“If you were starting your company over today and knew everything you know now, how would you structure the business in order to grow, fix any problems, or achieve whatever your goals may be?”
That’s the key question that Jim Geier asks his clients when opening a dialog for a potential Organizational Assessment. According to Jim, “There’s always a logical business reason for engaging in this process—whether rolling out a new strategy for the company, bringing in new talent to get you to the next level, or restructuring a particular department.”
Take a look at how one company leveraged the Organizational Assessment process to boost morale and grow the company.
When Nick Lanzi, entrepreneur and CEO, met Jim Geier over five years ago through BCA—a group of community and business leaders in the Delaware Valley—he recognized that he was struggling with some business issues. He had no idea that he would come to rely on—and later credit Jim—for contributing to the outstanding success of his business, Direct Choice, Inc., a national direct marketing agency.
As with many businesses, most of Nick’s issues involved communications with and between employees, while his frustration stemmed from feeling like he had to do it all. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, Nick felt he had to closely oversee every situation to get his clients’ work done properly. Furthermore, he felt that his employees worked in silos—focusing on the job at hand—more so than communicating amongst themselves to improve workflow and contribute to the overall business.
Enter Jim Geier. First Nick enlisted Jim to speak to every employee privately. When Jim reported his findings—aptly known as “The Good. The Bad. And The Ugly.”—they revealed the communications issues, many of which Nick was able to address immediately.
Nick and Jim looked at the organization to try to figure out if everyone was the right fit and if any duties could be shifted around. Jim also conducted a marketplace salary study to make sure employees were being fairly compensated. As a result, they put together a roadmap of what was going to happen and when. As part of his communication improvement program, Nick meets with employees every other month to share the financials of the agency (a unanimous request), so they now know the target for the year and where they stand regarding budget and sales.
According to Nick, “I can honestly say that everyone in my firm trusts Jim completely.”
In addition, the company bonus plan was improved and is now based on the success of the agency (40%), in addition to each employee meeting a set of goals (60%). Jim helped Nick put a formal new hire interviewing process in place—everything from position descriptions through helping define the qualifications and background requirements. He also interviews key executives for the agency.
A highly detailed person, Nick admits, “I love the structure. I would never have found the time or know-how to put this in place myself.”
Before working with Jim, Nick feels he made some hiring mistakes. “Now, every person has been stellar. In fact, during the time I’ve been working with Jim, he has helped me hire more than 50% of the agency’s employees. Jim also created an employee handbook for onboarding and reference.”
Nick often boasts about the positive effect that Jim has had on Nick and his company.
“If you are a business owner or executive, Jim is a great asset. Even if you have a Human Resources function in your company, you’ll never find someone as adept, qualified, and trustworthy as Jim. Jim is a senior level executive that has seen it all—and he has a solution and a structure for pretty much any business challenge.”
“Furthermore, the financial savings that Jim brings to a company outweigh the cost of engagement. Low turnover and employee satisfaction top the list. We’re saving so much money by not onboarding and off-boarding employees. While I’m not completely cured, Jim also continues to work with me to tamper my obsession for over-managing the details, for which both my employees and I are grateful.”
Let HCC Partners help your company remain prepared for the unexpected. Contact Jim Geier, Founder at 215.244.8110 or jim.geier@hccpartners.com.