Either way, to get the point and the title of this posting. In his introduction yesterday the CFO said two things that I admired:

1. He was proud of the fact that in ten years he had not re-organised. Hee felt re-organization was often an excuse for putting off responsibility, rather than accepting it
2. He was pleased they had retained a divisional structure, allowing the Finance community to become intimate with the business, rather that requiring the by business to conform with the needs of finance. Yes it carried a cost burden, but the value contribution more than compensated for that.

Now there were other things in his talk, and the contributions of the rest of the family that were valuable but those are the items I want to share today. To me it represents wisdom in the true sense of the world rather than opportunism. To be blessed with a wise, rather than an opportunistic leader is a blessing. It contrasts well with other organisations,
Now what follows is drawn on my own experience and that of other people I have talked to, but it is not intended to represent any particular company. That said in the last ten years most people in large corporates will have been re-organised between five and ten times. The normal cycle goes something like this (assuming a calender year end:

1. Around about September rumors start to circulate of change. Things have not gone to plan (not the same thing as not going well) l this year. The consultants may be called in and meetings start to take place. If you are not a part of these meetings your status has dropped.
2. Towards the end of October everyone knows that something is up and much energy goes into political maneuvering and positioning.
3. Towards the end of November or early December the new organisation is announced, generally with the inner circle being reshuffled into the top posts. December is then a frantic period in which people try and bury the kitchen sink in the numbers to make the next year easy. Political players soon slot into the main jobs, while those who care about the customers are sidelined.
4. Layoffs are made for the Christmas season, and then january and most of February is spent in the final allocation of clients, staff and the like. It is at this point that all sorts of nasties, not anticipated during the idealistic design stage are discovered and parts of the re-organisation are themselves re-organised
5. By late February things have settled, but them people realise that the Q1 numbers are not looking good, as everyone has been internally not externally focused
6. March and April represent the only periods in the year when people focus on the core business
7. By May Q2 is not looking good. In June and July lots of meetings are called and a consultancy firm (often the same one for reasons I have never understood given they are generally responsible for the mess) are called in
8. In August plans are in full swing, with the inner circle already starting to position themselves and in September rumor starts to sweep the organisation
9. Go to 1 above

Sound familiar? It is not just commercial companies either, government of late and even the voluntary sector have adopted what we might, with irony, call industrial best practice. In effect the re-organisation has become a plague which comes annually with the monsoon. It is of course accompanied by wonderful statements and aspiration goals, otherwise known as platitudes . It also generates multiple perversions such as the target hopping executive who never takes responsibility for their annual move to asset strip a new area and the indifference to customers and employees which is the exact opposite of a family.