It is undisputable that we live in a time of rapid change, technologically, as well as socially.
Old theories that held true under
production-led economies have led to the world’s second economy, Japan, to falter and stall. Yet in the past, it was in Japan that Shoguns regularly
recruited temporary soldiers called ‘Ronin’ to bolster their troops and ‘Ninjas’ to provide specialist services.
Communication
and Interaction:
Communication has vastly improved, driving globalisation as location economies (proximity to markets) are diminished. Yet
cost advantage location economies continue unabated, causing further structural
change. Globalisation has introduced challenges of successfully combining
people’s inputs in semi-virtual workplaces spanning the globe.
Moves towards single systems such as currency, but
also fundamentals like information technology and the internet rely upon common standards. The
consequence has been though, rapid evolution towards forms of intermediation,
and unique re-combinations of different technologies; the blend of computers and
communications being one of the fundamentals. This burst is on a parallel with
the evolution of the spoken word in the Stone Age, and the written word during
the Renaissance.
Social factors have also played an important role.
It is reported that an increasing number of professionals are seeking a better
work/life balance. This translates to working from home, early retirement,
higher staff turnovers so 'the workplace' isn't what it used to be.
Flexibility:
Corporate requirements under these circumstances
become less and less predictable. Reacting to and fulfilling those requirements
inevitably creates additional costs. Moreover, European employment law places
restriction and real costs in expanding and contracting work forces. Moreover
paternal as well as maternal leave is now enshrined in law, adding a temporary
shortage of resources.
Downsizing and paring costs to the bone results in
reduced flexibility and slack resources within the organisation. Intense
competition generally forces all players within an industry to follow
competitors downsizing.
Personal
Insights:
Let me now share some
personal insights. During the Nineties, I devoted several
years to researching and implementing cost reduction in
leading organisations. Fundamentally, in my view, the
challenge is effective introduction of change. Based on my
experience,
I believe Interim Management
provides the most effective
way of understanding, managing and implementing change.
As someone who has spent many years as an
executive interim manager,
even before the term became popular, I have seen
first hand the value that bringing in the right
executive
interim manager can create. For
example, in the late Eighties Stoves brought me in as
interim Group Finance Director at time of their Management
Buy-In/ Buy-Out. Over the next ten years, they turned to me
many times to implement radical change. It is important to
recognise that at that time, Stoves were a leading Best
Practice organisation.
Finding the right executive interim manager:
The traditional adage in choosing an interim is to
go for somebody a couple of sizes too large. The popular expression is “been
there, done that and got the t-shirt” but increasingly that is not enough.
Recruiters will match profiles by job title, industry, qualifications etc., and
providing the candidate’s heavy-weight enough, his/her personality should win
out at an interview. It may still be a numbers game at the lower end of the
market (the "Ronin"), but at the top-end, it is getting much more sophisticated
(the Ninjas).
I
have found that I am less and less targeted as an CFO, CIO or CEO. These days,
people are using the interim management market to source external Change Agents.
Increasingly, in recent years, my work has straddled finance, IT and
implementing organisation-wide change: What traditionally, would have been termed general
management, where previous industrial experience is key.
Most
executive interim managers are tactical, rather than strategic. However, some specialists,
like myself, are now helping organisations at the strategic level too. This
includes applying leading edge diagnostics and deploying a whole team of
specialist interims (let’s call them my “Ninjas”).
The Financial
Improvement Performance Programme (FPIP):
FPIPs have been successfully deployed in some of the
World’s most complex organisations. Based upon research and successful
deployment, I have developed a simple questionnaire to see whether an FPIP is appropriate to your organisation:
Has
there been a pan-functional or pan-organisational record of failure?
Have
ten of millions of Dollars been invested without benefit realisation?
Have
major consultancies been deployed and failed?
Is
the situation potentially embarrassing to senior management?
Are
reputations at risk?
Are
there multiple stakeholders to satisfy?
Do
line executives have conflicting views on solutions?
Is
the issue multi-functional?
Is
there a strong financial dimension?
Is
there a critical IT or systems involvement?
Is
there a need for change at the house-wide level?
Do
other options not stack up?
If you
have scored a yes to eight or more questions, you definitely need to contact me
via
alf@alfoldman.com
Also, I am always on the look out for “Ninjas”, too!
