Maximise Consulting
People Change Performance

Ideas & Solutions

 

This section shows our most current thinking and insights including solutions and success stories within the services we offer. You can filter the items by key services using the buttons, or browse below.

 

Organisation design: designing the foundations for growth

Key challenge

With a goal of more profitable growth, a mixed wholesale-retail business wished to strengthen existing operations, consolidate efficiencies, and more effectively leverage cross-business relationships. Externally, a weakened economic outlook and aggressive competition was eroding business growth potential. Internally, duplication of key support functions was reducing operating efficiencies and undermining resource utilisation. In addition, underperformance of some business units was reducing overall business performance. The recently appointed head of business favoured a review of the legacy organisational structure.

The solution

Maximise conducted an initial organisational review, involving interviews with the leadership team and a series of employee focus groups. This revealed a significant gap in understanding between the leaders and employees on the future vision and direction for the organisation. It also revealed a significant split among the members of the leadership team and their capacity to win the trust of the workforce to own and implement the vision.

A subsequent series of leadership team workshops were designed and facilitated to re-engage and re-focus the divisional leadership team to shape, own and implement a renewed business strategy.

With an agreed view on strategic priorities, drivers of value and competitive advantage, a final series of collaborative design workshops were conducted to agree upon a fit-for purpose organisation structure, including the creation of an implementation plan to establish the foundations for growth and deliver on divisional strategic goals.

Outcomes

Joint-ownership for a fit-for purpose organisational structure linked to business portfolio life-cycle operating model, and successful implementation over a 6 month period.

More focussed and committed leadership team, better engaged workforce and maintenance of cost-neutral position during business transition.

Summary

Typically organisational and divisional restructures lack a formal business case, are intuitively created in the form of reporting charts with preferred incumbents, and often based on personal alliances. Consequently, they fail to provide a compelling change agenda and lack ownership where it matters most – implementation at the level of the workforce. Application of rigorous and systemic methodology ensures joint-ownership for creating and implementing fit-for purpose organisational structures linked to execution of strategy and sustainable value creation.