"It's time to be adaptable and flexible" Article by Steve Marsten

No doubt you will have read that the mining boom is slowing in Australia. Essentially that simply means that companies are not investing as much in mining sites; construction and capital outlays on new ventures. Many businesses have benefitted significantly from the recent mining boom and Gladstone is one city that has reaped the rewards handsomely. However its crunch time! Many businesses doubled or triple or in some cases have increased their turnover by 20 or 30 times in a very short space of time and as the economy slows and tightens – management has to adapt quickly or risk going under.

We have been helping several companies who have gone from small to medium or medium to large and in several cases small to large businesses in the space of just 3 years. These usually are the ones that, because they have never experienced such growth before, are the slowest to adapt or act to reorganise the significance of the change before its too late.

Larger business tends to operate with several profit centres and recently we have carried out Organisational Structure reviews or Overhead Assessments reviews. They are two separate yet equally important procedures. Structure reviews look at middle management. This area tends to be one of the most expensive for business. However its only expensive if the managers don’t do their job. Key KPI’s and clarity about what management expects should be communicated to the manager and then followed up weekly so its clear they fully understand what’s expected of them.

In more difficult times managers are asked to review their section costs to find improvement dividends for the company. This often highlights the real experienced managers from the flash in the pans. We are finding in several businesses that in some cases managers can look after more than one division and hence due to streamlined processes, a cost saving dividend can be achieved.

Structure reviews give a fresh look at how to have the most adaptable and flexible management team in place and best practice for your industry. Next week we will talk about the Overhead Assessment review further.

Is your  business being effected as the economy slows and tightens?
Have you looked at a Structure or Overhead assessments review?
Are your managers meeting their KPI’s?
Can you streamline some of your processes?

At Sothertons we can help you become adaptable and flexible within your business with Structure and Overhead Assessment Reviews. Please contact us on (07) 4972 1300 for a consultation today.