Restructuring for Enhanced Profitability

An organization’s structure determines its performance and profitability. The Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) and the Chief Revenue Officer’s (CRO) job is to ensure the business structure is optimized to coordinate operations, market opportunities, human capital, financial and legal strategies to maximize shareholder value.

Occasionally leadership will determine that a restructuring needs to take place to achieve their goals.

Traditionally, there are two primary components to corporate restructuring: financial and operational. However, with our rapidly changing business environment and technology there is now a third aspect that includes the restructuring of the talent skill set within a company.

So what do these successful companies focus on?

First and foremost, they restructure the decision-making process.

Faster and improved decisions help companies take control of market situations and gives them the edge over their rivals.

Many businesses have complex, intricate configurations. This typically results in having multiple people involved in the decision-making process. The ease of digital communication has made the situation exponentially worse. Countless people receive long threads of emails with no real action taking place.

To effectively run a business, there is a critical need for decision-making to be straightforward and more precise.

Involving fewer people and less bureaucracy enables faster decisions. With quicker action taken, companies can act on opportunities and cash-in on marketplace changes before their competition.

While an experienced and visionary leader typically initiates the restructure, companies often make some common mistakes when undertaking this monumental decision.

Visionary leaders may act intuitively rather than insightfully.

With decades of experience under their belt, these individuals have honed their decision-making skills and often make strategic and tactical decisions based on intuition alone. They may no longer feel they need to have multiple people share their input, or perhaps they do not have access to upcoming trends in technology that can heavily effect business both good and bad.

The fact is major decisions such as restructuring require intuition as well as in-depth insights to produce ideal results.

By its very nature, restructuring a company is an enormous undertaking. Losing sight of the main goal while navigating structural decisions is another common pitfall. It is wise to frequently refer and revert to the main objective to stay aligned with the end goal.

Restructuring a business requires the commitment to change as well as the inclusion of the stakeholders and the executive team to analyze and strategize regarding existing and potential new revenue centers prior to creating a new framework. These can include using technology to streamline operations, developing new products, exploring new market opportunities, and expanding or changing distribution channels

The new framework in place cannot rely on a single person; instead, it requires a team that reports to a leader such as a CRO that spearheads the strategy, coordination, and performance of various departments.

Once this is done a thorough SWOT analysis of the company’s work force and executive talent is required. Identifying current and future talents is essential to success, leading many businesses to design and implement solid retention and talent acquisition strategies.

The process of restructuring varies from company to company. Organizations have different cultures and systems in place that require consideration when making significant structural changes.

Regardless, there is a standard flow of procedures that can apply to all companies.

Audit the existing decision-making process. Identify people with the autonomy to make decisions and the importance and kind of decisions they make. This will help in charting out the new structure.

Another critical step is to categorize decisions based on the impact on profitability. Some will be smaller, tactical product and marketing decisions, while others will be major strategic decisions, such as entering a new market. This helps identify who will have the autonomy to make future decisions.

Highly skilled decision-makers are fundamental to any business’ success. Today’s uncertain economic conditions require the most experienced captains to guide their ships through turbulent waters.

When examining the qualifications and attributes of the executive team, a good rule of thumb is to evaluate whether a company’s current leadership team is truly capable of making the critical decisions that will help the company grow and achieve its mission.

For those companies that identify a talent gap in this area, it is critical that you build your management team to include these qualifications. Sourcing and hiring top talent can be an overwhelming and challenging process. International Search Consultants applies a rigorous and confidential process to identify and recruit the right fit for your executive positions. Reach out today to attain the best talent for your business!

Since 1999, International Search Consultants has been a leader in providing ‘change-agent’s to companies on a nationwide basis. Contact us today to strategize on your ideal candidate profile, and we will fill up your interview schedule with top talent.

Ann Zaslow-Rethaber is President of ISC & can be reached via direct dial at 888-866-7276 or email at [email protected]

Denise Fleming is ISC Director of New Business Development. Denise also runs a desk focusing on filling executive level restructuring roles across the US. You can reach Denise directly at [email protected] or via direct dial at 877-598-0830.

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