Time, Talent, Energy

3

Simplify the Operating Model

Disciplined time management allows your organization to get more done more efficiently. There’s less wheel-spinning, less yield loss, fewer wasted hours. But what if the work should never have been done in the first place? What if far fewer people could be planning, performing, and approving the necessary tasks?

At many companies, the principal source of organizational drag is the sheer complexity of the organization and the resulting bloat of business units, functions, and task forces. Sasol, the South Africa–based energy and chemicals company, recently transformed its organization to reduce drag, but before it began, it had 46 business units and functions reporting to the Group Executive Committee, 210 subsidiary ...