Turnaround work fails more often through sequencing than through strategy. Businesses under pressure attempt structural change before they have secured cash and stabilised daily operations, and the plan collapses under the weight of the next crisis.
The first three weeks should be about visibility and control. A thirteen-week cash forecast, an accurate picture of creditor pressure, a stop on discretionary spend and a short daily management rhythm will do more than any strategy document. You cannot fix what you cannot see.
Weeks four to eight are for the operational cost base and the revenue lines that are genuinely recoverable: labour scheduling against real trading patterns, supplier terms, waste, pricing and the handful of underperforming sites or product lines that carry most of the loss.
The final third of the quarter is about permanence. Every improvement needs an owner, a measure and a place on a weekly report, otherwise performance quietly returns to where it was within two quarters of the interim leaving.