To some the topic of this article is referred to as a "turnaround".  I have been fortunate to have been involved in several of these situations both with clients as a Partner with B2B CFO^® and at other points in my career.

I prefer "corporate renewal" because it embodies much more than merely getting the financial results of the company to trend in the opposite direction.  True corporate renewal requires deep, fundamental, re-evaluation of organizational concepts that many times are overlooked or ignored.  Without painting with too broad of a brush, effective corporate renewal begins with a wholly new direction imparted by redeveloping the mission and vision and strategy of the organization.

Once these are determined, the organization and its leaders can set about acquiring the core competencies required to carry out the mission, vision and strategy of the newly oriented company.  Core competencies are best summarized with two (2) words: people and processes.

A company in the process of renewal has to take a hard view of the current staff and processes in place at all levels of the organization with the objective of determining an affirmative answer to the following questions:

People:    Do we have the right people in the right positions to live out the mission, embody the vision and carry out the strategy of the organization?

Processes:  Do we have the most efficient day to day processes, communication mediums, information flow, and accurate management reporting at the lowest competitive cost structure to live out the mission, embody the vision and carry out the strategy of the organization?

In the practice of corporate renewal, the ideas behind these questions are not new, uncharted territory; however, the alternatives available to an "outside the box" thinker are more diverse and robust than at any time in history.  At the risk of sounding self serving, take for example the utilization of an outsourced financial professional to re-tool your company from a fundamental foundation to operational effectiveness.  For example, by engaging a B2B CFO^® partner on a part-time, as needed basis to evaluate, hire, train and implement your people and processes, you would avail yourself and your organization of the collective wisdom and experience of 175 partners possessing over 5,000 years of the best financial and business acumen ever assembled in one firm in the history of mankind (this sounds like hyperbole, but is indeed fact)!

If the answers to the above questions about people and processes are not affirmative, then the company leadership not only has the right, but also the obligations to make the necessary changes until both answers are resoundingly "YES".  B2B CFO^® can help make this a reality for your company!