Driving Performance in Challenging Times

During organisational restructuring and negative uncertainty there is still a need to maintain day to day operational performance in the firm. Yet research shows that, typically, productivity and collaboration drop and error rates and cycle times increase.

We have practical tools and expertise to help drive operational performance up and encourage collaboration in these periods. We can also address a wide population rapidly and flexibly (up to 500 people in one week).

If you would like to discuss how we can help, please contact us.

Case Study 1

The merger of two tier one US banks created an investment banking technology global organisation of 2,700 staff. During system rationalisation and significant downsizing, the organisation still had to support a dynamic and challenging business environment, whilst a downturn in the market meant that it was necessary to do more with less. A fundamental shift was needed in the way that people worked; existing technical excellence had to be coupled with a new commercial pragmatism.

We were retained by the new CIO to transform the newly merged organisation. We undertook an integrated programme to create a compelling future state operating model and roadmap, develop and support the leadership of the change (the CIO, management team and 30 key individuals), equip all VP grade staff (500 globally) with new core capabilities and introduce measurement (balanced scorecard) and communication practices. Over a period of two years, our client was able to demonstrate better commercial decision quality, better risk management, economies of scale, faster and better quality project delivery and retention of key staff during high uncertainty, all enabling successful downsizing and outsourcing that generated operational savings of a minimum of $500 million.

Case Study 2

A major European investment bank had undergone an extensive restructuring of their technology division, where nine groups had been merged into one, creating a global organisation of over 2,000 staff. There was concern that the restructure would severely reduce staff morale and productivity and impact retention of some key performers, leading to project over-runs and stability issues.

We ran an integrated programme, incorporating management team development, communication strategy and global, all-staff workshops that equipped leaders, managers and staff with tools and techniques to manage themselves and others through an uncertain and difficult period. Our client subsequently reported that this brief but high impact programme had been extremely effective in enabling the organisational transition and in helping lift morale, keep productivity up and retain high performers.