I’ve been thinking about how to restructure and save organizations this morning and one of the clients I am working with is facing a reorganization.
After going over the mission and thinking through the problems, we came up with a pretty easy solution that the board and managers could hang their hats on and sell to the rest of the stakeholders.
Once I got around to thinking about it, I realized that this is applicable to almost any organization or project.
1. Stabilize: You have probably heard it said that the first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging. That cliche works. The first thing you need to do if you are trying to right an organization or a project is to stabilize it. You need to know exactly where you are and what the real situation is. Until that point, you can not go forward.
2. Funding: Since I am talking about organizations and projects that have monetary requirements or aspects, you always have to be conscious of where you are at with your financing. You are going to have to address how much money you have on hand; how much you need; and where is this funding going to come from.
Remember, cash flow is king.
3. Growth: Once you have set aside the issues related to stabilizing the project and making sure that there is the money in place to get the project moving or completed, you can now begin to move the project forward. I use growth here, but you can simply say progress and have the same basic idea come forth.
Once you know what the problems have been, you should be able to build in a structure that allows for forward motion and successful completion or resolution of your project.