Ignoring the signs of a sinking organisation? Here’s what happens
Published: 04:06 PM,Jun 30,2025 | EDITED : 08:06 PM,Jun 30,2025
My last week’s article on signs that one should look for of whether their organisation is sinking received a lot of attention. I promised to continue to write follow-up articles that would ultimately lead into fruitful insights that organisations and their related stakeholders can follow, review and choose to adapt (based on my professional experience on the same) for their kind perusal.
This week, my article is on what to expect if signs are ignored.
Briefly, from the outside/externally, your organisation may have had a well-established brand, a strong customer base, and experienced/solid leadership in place. Internally, however, signs such as profits declining, projects delaying, revenue falling, operational costs rising and consequently share price dipping. Details that can be obtained for any publicly listed organisation on a stock market (Muscat Stock Market in Oman) and/or via the organisation question's (especially private ones) audited financial performance results. The question is, what happens if one ignores these important warning signs? Simply, serious consequences if not a doom/fatal at the end.
I have had the opportunity to observe and evaluate both high-performing and underperforming organisations. A consistent pattern I have seen in organisations that collapse is not the lack of information but rather the failure to act on the information (or signs per se) they already have. Reasons include but are not limited to denial, fear of change, bureaucracy, personal agendas, accountability, and sometimes the ego of the “so what” mentality.
Ignoring or putting a blind eye on some of the signs mentioned would result in severe situations for employees, customers and competition,n, to name a few.
For employees, the good and talented would be leaving the organisation for another (or worse, to a competitor with all your information for an easy grab), while the remaining others may be doing the job for the sake of survival (instead of progression). For customers, they would slowly but surely start to leave and/or stop buying from the organisation altogether. Even worse, just go to the organisation’s competitor (and never return competitors, they will take the chance to get ahead by taking the good employees and the quality customers ultimately.
The public will lose trust, and the investors will sell (or avoid buying shares) as well. And by the time the rest of the stakeholders realise and begin to ask tough questions, the cost of recovery would become significantly higher, not only in money but also in time, people, and thee strong reputation built over the years.
When the leadership delays decisions, especially after noting se warning signs, the entire organisation begins to operate in confusion. Baseless meetings would suddenly increase without practical solutions. Internal politics would continue to rise, and of course decisions would be made based on relationships and not on merit. Critical and senior roles would be reshuffled around frequently. Priorities on what to focus on on and work on will change every now and then. In short,, the organisation in question would be moving in circles.
As reported last week, only 1 in 10 companies that go into performance decline ever make a successful and sustained turnaround. This too can happen to your organisation if not taken seriously.
As I had noted last week, these articles are not written to point fingers or criticise any specific organisation as such. It is only a professional reflection, reminder and part of my periodic knowledge-sharing activities. For leaders, employees, and observers who are seeing the early cracks (signs), know that the earlier the action, the higher the chance of survival.
Leadership must rise above emotion and take the necessary decisions to protect the organisations in question. A true leader sees trouble before it arrives and moves before it’s too late. Next week, I will explore what companies can actually do to turn things around, for ignoring the signs leads to collapse, and responding early leads to transformation. Until then, stay positive and continue observing vigilantly.
This week, my article is on what to expect if signs are ignored.
Briefly, from the outside/externally, your organisation may have had a well-established brand, a strong customer base, and experienced/solid leadership in place. Internally, however, signs such as profits declining, projects delaying, revenue falling, operational costs rising and consequently share price dipping. Details that can be obtained for any publicly listed organisation on a stock market (Muscat Stock Market in Oman) and/or via the organisation question's (especially private ones) audited financial performance results. The question is, what happens if one ignores these important warning signs? Simply, serious consequences if not a doom/fatal at the end.
I have had the opportunity to observe and evaluate both high-performing and underperforming organisations. A consistent pattern I have seen in organisations that collapse is not the lack of information but rather the failure to act on the information (or signs per se) they already have. Reasons include but are not limited to denial, fear of change, bureaucracy, personal agendas, accountability, and sometimes the ego of the “so what” mentality.
Ignoring or putting a blind eye on some of the signs mentioned would result in severe situations for employees, customers and competition,n, to name a few.
For employees, the good and talented would be leaving the organisation for another (or worse, to a competitor with all your information for an easy grab), while the remaining others may be doing the job for the sake of survival (instead of progression). For customers, they would slowly but surely start to leave and/or stop buying from the organisation altogether. Even worse, just go to the organisation’s competitor (and never return competitors, they will take the chance to get ahead by taking the good employees and the quality customers ultimately.
The public will lose trust, and the investors will sell (or avoid buying shares) as well. And by the time the rest of the stakeholders realise and begin to ask tough questions, the cost of recovery would become significantly higher, not only in money but also in time, people, and thee strong reputation built over the years.
When the leadership delays decisions, especially after noting se warning signs, the entire organisation begins to operate in confusion. Baseless meetings would suddenly increase without practical solutions. Internal politics would continue to rise, and of course decisions would be made based on relationships and not on merit. Critical and senior roles would be reshuffled around frequently. Priorities on what to focus on on and work on will change every now and then. In short,, the organisation in question would be moving in circles.
As reported last week, only 1 in 10 companies that go into performance decline ever make a successful and sustained turnaround. This too can happen to your organisation if not taken seriously.
As I had noted last week, these articles are not written to point fingers or criticise any specific organisation as such. It is only a professional reflection, reminder and part of my periodic knowledge-sharing activities. For leaders, employees, and observers who are seeing the early cracks (signs), know that the earlier the action, the higher the chance of survival.
Leadership must rise above emotion and take the necessary decisions to protect the organisations in question. A true leader sees trouble before it arrives and moves before it’s too late. Next week, I will explore what companies can actually do to turn things around, for ignoring the signs leads to collapse, and responding early leads to transformation. Until then, stay positive and continue observing vigilantly.