Client stories

Eliminating functional silos

Organization Design

The business challenges

As part of its growth strategy, our client, a regional trade body, needed to align a new organizational structure to accommodate their expanded services in new geographical locations. It was crucial for them to capitalize on their strengths to guarantee scalability and sustained development while improving overall performance. However,  a centralized decision-making approach and the absence of collaboration among teams led to the creation of silos and significant communication gaps between the leadership team and staff.

How we optimized performance

JBC took a proactive approach to address the core challenges by involving staff right from the beginning, collaborating with them to co-create solutions that best suited the organization. This process began with an online survey that allowed staff to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the organizational culture. Workshops were then conducted to engage the leadership team in defining clear objectives, success metrics, and criteria for the future of the organization.

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To ensure sustainable success in the long run, it was necessary for the organization to shift away from centralized decision-making and instead focus on a more empowered senior leadership team. JBC explored the implications of transitioning from an operational to a strategic focus and from silos to a matrix structure. Multiple structural options were designed and tested in collaboration with the leadership team, with the aim of enhancing the organization's ways of working.

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To facilitate a smooth transition, an implementation plan was developed, and support was provided to the leadership and management teams to embrace the new culture. A management style based on trust, openness, and accessibility was embedded throughout the organization. JBC played a crucial role in designing and facilitating leadership and management programs that aligned with the new culture and ways of working. Additionally, coaching support was offered to the CEO to ensure their successful adaptation to the changes.

Breakthrough results

The new organizational structure was successfully implemented to ensure that the company's capacity in new areas aligned with its strategic priorities.
The implementation effectively eliminated functional silos, encouraging collaboration and communication among teams. This resulted in faster decision-making, improved alignment, and facilitated scaling for sustained growth.
By streamlining coordination mechanisms, the complexity between teams was reduced, leading to enhanced ways of working.
The newfound emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration and trust within the organization had a positive impact on program outputs, resulting in improvements.
To support the matrix structure, new decision-making processes were defined, clearly outlining accountabilities, behaviours, and ways of working.
Through the creation of an empowered management team, the burden of operational activities was lifted from the senior leadership team.
Overall, these changes led to improved communication, and staff trust and engagement were increased across the organization.