We have just ended a long-term engagement with a software development company in Cape Town.
Our terms of engagement were to provide external input into the management thinking of the company and to advise the CEO accordingly.
One of our roles was to raise points which, due to the management structure, staff and line managers were not able to voice to the entrenched management, in essence, we acted as a bridge as well as to add valuable input to the strategic direction which at times seemed to be our biggest and most common challenge: getting people to change their set way of thinking and to look beyond the horizon.
The result of our engagement was a successful one in that we our advice to introduce a a new management structure which comprised of the line managers, who in essence deal with the day-to-day issues, forming the new Executive Committee, with the old-guard taking a more mentoring approach.
We wish them all the success in their future fortunes.