An Executive’s Tale (cont'd)

"So, how ' s that working out?" I asked.

"Well, it started with a lot of activity and, of course, a lot of paperwork being issued by the VP in charge. Then, with a resounding thud, nothing seemed to happen."

"Nothing?" I raised my eyebrows and looked back at him hard.

"Well, certainly not what I expected. I'm told that some of the technical measurements that I don't really understand have been getting better, but the numbers I am worried about - like churn and customer perception of the network quality - are stuck in the mud.

"So six months ago I became seriously concerned with the lack of results. But when I thought about it, I realized all of the other areas of the company we needed to reorganize before there would be any substantive improvements. I had them bring in some expensive consultants with lots of experience doing this sort of reorganization, though in IT organizations. We had them execute a wholesale change to our network organization."

I shuttered and put my head in my hands. "I am afraid to ask, but I have to - what happened next?"

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"This is the part I really don't understand. Everything went sour. The technical results got worse, the customer satisfaction with the network got worse, and the employee satisfaction got a lot worse. Even the region that had the best numbers began to slip.

"So, that ' s where we are today. I need you to help me think this through and figure out how to turn this around. I know how to run a business, and have done turnarounds in companies that seemed a lot worse off than this one. But I am at a loss about how to get this network organization performing at the level of the rest of the business. I need some advice."

"Well, Dave, you know me; before I can tell you anything I have to ask you a few questions first" I began. "Actually, I think you know exactly what to do. What ' s getting in the way is your impression that the network organization ' s inner workings are mysterious and incomprehensible."

"Well, maybe so, ” he quickly retorted, “ but to me and most of my executive team network ' s inner workings are mysterious and incomprehensible." The look on his face was almost desperate.

"Let ' s think about this, ” I said. “ Tell me a little bit more about how you turned around the customer service organization. Did you reorganize it and it fixed itself, or was there more to it?"

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