Use a project team to plan a turn-around (2/2)

In my previous blog-post I described how a project team developed a structured overview of the reasons for an engineering company being structurally loss-making. In this post I will give a short overview of the initiatives that were developed to turn the company around and the implementation plan used to ensure that the initiatives will be carried out.



A total of 20 initiatives were developed by the team in four main areas:
•Improved marketing through more focused use of distribution channels, focus on certain segments, and a move away from selling small (loss-making) projects
• Professionalizing the end-to-end process for selling and carrying out projects (clearer scope definition, value- instead of cost-based pricing, improved hand-overs to the engineering teams, more intense follow-up of budgets, etc)
• Large reduction of supporting costs through a detailed added-value analysis of existing activities
• Structural reorganization of the company, leading to less management layers, clearer and more focused responsibilities, etc

Implementation of the 20 initiatives has been closely linked to the new organization structure, with relevant managers having clear responsibility for specific initiatives. Each initiative has been described in detail and including a high-level implementation plan. The first responsibility for the relevant managers is to develop a more detailed plan (in order to develop ownership) for the individual initiatives under his/her responsibility. Progress on the initiatives will be a key element of the weekly management team meetings and will also be including in the monthly meeting with the corporate sponsor.

My latest update from management and corporate sponsors is that implementation is going well, and that they are optimistic that the company will finally become profitable and better positioned in the market.

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