When and why as opposed to coaching?

Some or all of the following conditions precede a Consulting engagement. The main condition is that the individual owner, principal or executive is unable or unwilling to initiate major structural, operational and financial changes to the troubled or transitional business alone even with coaching.

The following are issues that confront a troubled or failing business that are typically addressed in consulting engagements and may preclude coaching options.

* Accounting deficient or flawed – the financial position of business cannot be ascertained
* Business management issues – the owner, principal or executive has lost ability to lead or spearhead a recovery strategy, even with coaching.
* Defaults in lending or credit terms exist and the owner, principal or executive has lost credibility
* Employee morale or performance issues require objective changes the individual cannot accomplish
* Insufficient capital ñ cash poor without a clear understanding of its cause or any cash flow planning in place
* Inventory control problems – too much or little – wrong mix – much obsolete and owner, principal or executive cannot ascertain what to do
* Lease or mortgage debt too high for current revenue levels – those lenders have lost confidence
* Mismanagement of company funds – wasteful use of cash – mixing personal with business funds or fraud
* Over-investment in fixed assets (too much term debt) – too many term notes or leases for unneeded or underutilized assets relative to business conditions.
* Poor location – leased or owned that cannot be re-negotiated at present
* Poor supplier relations and credit terms brought on my deficient or problematic communications
* Sales that are falling and competition exploiting the situation with owner, principal or executive unable to interfere with the process or effect changes required
* Substantial losses to point business is not generating cash flow.
* Unexpected crises that threaten viability of business on a short term basis

These and other indicators may require the specialized leadership, skills and temperament of turnaround consultants or managers as opposed to self help coaching.