Problem:
The Department Manager of a multi-national consulting firm suffered a heart attack, and as a result, for a period of one year he was not well enough to consistently manage his staff, his projects and the department as whole. What compounded the problem was that it took the senior management over a year to decide to take action to remedy the situation.
Solution:
Moein Varaei was brought in as the new Department Manager.
It should be highlighted that the company did not promote the most senior person in the department; instead, they brought Moein in to revive this department, even though Moein was not a marine engineer. They did that because of the trust the senior management had in Moein’s skills and abilities. In brief, the company felt that they needed a pragmatic person who could:
- Investigate difficult issues;
- Plan the way forward;
- Follow procedures as laid out in the company’s QMS system;
- Build and manage teams;
- Manage client relationships; and
- Focus on getting paid for the work carried out.
Activities:
During his tenure as the Department Manager, Moein:
- Investigated and determined the current status of all projects;
- Identified and planned what needed to be done to progress the projects;
- Provided regular updates to the management;
- Reassured the remaining staff that a proactive plan was in place to revive the department;
- Recruited the much-needed technical staff to replace the ones that had left as a result of the department being neglected for over a year;
- Reassured clients that the department was going to honour its commitments and deliver projects efficiently from now on;
- Strengthened the company’s relationship with the clients and mended fences with clients who had been neglected for about one year;
- Ensured all outstanding project deliverables were submitted in accordance with the QMS manual; and
- Submitted outstanding invoices and relentlessly pursued payments of invoices.
Outcome:
During Moein’s tenure, the Marine Department’s cash-flow and its relationship with its clients were significantly improved. In addition, the team became stronger technically, and as a result the department was back on track.