Underperformance & Turnaround Advisory
Diagnose What Is Really Driving Underperformance and Clarify What Needs to Change to Restore Performance
What is really driving underperformance, and what needs to change to restore performance and get the company back on track?
When performance starts to deteriorate, the visible problem is not always the real problem.
Missed budgets, declining margins, slowing execution, cash pressure or repeated corrective plans can be symptoms of deeper leadership, strategic, organizational or management issues.
Acting on the wrong diagnosis can consume time, destabilize the organization and destroy additional value.
The first challenge is therefore to understand what is actually driving the deterioration. The second is to decide what needs to change and support the company in making it happen.
WINGMIND helps CEOs, Boards and investors diagnose underperformance, clarify root causes and priorities, support critical decisions and strengthen the conditions required for recovery.
When Underperformance & Turnaround Advisory Creates Value
The intervention is particularly relevant when performance is deteriorating and the causes are unclear, multidimensional or proving difficult to resolve.
Revenue, margins, cash generation or operational performance are consistently below expectations or deteriorating.
Management has launched improvement plans, but results are not recovering or the same problems continue to return.
The Board or shareholders are questioning whether the CEO or executive team can restore performance and lead the next phase.
Decision-making, execution, accountability, morale or organizational stability are deteriorating alongside business performance.
Understand the Cause Before Choosing the Remedy
Underperformance rarely comes from one isolated issue. The objective is to distinguish symptoms from root causes and identify the changes that will have the greatest impact.
Is the deterioration primarily driven by leadership, strategic choices, organization, execution, governance, talent or a combination of several factors?
Which decisions, leadership changes, organizational actions or execution priorities are most critical to stabilize the situation and rebuild performance?
What We Look At
We examine the leadership and organizational factors that can materially explain deterioration in execution and performance.
Does the CEO and executive team have the capability, alignment, energy and collective effectiveness required to address the situation?
Are priorities, choices and trade-offs sufficiently clear, or is strategic drift contributing to poor execution?
Are roles, decision-making, accountability, structures and coordination enabling performance or creating recurring friction and delay?
Are management practices, talent gaps, employee dynamics or cultural issues weakening the organization’s ability to recover?
How WINGMIND Helps
The objective is to move quickly from an independent diagnosis to the decisions and actions most likely to restore performance.
Build an independent view of what is actually driving deterioration rather than relying only on visible symptoms or internal explanations.
Separate leadership, strategic, organizational and execution issues and understand how they reinforce one another.
Identify the few decisions and interventions that are most likely to stabilize the situation and improve execution.
Where useful, support the CEO, Board or leadership team as critical changes are implemented and performance begins to recover.
Do Not Treat the Symptom Before Understanding the System.
Replacing an executive, reorganizing the company or launching another action plan may be necessary. But each carries cost and disruption. WINGMIND helps determine what is actually failing, what needs to change and which actions are most likely to improve performance.
A Flexible Intervention Built Around the Problem
The scope depends on the causes to be tested, the urgency of the situation and the decisions that need to be made.
Depending on the situation, the work may combine an Organizational Assessment, Executive Team Assessment, Executive Assessment of the CEO or selected leaders, the WINGMIND Business Scan, CEO & Board Advisory and targeted leadership support.
The intervention is designed around the issue to resolve, not around a fixed methodology.
From Diagnosis to Turnaround Priorities
A useful diagnosis should change what leaders do next.
A fact-based view of what is actually causing the deterioration and which issues are symptoms rather than root causes.
The leadership, organizational and execution risks that could accelerate deterioration if they are not addressed.
Clarity on leadership, governance, roles, organization and priorities that may need to change.
A focused agenda for stabilizing execution and strengthening the organization’s ability to recover.
For CEOs, Boards & Investors
Underperformance creates different questions depending on who is responsible for acting on it.
Gain an independent perspective on what is blocking performance, challenge internal assumptions and identify the leadership and organizational changes that can improve execution.
The objective is to restore performance while preserving the organization’s ability to operate and recover.
Understand whether underperformance is primarily a leadership, strategic, organizational or execution issue, and what decisions may be required to protect value.
Obtain an independent view before making high-impact decisions around the CEO, executive team, governance or organization.
Typical Engagement
The diagnostic phase is designed to create clarity quickly. Advisory support can continue where recovery requires implementation support.
Clarify the performance deterioration, history, corrective actions already attempted, stakeholder concerns and critical decisions ahead.
Assess the relevant leadership, executive-team and organizational dimensions and test the competing explanations for underperformance.
Clarify what needs to change, which issues require immediate intervention and what should be sequenced over time.
Where required, support leadership, governance and organizational changes and help maintain focus on the most critical recovery priorities.
The Outcome
Understand what is really driving underperformance, make better decisions faster and focus the organization on the changes most likely to restore performance.
The objective is not to produce an exhaustive audit. It is to create enough clarity to act decisively before deterioration becomes harder and more expensive to reverse.
Underperformance Advisory or Portfolio Execution Review?
The two approaches can start from the same symptoms but serve different mandates.
The primary need is an independent investor or Board diagnosis.
Understand why a portfolio company is not delivering as expected and clarify the decisions shareholders may need to make.
The mandate extends into recovery.
Diagnose the causes, clarify what needs to change and support the CEO, Board or leadership team as recovery priorities are implemented.
A Specific Application of CEO & Board Advisory
Underperformance is one of the critical situations in which independent advisory support can add the greatest value.
Where the issue becomes primarily a sensitive leadership, governance or Board decision, the engagement can continue through CEO & Board Advisory.
The objective remains the same: diagnose the situation, clarify the options, support the decision and help secure implementation.
Relevant Experience
WINGMIND has worked on underperformance, leadership instability, organizational breakdown and recovery situations requiring independent diagnosis and decision support.
Selected engagements include portfolio-company underperformance, founder-led businesses in crisis, organizational deterioration, CEO questions and situations requiring changes to leadership, operating models or priorities.
Why WINGMIND?
A combination of investor perspective, entrepreneurial experience and leadership & organizational expertise.
A direct understanding of value creation, Board concerns, execution risk and the consequences of delayed action.
First-hand experience of leading a company through growth, pressure, trade-offs and critical business decisions.
14 years working with CEOs, executive teams and organizations on leadership, execution, development and change.
More than 100 engagements across 10 countries in critical business and leadership situations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Key questions about Underperformance & Turnaround Advisory.
When should a company consider an independent underperformance review?
When performance is repeatedly below expectations, deterioration is accelerating, corrective actions are not delivering or stakeholders disagree on the causes of the problem. An independent diagnosis can help distinguish symptoms from root causes before further high-impact decisions are made.
Is this operational turnaround consulting?
Not in the traditional sense. WINGMIND does not replace operational, financial or restructuring specialists where those capabilities are required. The focus is on the leadership, strategic, organizational and execution factors that may be causing or amplifying underperformance, and on supporting the decisions and changes required to address them.
Can the review determine whether the CEO is part of the problem?
Yes. One of the objectives may be to distinguish CEO-related issues from broader executive-team, strategic or organizational weaknesses. The assessment considers the full context before drawing conclusions about development, reinforcement, changes in role or leadership transition.
Does every engagement require a full Organizational Assessment?
No. The scope depends on the hypotheses to test and the urgency of the situation. Some assignments may focus primarily on the CEO and executive team. Others require broader interviews, management perspectives or organization-wide input.
Who typically commissions the work?
The engagement may be commissioned by a CEO, Board, shareholder, PE, Growth or VC investor, depending on where accountability for diagnosing and resolving the situation sits.
How quickly can the diagnostic phase be completed?
The diagnostic is designed to be focused and decision-oriented. Depending on scope, a clear view of the key issues and priorities can generally be developed within a few weeks, with further advisory support continuing where needed.
Can WINGMIND remain involved during the recovery phase?
Yes. Follow-up can include CEO & Board Advisory, support to the executive team, clarification of roles and governance, targeted organizational work, Executive Coaching or Executive Team Coaching.
What is the difference between this and a Portfolio Execution Review?
A Portfolio Execution Review is primarily designed to give an investor or Board an independent view of why a portfolio company is not delivering and what decisions may be required. Underperformance & Turnaround Advisory can extend further into supporting the company and leadership team through recovery and implementation.
Related Approaches
The appropriate intervention depends on whether the primary need is diagnosis, leadership assessment, investor decision support or implementation.
Is Underperformance Becoming a Pattern?
If performance is deteriorating, corrective actions are not working or the causes remain unclear, an independent review can help clarify what is really happening and what needs to change.
Email: contact@wingmind.co
LinkedIn: David Chouraqui
Book a meeting: Schedule a confidential conversation
Founded by David Chouraqui, former private equity investor and entrepreneur, WINGMIND helps investors, Boards and CEOs diagnose critical situations, clarify leadership and organizational decisions and strengthen execution.