Leadership
4 Telltale Signs Of An Ailing Company
By Dr . Wale Akinyemi
In today ’ s fast-evolving business world , the success of a company is often determined by more than just profits and market share . Behind the figures lies an essential asset : the workforce . When the heart and soul of a company - its employees - start showing signs of disengagement or dissatisfaction , it ’ s often a precursor to deeper organizational issues . While these signs may start small , they are clear indicators that intervention is needed before they snowball into larger problems that could threaten the very survival of the business .
A crisis is often the result of changes that were not properly managed . Similarly , when it comes to human health , there are tell-tale signs that appear before a situation escalates into a full-blown crisis . Anyone who has survived a heart attack can , with the benefit of hindsight , recognize the signs that were present long before the day when everything fell apart .
In the same way , there are tell-tale signs of an ailing company . Unfortunately , many people fail to recognize these signs , and even when they do , they often ignore them . Many live in a bubble , thinking it ’ s no big deal and that they will fix it eventually . By the time they realize what is truly happening , they are facing a major crisis .
So , what are some of these signs ? These are insights I have gathered from working with and studying companies for three decades . I do not claim that these are scientific laws , but they are observations that seem to repeat themselves across different companies , regardless of nation , continent , or industry type .
The Case Of John Bull Inc .
Let us call this company John Bull Inc . They were one of the most benchmarked companies in the region . People came from all over the world to understudy them , and their CEO was on every business magazine you could think of . He won so many awards and was the CEOs ' CEO . The success of the company was the stuff that legends are made of .
One of the downsides of success is that it creates blind spots . When discussing SWOT analysis , unfortunately , people never discuss the fact that the greatest threat to the continuous existence of a successful company is its own success . Before companies attain a critical level of success , they take feedback constructively , but when they reach the point where John Bull Inc . reached , they consider feedback as the voices of the jealous .
Before success , they are open to all sorts of new ideas and are flexible , but once they hit that point , they close themselves up because , after all , they have the winning formula , and everyone is coming to understudy them . So , in their success , these companies just keep repeating what worked and are oblivious to the fact that the world in which they started has gone through significant changes .
In today ’ s fast-evolving business world , the success of a company is often determined by more than just profits and market share . Behind the figures lies an essential asset : the workforce . When the heart and soul of a company - its employees - start showing signs of disengagement or dissatisfaction , it ’ s often a precursor to deeper organizational issues .
They do not realize that some of the systems and structures they put in place were good for an era but have outlived their usefulness . Another very successful company , which was established during the colonial era , had structures built out of the colonial leaders ' mistrust of the Africans . Fifty years after colonial rule ended and when the company is no longer led by colonialists , they have maintained the same structures . These are working against the company , but they are deceived into thinking that their success is because of their structures . When a crisis hits , they will realize that the success was in spite of their structures .
Back to John Bull Inc . A number of things started happening in the company , and
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