When a business is in distress, the clock starts ticking with terrifying speed. The first 90 days of a turnaround are not a marathon; they are a series of decisive, high-stakes sprints that will determine whether the organisation stabilises or spirals.
In this environment, frantic activity is often mistaken for progress, but without a disciplined framework, it only deepens the crisis.
A successful turnaround is one of the most demanding tests of leadership. It requires moving beyond reactive firefighting to implement a structured, objective, and relentless plan of action. At Advisors Collective, our seasoned leaders have navigated these situations firsthand. This is our strategic framework for crisis leadership in the critical first 90 days.
Phase 1: The First 30 Days – Diagnose with Brutal Honesty
The immediate temptation in a crisis is to start “fixing” things. This is a mistake. You cannot solve a problem you do not fundamentally understand. The first month must be dedicated to a rapid, unflinching, and data-driven diagnosis of the core issues.
- Cash is King: Your first priority is a forensic examination of cash flow. How much runway do you have? Where is cash being burned? What immediate levers can be pulled to preserve liquidity?
- Listen to the Front Lines: While the numbers tell one story, your people and customers tell another. Conduct rapid, candid interviews with key employees, disillusioned customers, and trusted suppliers. What are the operational bottlenecks? Where has trust been broken?
- Assess Leadership Capacity: Does the current leadership team have the resilience, skills, and mindset for a turnaround? A crisis often reveals who can lead under pressure and who cannot.
This is where an objective, external perspective is invaluable. Internal teams are often too close to the problems or too politically constrained to be brutally honest.
Phase 2: Days 31-60 – Decide & Align the Leadership Team
With a clear diagnosis, the next 30 days are about making hard choices and forging absolute alignment within the leadership team. A fragmented leadership group cannot lead a successful turnaround.
- Focus on the Vital Few: You cannot fix everything at once. Identify the two or three critical initiatives that will have the most significant impact on stabilisation and build the plan around them. This could be divesting a non-core asset, fixing a broken supply chain, or rebuilding a key customer relationship.
- Build the Turnaround Narrative: Create a clear, honest, and compelling story about the reality of the situation, the tough decisions being made, and the credible path to recovery. This narrative is for everyone—the board, the banks, the employees, and the market.
- Define Clear Accountability: Every action in the turnaround plan must have a single, accountable owner with clear metrics and deadlines. Ambiguity is the enemy of execution in a crisis.
Phase 3: Days 61-90 – Execute with Precision & Communicate Relentlessly
The final 30 days of this initial phase are about demonstrating momentum and building credibility through disciplined execution.
- Secure Quick Wins: Identify and execute on a few visible, meaningful wins to show the organisation that the plan is real and that change is happening. This could be as simple as eliminating a bureaucratic process that everyone hates or as significant as renegotiating a key contract.
- Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: The turnaround narrative must be shared relentlessly. Leadership must be visible, accessible, and consistent in their messaging. In a crisis, you cannot over-communicate.
- Establish a Turnaround Cadence: Implement a rigorous rhythm of daily stand-ups and weekly progress reviews to track execution, solve problems quickly, and maintain momentum.
Beyond the 90 Days: The Governance of Recovery
The first 90 days are about stabilising the ship. The work that follows is about setting a new, sustainable course. This requires ongoing, disciplined governance from the board and leadership team.
Navigating a turnaround is not a theoretical exercise. It requires the steady hand of leaders who have been in the storm before and know how to make tough decisions under extreme pressure.
At Advisors Collective, we provide that sea-tested experience, offering the objective counsel and disciplined framework needed to lead through a crisis and build a stronger, more resilient organisation.
Sources:
- ‘Turnaround Leadership: A Framework for Getting Your Company Back on Track’ – Harvard Business Review
- ‘The first 100 days of a turnaround’ – McKinsey & Company
- ‘Leading in a Crisis: From Survival to Strategic Acumen’ – Forbes
