Kategorie: 1. Transformation

Plans are easy. Execution is where transformation succeeds—or fails.

Even the best roadmap won’t deliver results if teams are misaligned, overwhelmed, or unclear on priorities. That’s why execution must be as structured and transparent as planning.

Here’s how to get it right:

🔁 Establish steering and feedback loops. Fortnightly alignment with clear KPIs helps spot deviations early.
🧠 Facilitate cross-functional workshops. Align understanding across the operating model—structure, governance, roles, and behaviors.
📢 Communicate frequently and authentically. Silence fuels skepticism. Regular updates maintain momentum and trust.
📌 Embed the change in routines. New governance rituals, KPIs, roles, and escalation paths ensure the transformation isn’t undone by old habits.
📈 Learn and evolve. Build the capacity for continuous improvement—from lessons learned to process refinement.

Transformation is not a one-time fix.
It’s the start of a new way of operating—more aligned, more accountable, and more capable of adapting.

The real success?
When the organization no longer needs the transformation manager—because transformation has become part of the culture.

🔎 If this resonates – let’s talk.
If the situations I describe sound familiar—and you’re unsure what the next step should be—let’s connect.
I help executive teams create clarity, focus, and momentum in complex transformation environments.

Once a company accepts that change is necessary, the next challenge emerges:
How do you turn complexity into a focused, executable plan?

A good transformation plan doesn’t start with solutions. It starts with understanding:

• How do your functions really work together?
• Where are the bottlenecks—and what causes them?
• What are the interfaces and hidden dependencies?
• Which legacy structures prevent change?
• Which initiatives are draining resources without impact?

In my work, I often map this across key operating model components:
🧩 Organizational structure,
🧩 People & capabilities,
🧩 Governance & decision-making,
🧩 Roles & processes,
🧩 Culture & communication.

Here’s what I recommend:

✅ Don’t try to fix everything at once. Prioritize by impact and feasibility.
✅ Co-develop milestones with the teams. Transformation is done with, not to, the organization.
✅ Build realistic resource & budget scenarios. Underestimating effort is the surest path to burnout.
✅ Embed clear communication & feedback loops. Everyone needs to know where things stand—and why.

The goal is not just a roadmap.
It’s a roadmap that your organization believes in and is ready to follow.

🔎 If this resonates – let’s talk.
If the situations I describe sound familiar—and you’re unsure what the next step should be—let’s connect.
I help executive teams create clarity, focus, and momentum in complex transformation environments.

Keep your eyes peeled for Part 3: Making it stick!

Admitting that your business has a problem is rarely the hard part.
Admitting that your current approach won’t fix it—that’s the real hurdle.

Too often, management teams respond to declining performance with more of the same: more meetings, more reports, more pressure. They double down on what’s familiar—after all, it once worked. But when results don’t improve, frustration builds.

I’ve seen this in many transformation cases: a well-intentioned team applying yesterday’s tools to today’s challenges—internally, with limited bandwidth, unclear root causes, and growing skepticism.

What makes the difference?

👉 A leadership team that sees clarity—not control—as the real power.
👉 The courage to bring in a neutral, experienced perspective.
👉 The insight that transformation isn’t an admission of failure, but a signal of strength.

If you’re sensing fragmentation, internal friction, or „initiative overload“ without measurable results—these are not signs of weakness. They are early signals. And the sooner they’re addressed, the better your options.

Transformation starts with a decision:
Let’s stop spinning and start steering.

🔎 If this resonates – let’s talk.
If the situations I describe sound familiar—and you’re unsure what the next step should be—let’s connect.

I help executive teams create clarity, focus, and momentum in complex transformation environments.

Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2: Building a Focused Transformation

An effective Target Operating Model (TOM) is more than a blueprint—it’s the glue that binds strategy to execution. To unlock its full potential, seven key components must not only be designed well in isolation but also aligned seamlessly with one another:

1. Organizational Structure
2. People (Headcount & Capabilities)
3. Geographical Footprint
4. Roles & Responsibilities
5. Collaboration Models & Processes
6. Governance (Decision Forums & Escalation)
7. Corporate Culture

Below, I’ll describe how to align these building blocks—and how, as a consultant, I guide organizations through this journey—culminating in the clear benefits you can expect.

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1. Start with the End in Mind: Strategy-to-Structure

Before any layer of your TOM can take shape, you must translate strategic objectives into structural imperatives:

• Define Strategic Priorities (e.g. growth markets, cost leadership, product innovation)
• Map Organizational Layers to those priorities (e.g. global business units, regional hubs, shared services)

A consultant’s role: facilitate executive workshops to crystallize strategy, then design a high-level org chart that embeds those priorities at every level.

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2. People & Capabilities: Right Skills, Right Place

Once the structure is clear, identify the critical roles and capabilities needed:

• Headcount Planning: Quantify talent needs by function and geography
• Capability Assessment: Benchmark existing skills against future requirements
• Talent Roadmap: Hire, train, or redeploy people to close gaps

A consultant’s role: run capability assessments, lead skill-gap analyses, and co-create a talent-development plan with HR and business leaders.

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3. Geographical Footprint: Local versus Global

Your footprint should align with your structure and people strategy:

• Centralized vs. Decentralized: Decide which functions (e.g. R&D, customer support) live in regional hubs versus centralized centers
• Regulatory & Market Factors: Evaluate tax, labor, and customer proximity considerations

A consultant’s role: model alternative footprint scenarios—balancing cost, compliance, and responsiveness—and recommend the optimal deployment of your teams.

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4. Roles & Responsibilities: Who Does What, When

Clarity here prevents duplication and confusion:

• RACI Matrices: Document who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for key processes
• Role Profiles: Define the decision rights, inputs, and outputs for each core role

A consultant’s role: facilitate cross-functional workshops to build RACI matrices, ensure both leadership and execution layers buy in, and lock down clear role descriptions.

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5. Collaboration Models & Processes: The How of Getting Things Done

Processes are the nervous system of your TOM:

• Process Workflows: Map end-to-end processes, from order intake to delivery and billing
• Collaboration Platforms: Select tools (e.g. Teams, Miro, ERP) that embed your workflows

A consultant’s role: lead process-mapping sessions, introduce “best practice” process models, and ensure your chosen collaboration tools are configured to support them.

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6. Governance: Decision Rights & Escalation Paths

Good governance balances speed and control:

• Decision Forums: Define which councils or committees make which decisions, at what frequency
• Escalation Models: Clarify how and when issues move up the chain

A consultant’s role: draft charters for governance bodies, recommend meeting cadences, and build dashboards that surface the right metrics to each forum.

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7. Corporate Culture: The Invisible Catalyst

Culture ties it all together—without it, even the best-designed TOM will stall:

• Behavioral Principles: Articulate values that guide day-to-day actions (e.g. “Collaborate openly,” “Own the outcome”)
• Change Management: Use communications, role modeling, and quick-win celebrations to embed new ways of working

A consultant’s role: design a culture-activation plan—ranging from leadership alignment sessions to interactive town halls—that brings your values and behaviors to life.

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Bringing It All Together: The Consultant’s Playbook

1. Diagnosis & Baseline: Assess current TOM against desired future state
2. Blueprint Design: Co-create alignment across all seven components
3. Implementation Roadmap: Develop a sequenced plan with clear milestones, owners, and governance
4. Execution Support: Embed a “train-the-trainer” approach, interim PMO support, and regular health-checks
5. Sustain & Evolve: Establish continuous improvement cycles to keep your TOM fit for purpose

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Key Benefits of a Holistic TOM Alignment

• Strategic Agility: Rapid pivoting in response to market shifts
• Operational Efficiency: Elimination of redundancies and process bottlenecks
• Enhanced Decision-Making: Faster, more transparent governance
• People Engagement: Clear career paths and ownership cultivate commitment
• Risk Mitigation: Robust processes and escalation paths reduce surprises

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A fully aligned Operating Model doesn’t just exist on paper—it drives real, sustainable performance improvements. If you’re ready to give your transformation the backbone it needs, let’s connect and discuss how to tailor this approach to your organization.

In times of transformation, M&A, or strategic change, the Target Operating Model (TOM) often gets sidelined. Yet, it plays a central role in turning ideas into execution.

Here are five reasons why it’s worth your attention:

1. Alignment of Strategy with Execution

The TOM defines the structures, processes, and behaviors that hold the organization together—including your corporate culture. With this clarity, teams across all functions can make faster, more informed decisions.

2. Fit-for-purpose Structures

Is your current organization still the right one? TOM design helps re-assess roles, capabilities, capacities, and governance – without jumping into re-org mode too early.

3. Operational Efficiency

TOM work shines a light on overlaps, gaps, and friction. It enables process improvements and more effective use of resources.

4. Integration or Carve-out Readiness

In M&A, TOMs help ensure smooth transitions – by defining what needs to work “Day 1” and how the future setup will look.

5. People Engagement

A clearly communicated TOM builds trust. It helps people understand their role in the bigger picture – and reduces uncertainty in change.

My take:

Designing a TOM is not about adding complexity. It’s about giving transformation a backbone.

💬 Have you recently worked on your TOM? I’d love to hear how you approached it.

#OperatingModel #Transformation #Leadership #MergersAndAcquisitions #PMI #CFO #StrategyExecution 

Sie möchten weder Junior Consultants noch überteuerte Partner im Hintergrund, aber einem einzelnen Freelancer allein trauen Sie die Aufgabe nicht zu? Dann haben wir die Lösung!

Michael Maier und Diethard Engel steuern Ihr Projekt als eingespieltes Team – mit der Umsetzungssicherheit, die Ihr Unternehmen verlangt.

✅ Erfolgreiche Projekte in Maschinen- & Anlagenbau, Automobilindustrie und weiteren Branchen
✅ Perfekte Kombination aus Ingenieurs- & CFO-Expertise
✅ Internationale Erfahrung mit komplexen Transformationen
✅ Kontinuität & Kapazität für große strategische Herausforderungen in Transformation, Integration und Carve-out

Wie stellen Sie den Erfolg Ihres Programms sicher? Lassen Sie uns über einen maßgeschneiderten und optimierten Ansatz sprechen.

If I had a crystal ball to foresee the future, I’d sit on a beach and sip a cocktail. Well – I don’t.

In fact, very likely at the time I can lay my hand on the proverbial crystal ball, everybody else would have one, too. So, in a way, I am glad there are no crystal balls helping me or anyone else to predict what is going to happen: It would destroy my business model as a consultant and project manager, as I manage my clients‘ exposure to risk.

Project Management = Risk Management

Mostly I lead transformation, carve-out and/or post-merger integration projects. Such projects are very complex, and high complexity generally translates into high risk. Many a thing can happen in the course of such programs: System failures, resource issues, a pandemic breaks lose, loss of key people, roadblocks with the works council, unforeseen regulatory hurdles…. You name it, I’ve been there.

Unfortunately, ambiguity lies in the nature my daily business, and dealing with it is one of my core challenges. Hence, I manage my client’s exposure to unwanted outcomes by predicting what might happen, and find ways to either prevent it, or at least prepare for it. The classic risk register is a simple, but proven tool to collect risk information, and hold a catalog of mitigation strategies.

Risks to the Project Timeline

Usually, I am working to a set timeline in my assignments. (If there was no timeline set by the client, I will set one: Swift implementation is a key success factor in PMI scenarios in particular. Procrastination never adds value – compare my article on the subject.) Since anything is connected to everything in transformation projects, understanding and management of functional dependencies is critical to project success: There are no ivory towers in my line of work, and if there were, they needed breaking down.

Since sequential task completion does not work in complex environments, many activities run in parallel; they are interconnected, and yet I have to give the project direction based upon incomplete information and projections. In the interest of time, I make assumptions of projected outcomes and schedule accordingly. Failing to do so, waiting for hard facts instead of applying probabilities to potential alternative events and outcomes will most likely lead to missing the overall timeline.

Conveying the concept of dealing with ambiguity, of being at the ready for a desired outcome, but at the same time prepare for the unwanted, is a project manager’s key competence. It takes conviction, persuasive power and a very good understanding of the project, functional interfaces and dependencies to succeed.

A regular, open and healthy exchange of information on progress, risks and new dependencies across functional workstreams will facilitate cross-fertilization, risk-flagging and early alignment. The good old stand-up meeting presents a great stage for key team members to report on their tasks ahead and challenge others. Be sure to make this a firm part of your team’s schedule.

Covid-19 is impacting on many businesses – directly or indirectly: The economy takes a nose-dive, and the future is more uncertain than ever. How should Management react?

Steering a ship in calm waters is difficult already, but holding the helm in rough seas takes perseverance, a clear vision, and trust into own and the team’s capabilities. It is any CEO’s first responsibility to improve (and grow) a business, even in rough times.

1. Strategy
   The business strategy describes the path to success, in particular considering markets, technology, and competition. Strategic goals and objectives are long term – usually with a minimum horizon of 5-7 years (may be shorter in New Economy business models). Having a strategy at all is a good starting point, but sticking to it is imperative since the determinants of the market environment usually do not change over night – not even in a pandemic.
   
2. Tactics
   A successful strategy is supported by a series of well-defined, concrete postulations, targeting specific goals and objectives. They define the stepping stones towards full implementation – and largely translate into those strategic projects without which the strategic process comes to a grinding halt.
   
3. Drive or Stall?
   Exceptional situations require exceptional measures – but panic is a bad advisor. Even in a shrinking economy, the general business direction will remain the same. Instead of stopping all strategic initiatives, each of them should be reviewed carefully for its effectiveness, cash-impact and risk/reward ratio in an objective process.
   
4. Risk Management
   Obviously, especially in uncertain environments managing risk becomes paramount. Implementing KPI systems, routine milestone reviews, and a stage gate process to control critical waypoints are essential elements of a continuous monitoring process.
   
5. Courage
   „Killing your puppies is the hardest part!“, is a quote by an R&D Director I used to work with. It takes courage to stop a process one has invested in…. Nevertheless, pulling the plug on a project may very well be the right decision if the project is derailed, and objectives cannot be reached at all or at least not with acceptable efforts.

Summary

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‚crisis.‘ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity.” (Quote by John F. Kennedy)

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to strategic decision making. However, driving the strategy by implementing strategic projects in a controlled manner will position the business for the future. Heeding this principle will allow you to hit the ground running past the pandemic.

The author: Diethard Engel is an interim manager and consultant, focused on Business Transformation, Post-merger Integration / Carve-out and Executive Finance in the manufacturing industry.

Stellen Sie sich folgendes Szenario vor: Ein Unternehmen tätigt eine Akquisition. Im neuen gemeinsamen Unternehmen soll geändert werden: Nichts. Ist das wirklich ein wahrscheinliches Szenario?

In meiner Erfahrung ist jedes Post-merger Integration Projekt mit erheblichen Veränderungen für beide Unternehmensteile verbunden: Das akquirierende Unternehmen will strategische Ziele erreichen, und strategische Ziele erlangt man nur durch die Umsetzung spezifischer Maßnahmen, zum Beispiel durch Änderung des Footprint und Angebots, Vereinheitlichung der Prozesse und Systeme, und oft auch durch Verschlankung der Personalstruktur – alles Schritte einer echten Business Transformation. Neben der Fehleinschätzung der erreichbaren Synergien liegt das größte Risiko für eine erfolgreiche Integration in der Unterschätzung des Veränderungsbedarfs.

Als Interim Manager habe ich internationale PMI-Projekte durchgeführt, die sich vordergründig durch den Zusammenschluss zweier oder mehr Unternehmen definierten, tatsächlich aber im Gesamtblick viel eher einer gemeinsamen Neuaufstellung (manchmal sogar: Restrukturierung) glichen. Die Geschäftsführung muss sich darüber im Klaren sein, dass jede Integration eine Neudefinition der Strukturen bedeutet, und dass die Umsetzung mit den üblichen Risiken einer Restrukturierung einhergeht: Verunsicherung und Motivationsrückgang, ungewollter Personal- und damit Know-how-Verlust, Produktivitätseinbuße, Unterbrechung der Supply Chain….

Die Entwicklung des Integrationsplans unter Berücksichtigung dieser Aspekte kann den Unterschied zwischen erfolgreicher Integration und Vernichtung von Kapital bedeuten. Leadership, Transparenz und Kommunikation sind erwiesene Treiber erfolgreicher Integrationsvorhaben. Daneben ist die Umsetzungsgeschwindigkeit nachweislich ein weiterer Erfolgsfaktor: Langwierige Integrationsvorhaben haben sich in der Praxis als nicht effektiv erwiesen.  

Da oft keine geeignete interne Ressource für die operative Post-merger Integration zur Verfügung steht, kann die Verpflichtung eines externen PMI-Managers die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer erfolgreichen Integration und damit einer erfolgreichen Akquisition erhöhen.

Weitere Tipps von PMI-Profis und Beratungshäusern zum Thema Integration Management finden sich als Beiträge hier auf meiner Website.
 

Zum Autor: Diethard Engel ist als Interim Manager auf die Bereiche Business Transformation, Post-merger Integration / Carve-out und Executive Finance für produzierende Unternehmen spezialisiert.