Recently I was channel surfing and came across a show on Bravo called "Tabatha's Salon Takeover". I mention this because, in many ways, it reminds me of an older TV show I used to love called "The Turnaround" which was on CNN and hosted by Ali Velshi. For someone like me, who loves business and especially turnaround projects these two shows are spot on.
In watching a couple episodes of "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" I noticed a few common threads between that show, what I often speak on and "The Turnaround".
- Kick the leadership's ass: Almost always, without exception, the first thing that happens is the host or mentors have to have a heart to heart with the owners / leadership. This is the tough love part. In order for anything to happen, the leadership has to stomach someone from the outside, coming in and just shocking them into reality about what is really going on. It gets ugly sometimes. It hurts. It is gut wrenching. Nobody wants to hear about their short-comings, their failures, or in some cases a total smack down and complete "WTF are you doing here / maybe you should quit" moment. With that being said, however, I have yet to see one of these shows where the leadership didn't come around and acknowledge that change was actually a good thing and that they were better off for it in the long run. This gives me hope, but its a tough and dangerous road to go down. It takes guts and I applaud leaders who can stand up for that and demonstrate their personal strength and openness with everything on the line. They do this because they trust these folks; either that or they are desperate. Sometimes desperate is a good place to be; you do things you normally wouldn't and its the repetition to do the normal / safe thing that often gets leaders in trouble.
- Remodel the store: Environment is so important. I can't stress this enough. There are two types of environments. One that is mentally established by the leadership and the other is the actual physical environment. Both of these shows, always has a team of folks come in and completely remodel the entire facility. It's a bold thing to do, however, very few initiatives signal seriousness to your employees and customers like a major remodel. There is an extremely important connection between your facilities and your customers and your employees. It's where they interact. It's where the entire emotion of the very thing you do takes root. It's a secret weapon if you leverage it right.
- Market your product / service: Usually, all of the companies who participated in these "turn around" projects, weren't doing much for marketing. Their image was mediocre at best and because employee morale was so low there wasn't much energy in anything they did. Believe me, energy is contagious and customers will respond quickly. The mentors, with lots of energy and passion, took these companies through a process of making the marketing obvious inside the stores and then took the team, the employees and the product outside...going to the public...with excitement and passion. This helped them acquire and jazz up new business. I will say it again...ENERGY IS CONTAGIOUS. Build it inside and then let it explode to the outside world.
- Inspire the Employees (Hint...they love the change): With all change management issues, there were some who loved it at first and others who strongly resisted. In either case, the organization has to be committed to moving forward, and that means get on the vision or get on the bus. I will tell you this...you can see how people come to life when you BURN the RULE BOOK, when you lead them with servant leadership, and let them take control and leverage their strengths. Ruling with an iron fist just beats people down. I think this is my favorite part of both of these shows. Seeing how the transformation impacts the employees...I LOVE IT.
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