Whether you are restructuring a failing business,
restructuring to support expansion into a new revenue stream or restructuring
to create an opportunity to pass the business on to a family member or sell it,
you should have started months ago. Change takes time, and the restructuring
process includes many levels of endeavor. Unprepared, a restructuring process
can take as long as five years. If it must be completed within a 12-month
period, the best approach is to set quarterly tasks that include research,
decision making, implementation and review.
Preliminary Research
The most important part of restructuring lies in defining
the problem and postulating the solution. Allocate the entire first quarter to
this task. It requires a careful study of all company processes and a
comparison with industry norms. Study relationships with customers, their
product acceptance and expectations of benefits from your restructuring.
Examine employee expectations and potential for damage to morale. Review all
supplier and customer contracts, revenue performance, expenses and liabilities,
including responsibilities to investors. This is a lengthy process and may take
as long as six months.
Decision Making
You can start forming decisions during your research phase
because it will reveal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
throughout your enterprise. It may also affect your understanding of the
problems you seek to solve as well as change your postulated solutions. By the
end of the second quarter, your major decisions should have been made and your
plan should be ready for implementation. Involving all levels of the company
and outside stakeholders in your research and planning process will speed
decisions and result in easier implementation.
Implementation
Implementation is the process of managing problems that
arise. It involves selling the idea to all stakeholders, which include
employees as well as investors, suppliers and customers.
