, demoralized employees, defection of competent players and strained resources. The temperature is rising faster than revenues and profits are falling. Denial and fear of fault finding become the driving forces.

A survival threatening crisis is significantly different from years of running a business in good times and bad. Sadly, in a crisis situation decisions tend not to be made. Unfortunately for the business, failure to act is a default decision to do nothing. This is often the most expensive decision of all. Suddenly marketing, sales, production and accounting all have different agendas, views and are going in different directions..

Given the nature of market forces and change, every enterprise is as vulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blaming

underlying problems are often unrecognized or simply overlooked as the financial slide gets worse.

What causes a good company to go bad? It can be anything or any combination of things that began the all too quick slide into financial trouble.

Way posts on the journey include nervous bankers, demoralized employees, defection of competent players and strained resources. The temperature is rising faster than revenues and profits are falling. Denial and fear of fault finding become the driving forces.

A survival threatening crisis is significantly different from years of running a business in good times and bad. Sadly, in a crisis situation decisions tend not to be made. Unfortunately for the business, failure to act is a default decision to do nothing. This is often the most expensive decision of all. Suddenly marketing, sales, production and accounting all have different agendas, views and are going in different directions..

Given the nature of market forces and change, every enterprise is as vulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blamin

mpetent players and strained resources. The temperature is rising faster than revenues and profits are falling. Denial and fear of fault finding become the driving forces.

A survival threatening crisis is significantly different from years of running a business in good times and bad. Sadly, in a crisis situation decisions tend not to be made. Unfortunately for the business, failure to act is a default decision to do nothing. This is often the most expensive decision of all. Suddenly marketing, sales, production and accounting all have different agendas, views and are going in different directions..

Given the nature of market forces and change, every enterprise is as vulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blamin

made. Unfortunately for the business, failure to act is a default decision to do nothing. This is often the most expensive decision of all. Suddenly marketing, sales, production and accounting all have different agendas, views and are going in different directions..

Given the nature of market forces and change, every enterprise is as vulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blamin

ulnerable to trouble as it is to the lure of success. Assigning blame at this point will do nothing to alleviate the problems: you won’t even feel better. The blame game can clearly wait. Post mortems reveal the causes of death after the victim has already died. Remember, it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.

Okay, so blaming someone does not cure the problem. What to do?

Ask yourself these four questions:

1. Is the business viable?

2. Is there a solid core business which can be salvaged and form the foundation for the new, restructured business?

3. Is there significant cash on hand, or available sources to fund the turnaround through recovery?

4. Is management capable of leading the new business? If you can answer yes to each of these questions, then a seasoned Crisis Manager can help. The CM offers a new set of eyes, skills and understanding of troubled situations to independently evaluate the enterprises’ circumstances and quickly must face a series of questions that existing management may never have asked:

• What is the purpose of this project (or business)?
• Should it be saved?
• If so, why?
• Are those answers valid?

Problems that occurred over time will not be solved overnight. A successful turnaround requires months, even years of hard work. The Crisis Manager is a change agent, a catalyst in this process. Ultimately the success or failure of the turnaround rests upon the various stakeholders: owners, management, employees, suppliers and lenders; all of whom must be dedicated to turning the business around.

The Crisis Manager focuses on stabilizing the situations threatening the immediate survival o