Prepping for Reorganization, Part 2 – Talent Strategies for Tough Times

Prepping for Reorganization, Part 2 – Talent Strategies for Tough Times

Whether Feast or Famine, Interim Executive Leadership Can Help

Talent Strategies: COVID-19 has created “feast or famine” scenarios for companies everywhere. Depending on your market, you’ve either taken a hard hit or you’ve got more business than you can handle.

In either case, you might consider restructuring. But, how you do it will look drastically different based on your situation. 

For Part 1 of this Series: Adjusting to Change

Reorganizing for “Feast”

Your challenges: Business is booming. You can’t keep up with orders. Your delivery times are slipping. Your team is overworked and stressed. Customer satisfaction is headed south, and you’re at risk for losing clients.

Talent Strategies:

  • Consider elevating the right management talent – those people who have proven they have the skillsets and know-how to lead people, and the ability to keep associates on task and focused on the mission. 
  • Meanwhile, look at your operations talent and bring in outside help, as needed. Efficient operations are critical for maintaining on-time delivery, without sacrificing quality. So, you might need to adjust your work shifts and bulk up manufacturing, or look at alternate sourcing and distribution to stay afloat.
  • Interim executive leadership focused on operations or finance could also help. Or consider interim staffing services or part time project managers to complete mission-critical projects.    

Reorganizing for “Famine”

Your challenges: Orders are down, or business has dried up completely. You’re not sure what the problem is—or how to fix it. Is it the market? your product or pricing? Is your sales process off? Are your marketing strategies not generating good leads? Something isn’t working.

Talent Strategies:

  • Try to identify associates who have been “getting by” in certain roles, but whose skillsets aren’t quite right for the task. Identify those who are better project managers than people leaders—and move them into roles better suited for them. Consider bringing in a part-time HR consultant to help you make alignment decisions.   
  • Meanwhile, evaluate your sales and marketing talent. So, be sure they have the knowledge and agility to adjust strategies quickly and address the tough market climate. Bring in interim executive leadership for a fresh perspective, if necessary.

Don’t discount the power of an outside assessment.

If you need help identifying the problem—or brainstorming ways to solve it—we offer interim executive leadership skillsets that can help—including chief restructuring officers, chief human resources officer and organizational change consultants.

We also offer assessment services and advisors to determine why you’re not closing effectively, or what operational or financial weaknesses are holding you back. Our advisors can even suggest talent changes or offer training to bring essential talent up to speed.

Contact us today.  

Learn how we can help your business grow profitably today.