Banks Choose Turnaround - and should be praised

A key message rang out loud and clear from the recent IFT Awards : Banks Choose Turnaround.

Banks should get more credit for the choice than they do. A shining example is the turnaround and transformation of Samsonite. RBS showed determination and commitment. RBS's support was fundamental to Samsonite’s rehabilitation and subsequent stellar performance. Deservedly, the team led by Tim Parker won the 2011 International Turnaround award. RBS was also nominated for two further awards.

And in an exciting development, so many of the cases submitted to the IFT Awards judging panel definitively demonstrated that banks are opting for true turnaround and transformation professionals and techniques to help organisations return to viability and fulfil their potential.

Lloyds Bank Business Support announced that it has aided approximately 2,000 businesses to turn around and protected over 50,000 jobs since 2009 - on average, 25 jobs per company. Barclays, nominated for five awards, was part of the team that won for the turnaround of Wyke Farms, a family-owned business that is the UK's largest cheddar producer. Lloyds played a crucial role in Norwich City FC winning the SME turnaround award. HSBC, featured in a number of cases, was award-winning together with the team, for International Greetings plc.

The key features of these cases, are that the restructuring is consensual, injects capital and shows commitment – from these three C’s, transformation is
forged.

The reason that banks have adopted turnaround and transformation as the approach of choice is not purely for corporate social responsibility purposes – though the social and political importance of securing jobs that are sustainable in the longer term and creatingnew jobs, is self-evident. The skills that accredited turnaround professionals bring to organisations of all types, public or private sector, are in needed because they create value. And the value created is for the benefit of all stakeholders – employees, unions,management, investors and the community’s wider economic interest.

Practitioners at the IFT Awards epitomise the message the Institute for Turnaround continues to promote – that with the right leadership vision, aclear plan and fast action, a business can journey from crisis to turnaround to transformation. For IFT members, who can only achieve theirmembership status through a rigorous accreditation process, turnaround and transformation is the day job - and a vocation that can help give UK plc the economic development boost it so badly needs now.