Recently HP's CEO, Meg Whitman announced a management shakeup. The key focus on her "turnaround strategy" is making sure the right people are doing the right jobs...it turns out getting the right people on the bus is not enough. In fact to quote Ms. Whitman, "Who the right person is can greatly depend on the moment. Someone who has performed an exemplary job leading one leg of that journey may not be ideally suited for the next." She further drew out her point by saying, "As a company grows quickly, a manager who is good at running a business at one scale and revenue level may suddenly find themselves overwhelmed when the business quickly surpasses a certain point. The tendency is to think that the manager is failing. In fact, the business has simply grown beyond the manager’s skills. They need help." BRAVO!
It is easy for companies to get "stuck" with their current organizational structure and lose sight of whether growth of the business translates to growth IN THE SAME WAY by the leaders holding key positions. Business leaders owe it to themselves (and the success of their business) to constantly re-evaluate the competencies of their employees and make sure they are optimized. At times, this may require a simple training/coaching initiative to bring the employee's capabilities to the level that is needed. But another approach, as Ms. Whitman illustrated with her "management shakeup", is moving folks to different assignments so certain skill sets can be better utilized.
It is easy for companies to get "stuck" with their current organizational structure and lose sight of whether growth of the business translates to growth IN THE SAME WAY by the leaders holding key positions. Business leaders owe it to themselves (and the success of their business) to constantly re-evaluate the competencies of their employees and make sure they are optimized. At times, this may require a simple training/coaching initiative to bring the employee's capabilities to the level that is needed. But another approach, as Ms. Whitman illustrated with her "management shakeup", is moving folks to different assignments so certain skill sets can be better utilized.
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