Author:
Jean Bertrand de Lartigue -
Chairman of HR specialist HR2all LTD

The business environment has changed radically in the last decade. The next ten years could see even more radical changes. If companies' don't want to find themselves outpaced, outthought and outsold, they need to restructure now, argues management change consultant Jean-Bertrand de Lartigue.

Everyone talks about “blue chip” businesses as the companies they want to invest in, or work for. Why not? These, after all, are the businesses at the top of their individual ladders - profitable, successful, and solid.

But if that's the case, why have so many businesses we would have called “blue chip” ten years ago now sliding down the asset league, their share prices in the doldrums, their board rooms under siege to make radical changes to the way they run their business . . . their MDs, chairmen and financial directors looking for new jobs?

Of course, there are lots of reasons why former flagship businesses such as Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, are now seeing the shine come off their shares, and why other names that starred in the 1990s have either been taken over by stronger rivals or are no longer in the top 250.

And these are just the companies that make the headlines . Every year in Britain thousands of once successful businesses bite the dust - SMEs that were once highly profitable, but which have now lost their way.

How did this happen? And what messages does this send to today's businesses?

Well the biggest single reason why successful businesses stop being successful is that they stop being competitive, allowing other companies to steal a march . . . and their market share.

And the biggest single cause of THAT is lack of forward planning: recognising that change is on the way and anticipating it ahead of your rivals - either by moving into new product or service areas, or restructuring your business to deal with the new opportunities and the new challenges on the horizon.

I will leave the issue of anticipating technology and market trends to the engineers and marketers. What I can talk about is gearing up your workforce to deal with change.

But how, comes the anguished cry from MDs everywhere, can I possibly structure my company to deal with new trends and new products or services if I don¹t know what will be wanted from my company two, three or five years down the line?

The answer is simple. Make the company structure fluid - and so able to deal with or anticipate change quickly and relatively painlessly.

By that I mean that the old hierarchical structure and chain of command goes out, as do the old fashioned job titles; and that people are not taken on to do a specific “job” for a company (which may not even be needed 12 months down the line), but taken on for their skills and attitude, and their aptitude to learn new skills.

Apart from having a workforce able to deal with fast changing circumstances, you will also have one that will not need to be made redundant when the first big contract is lost - with all the expense and grief that can cause - or shoehorned into new roles that they will not be able to deal with.

Working in a fluid company is a bit like playing rugby as it is now played by the top teams. Gone are the days when the forwards were there simply to push and shove and win the ball, while the backs got cold waiting for their chance to run with the ball. Now, every player has to be able to run, defend, work in a maul . . . and score. 15-man rugby . . . in football . . . the message is the same. Versatility and flexibility allow a team to mould their style of play to different opponents, and the same qualities help businesses face fresh challenges.

So the company that has a workforce ready to deal with a whole range of situations is far better equipped to cope when new market opportunities open up . . . or when they have to turn their hand to new services or products when overseas sourcing, new technologies or shifts in customer demands call for a change in direction .

All that's fine in theory, but how do you make your workforce more fluid and flexible? You do it by making these qualities central to the whole company culture. Departmental structures need to reflect the fact that most work done these days is (E-project-based)- here today, moved on tomorrow, but each project requiring a specific skills set to make it happen.

When a project is planned, pick a team of people who have the core skills to make it happen. Ideally, you would add to this team people who can attach themselves and apply what I would call ‘secondary skills'. So a marketing person who wants to learn more about finance would spend part of their working day shadowing the finance person in the project team - contributing to the project, but even more importantly adding to their skills set. It won't put the project at risk through their inexperience but it will ultimately lead to a stronger and more flexible workforce.

The end point of this way of working is “continuous improvement”: a philosophy that says that the company will help every person who comes to work for them to constantly refine and build on their skills. It recognises that people are every company's biggest asset - and invests in their improvement.

It makes a lot of sense when you consider that people are the only asset within a business that will appreciate in value - not depreciate - over time.