Competence Teams for More Agility
More Agility and Client Focus
IN4NOVA is new company but complexity of processes are growing. To become agile in spite of its new size, the QA specialist has launched a committed restructuring program to create a decentralized organization. At its heart are so-called competence teams, which are designed to ensure a consistent client focus and agility.
With this restructuring, IN4NOVA is fostering its own growth. More importantly, it is responding to the evolution and trends within its clients’ markets, which are rapidly becoming more complex and more dynamic, while employee needs are changing. Many people are looking for higher flexibility in their work, more decision-making freedom and higher responsibility. Usually, companies respond to a more dynamic marketplace by expanding their administration apparatus and raising the standardization of their processes. The result is that they often spend more time working on internal matters than with their customers. This result in missing important trends and gambling with the motivation of their workforce, which can often feel hampered by the growing administrative workload. When the dynamic market sets the pace externally, it is often the periphery of the organization that has its finger on the pulse and is best placed to ensure customer satisfaction. This periphery needs managers who trust their staff, enabling them to act independently, quickly and flexibly. Agility is therefore the motto for modern companies operating in a volatile market. IN4NOVA CEO, Alfonso Reitenspiess, thus also sees agility as a key prerequisite for the long-term success of his company. That’s why he decided to restructure IN4NOVA into a decentralized organization similar to a cell (see diagram).
Cell structure for more client focus
The most important aspect of the modern cell structure is that company management no longer sits at the top of a hierarchy pyramid – from where they hand down “commands” – but in the center of a cell. It is their job to make sure the periphery, i.e. the customer teams, are able to work at their best and with the highest possible degree of autonomy. This ensures the company always has its finger on the pulse. IN4NOVA began implementing a cell model at the start of the new year. First, existing client projects were shaped into competence teams, each immediately headed up by newly appointed Competence Team Leaders (CTL). These CTLs will ensure that the processes work in their respective team, that all team members have the best possible working conditions and that communication with the management team works well. The CTLs will also gradually take on tasks that were previously handled by management – such as aspects of HR or the strategic yearly planning for their team.
To expand these competencies within IN4NOVA, Alfonso Reitenspiess also wants to push forward with the development of the “IN4NOVA Academy”, the company’s in-house training program. All staff will have the opportunity of continual personal development in line with their individual needs in order to be armed to face the challenges of the agile world.