Redesigned team-structures – A roadmap that created motivated, engaged and highly effective employees
The Problem: A client was experiencing massive turnover in one of their business lines. After losing a substantial portion of the team, the department was experiencing major capacity issues, leaving staff overworked and unmotivated. The owner had spent countless hours trying to find replacements, but had trouble hiring. Despite knowing that this was his most profitable business line, he was frustrated, ready to give up and shut down the department.
The Solution: After working with this client to assess the root cause of the turnover, we created a roadmap of different scenarios and how to deal with them. What we discovered was that the department was not structured to optimally utilize its people. The work prepared by this department required highly skilled, technical employees, however, these same people were also responsible for performing monotonous, repetitive tasks. This, combined with a Director that was draining staff morale, led to a work environment that wasn’t working for anyone.
Gemsbok sat down with department staff to learn the differences between tactical and strategic work and recommended restructuring the department to address those differences. We suggested implementing pod teams that separated the existing position into two parts, a strategic role and a support person. This allowed the client to relieve senior staff of the menial work and create a lower-level position that was much easier to fill. Using pod teams, the client could then train junior-level staff to learn their business and eventually move them into more strategic, technical roles. We worked with this client through the entire transition, helping define new roles, train employees on how to execute their new job function, and assess/remove employees that were unwilling to embrace the change.
The Result: As a result of the restructuring, the client was able to hire junior-level staff and transition the Director on to something new. The new pod teams created workflow efficiencies that allowed them to take on even more work than expected. Moreover, the morale of this department has completely transformed. People are engaged, motivated and their clients are getting better results. This extremely profitable department was not only able to remain open; it is now the model they are implementing throughout the rest of their business.
