Category: strategy

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What to do ? local strategy …..

During my last business trip I got to talk to some senior executives that where complaining about some issues they have at one of their locations from Romania.
Over time I have learned that strategy is extremely important for anybody involved in business environment and not only business.
To be successful you really really need to know what you want and where you want to go.
Knowing this in detail and exactly will help you out in solving any issue you might encounter.
So to come back to the title of my posting. It is given an foreign well established company present in Romania since over 10 years.
The senior management guys that I’ve met complained about one issue in particular, they have one big issue, they have one high headcount turnover.
OK, it is correct that having a big headcount turnover rate is an serious issue.
The high turnover in headcount over the years can hinder a solid development of a company and can seriously endanger its very existence if this topic gets out of control.
It is quite serious when you can not build and retain experience in the company.
How I see it they did not have nor developed any location strategy regarding headcount turnover, they only focused on financial results.
The financial results where squeezed out over time but according to me in detriment of the headcount issue.
What can be done is actually quite simple, the location senior management has to sit together and act on one of the ignored management attributes, develop the strategy .
I agree to the fact that strategy is not directly generating financial results, it is more linked to to frame set-up that enables the achievement of sound and solid financial results.
Getting back to strategy for headcount turnover the important and easiest steps would be :
1. Finding the root of the problem, finding the cause of high headcount turnover at white and blue collar employees.
An easy solution would be exit interviews,  talk to the people that are leaving the company.
2. Try to establish is it only your problem or do the other companies in the area have the same issue at comparable extent.
If its only you than it is obvious something is completely fishy in your organization, try to find out what it is , be honest to yourself.
If the others do not seem to have the same issue , try to find out what are they doing differently, try to see if you can do something differently. You might be surprised….
3. Try to understand the surrounding in that you are active, understand the community , understand their values and what not reassess the local market that you are active in.
You might find out that the values that you knew are obsolete and do not fit to the current situation.
4. Cross-check the findings with your own organizations values , see what is important and act on it. Do not be too shy to admit any potential mistakes that you might have made in the past.
5. Set up a specific clear action plan based and stick to it.
6. Most important Do Not forget to communicate your plan and changes to your staff.
7. Request appropriate feedback from your staff.
8. Do not expect sudden reactions and changes.
After all your action on an issues that has some history in your organization.
I do not know if this is making any sense but to me it is common sense and I am even more surprised that senior management is different companies still don’t get it.
Once I have read something that a smart guy said:

Think global act local , not the other way around.

I would be very interested to know your opinion on this topic.
Feel free to comment or drop me an email.
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Change ….how much ?

Change …how much ? How far should you go ?

Recently I have posted some thoughts about change in the case of senior management / executives.

Fact is that the posting ended with the dilemma “To change or not to change ?”

This dilemma is valid for the individual and also for the organization .

Change …how much ?

It is a known fact that when you enter a new organization you have to go through a “accommodation” with each other. In this important period is all about positioning and getting to know everybody and everything.
Now certain “surprises” start to show up from both sides , you and the organization,  Certain things start to show up not as presented.
In this case the first compromises starting to take shape….what should you do ?
Up to a certain degree it is expected to adapt to the new environment and to cope with it.
Now coming back with the senior management / executive aspect, the guy was hired because of the fact that some change was needed.
Important to mention that the guy was hired by stakeholders that are part of the existing organization and that have the means to evaluate and judge the newcomer….
The newcomer has, according to my understanding,  two options:
Change / adjust and give up part of who you are
Fight  and do not get assimilated ( remember Star Trek Borg 🙂 ) try to make a change , try to make a difference.
None of the mentioned options are good or bad, it is matter of what you should choose best.
If you are choosing the first option , change / adjust and try to make out of the trenches some small changes and get set with small but many victories.
Fact though if you try to change / adjust you will be scrutinized by the ones that choose you as a senior manager / executive for their organization .
During this change / adjustment hope that you not loose on the way the skills, aspects that made you appreciated by the organization.
If you decide that you are here to fight and trying to make a change , it is perfectly OK , but fight until when ?
You might get labeled during the fight as not able to integrate into the organization.
What is actually the proper / better way ?  Change / adjust and give up on yourself or fight it through but taking the risk of being labeled as unfit by the stakeholders ?

Change ? How much is enough not to give up on yourself and still to get your recognition as a senior manager / executive in the specific role / organization ?

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Change or not to change ?

When companies change their executives / senior management the ideal profile is depicted in the “famous” job profile.  In this document the HR responsible usually with help of the stakeholders ( Shareholders, Board of Directors, CEO, Consultants, etc.) do their best to describe the ideal profile for the vacant job.

Funny thing though , the described profile is something that the specific organization would like to have, or let me say it differently , it is something that is nice to have …..

Let’s assume that the recruiting , through own resources or through external help (recruiting companies), runs smoothly and you get almost a perfect match to the described and documented ideal profile.

From here on the adventure starts and a very big question is starting to be more and more visible.

Is the organization ready to receive the almost perfect match ? 
Are they ready to adjust to the new person coming in ?
Are they ready for the change ? 



If you talk to each and every stakeholder they will say that yes they want the new guy…but are they ready for the change and what this change will imply ?

People are different from each other therefore it is more than obvious that the new guy coming in will have his/ her own view on the organization and thus the change.

Usually this topic is solved through induction days/ programs that should help to adjust to the new organisation easy and quickly. Here usually HR is the main contact.

Coming back to the change ….What do you do in case of executives / senior management ?

For executives / senior managers change management is or at least should be part of their leadership ability. Leadership can be traced back to results and results are most of the time benchmarked against targets.

A successful organization should have clear vision , mission , values statements that again are part of the strategic management of any organization.

So coming back to  executives / senior managers and change …..it is only fair to say that executives / senior managers must be strategic management savvy.

Well seasoned managers with experience in several areas are needed to have an successful organization. This kind of managers have a strong personality and character and are not very easy to handle.

Therefore the organization must adjust in order to be successful or can choose not to adjust and take the risk that the new hired executive / senior manager will not fit in and eventually leave the organization.

What is more costly ? To change or not to change ?