Transforming organisations

Talent at the top

In the Board Room it is necessary for each member to perform. When someone simply does not have either the skill or the knowledge or the attitude to deliver high performance consistently, then action needs to be taken.

Sometimes it is a family member; someone who is both a director and a shareholder, that can hold the business to ransom. In this situation it is not just the quality of executive performance that is under discussion, but the family and the shareholding dimension too.

If there is no such complication but someone is under performing for whatever reason, then there is a very useful rule of thumb that can transform the situation.

Consider a long-standing production director of an engineering firm called Jim. He is widely regarded as authoritative, opinionated, reluctant to change and generally unpopular with colleagues.

Imagine that the organisation Jim works for, suddenly vanishes. If by common consent, Jim would struggle to find another job, would be unlikely to find anything at his current level of seniority and would be paid less than half his present salary and rewards (that often accrues to long standing people), then something needs to be done.

That something is usually an expensive but worthwhile, parting of the ways.

posted by Tim @ 9:32 AM