I was recently consulting for a company that is facing some very serious challenges. Because of a total lack of communication and execution at all levels, a once profitable company has fallen from a position of generating literally millions of dollars in profit every year to a position of losing so much money that the company is now millions of dollars in debt. In fact, what finally brought the situation into the open was when the bank called one of the owners and told him that the company?s credit line at the bank was completely used up and that the company could not borrow any more money.

There are many factors that caused this once thriving company to begin turning south. The biggest issues as I mentioned are poor communication and lack of execution. People started vying for power and building internal fiefdoms instead of focusing on key result areas. And rather than openly discussing the lack of results and numerous business challenges, people started covering their hind quarters. But, of course, when things get bad enough there is always a day of reckoning.

What?s interesting in situations such as these is to see how the leaders in the company handle this kind of challenge. I?ve often found that one of two approaches is typically used. Let?s call those approaches Revolution or Evolution.

Revolution can be defined as a process designed to overthrow, repudiate, and replace an established system.

Evolution can be defined as a process designed to continue the growth and development of an established system.

I typically see people choosing to implement a Revolution and here?s an easy way to do it:

1. Communicate different messages of change to everyone.
2. Tell some people that other people are not performing the job and give names of specific people that need to be reprimanded or fired.
3. Ignore the company?s current hierarchy or chain of command and start giving new and sometimes conflicting directives at all levels of the company.
4. Introduce outsiders or consultants into the current business model without defining their role or purpose and give them free reign to create upsets and confusion.

I?ve always found it much more beneficial to choose an Evolution which looks like this:

1. Communicate the same message of change to everyone.
2. Tell everyone that the company is being reorganized for improved productivity. Solicit feedback and ideas from everyone.
3. Work within the company?s current hierarchy or chain of command and start setting new objectives to improve performance.
4. Introduce outsiders or consultants into the organization only after clearly defining their roles and require that they work within the established company framework.

There can certainly be great power in either a Revolution or an Evolution but I?ve never liked all of the causalities that come with a Revolution. It?s always seemed to me as if all of the blood in the streets is completely unnecessary. At the end of the day, my goal is to gather up everything that has been learned in the past and invest it in a better future for everyone. Besides, so often the biggest problem at any company starts right at the very top. It takes ?clarity of intent? to run a company and it?s so easy to forget about that fact.