Don’t Waste Your Turning Point Opportunities
What To Do When Your World Shifts

By Rosemary DiDio Brehm

SHIFT ALERT: While you are reading this article, a part of your company, a top employee, and your best client are all experiencing a turning point moment. Right now, some email sitting in your inbox could shift your world; some voice mail could require total company reinvention; some meeting may take your breath away and change your business forever.

Nothing is the same as before. Even if you have managed well to avoid these crossroads in your own business, you are being “shifted” by turning point issues driving your employees, your clients, your suppliers, your lenders.

Having difficulty getting credit?  Having to lay off top employees? Having to shut down your production line since a supplier went out of business? Having to re-quote over and over?  

Like it or not, these shifts are here to stay. So I ask you…

• How are you managing around these shifts?

• How do you bring your people along for this crazy ride?

• And most importantly, do you see these shifts as “turning point opportunities” or “crossroads of dread”?

My expertise is in the area of turning points. I work directly with business leaders, organizational executives, and teams to help them identify, manage, and leverage these opportunities. I have seen how ‘turning point momentum” has saved those on the brink. I have seen where companies have avoided their defining moments and lost out.

Effective leaders know that turning point opportunities are too precious to waste. Here’s what you can do.

1. Recognize a turning point

I once heard someone say a turning point is a time “when standing still is not an option.”  It is an important moment of change that impacts everything one way or another.  Recent turning points run the gamut from devastating (Lehman Brothers folding) to euphoric (the Miami banker who gave $60 million to his employees).  Not everyone faces turning points of such magnitude, but no matter the size of the opportunity, one must face them prepared to come out on top.

2. Use  the turning point energy within your organization

You know how it feels when you realize you must deal with big issues and make big decisions. You can look at the responsibility as a new adventure or as a devastating problem. Leaders who energize their organization to face the issues head on by digging deep into their potential to find solutions have the best results in engaging their turning points.

3. Five key turning points in today’s environment – look for the shifts

Turning points are most often a result of a shift in our business world. That shift can be a positive one like landing a huge contract, or a negative one like losing a key client. These shifts can be internally produced, and therefore easier to get back on track; or externally produced, and often outside of our control.  Here are some examples of specific shifts within five turning points facing organizations today. Which ones do you recognize?

Turning Point # 1 – Shift in Business Performance

• You are not meeting your goals.

• Your numbers are down.

• Your industry has changed and you haven’t caught up.

• You have become the industry leader and you want to stay on top.

Turning Point #2 – Shift in Leadership

• You have a change in leadership.

• You are merging leadership groups or have transitional leaders.

• You need to develop new managers and supervisors.

Turning Point #3 – Shift in Team Dynamics

• You are moving to a team culture and want to have competent teams.

• Your team is not performing well; there are unresolved conflicts.

• Team leadership needs direction.

• You need to be better collaborators.

Turning Point #4 – Shift in Customer Intimacy

• Customer aren’t happy and are letting you know about it.

• Customers are leaving.  You don’t know why.

• Customers require more attention than your staff can manage.

• You want to find out what your customers really want from you.

Turning Point #5 – Shift in Competitive Positioning

• You want to increase market share.

• A key competitor went out of business.

• You have an “over-achieving” product.

Do you see your company here in these examples? Are you prepared to seize the opportunity and engage your organization’s talent to make the necessary changes required to move forward? What do you need to learn to analyze, strategize, and execute these opportunities better?

Act Now!

Don’t waste any turning point opportunities to accelerate your organization’s potential into exceptional results.

About the Author
Rosemary DiDio Brehm, President of turningpoints2results™ & Facilitator of Tampa Bay Women Presidents’ Organization, is an organizational strategist helping individuals and  businesses leverage their turning points.  Contact Rosemary at 727-443-0319 or rosemary@turningpoints2results.com