Organization Scale for New PE Investment

Client: an international retailer recently acquired by PE investor.

Services: Talent Assessment, Organization Assessment.

The Challenge

This organization had stopped growing and was experiencing a downturn. They were struggling with legacy leaders hired by the founder in the earliest days of the business who had become overwhelmed by the size and complexities of the modern business and could not perform at the pace of the dynamic market and new PE investment partner. From the beginning, the senior team and founder struggled with loyalty to people vs. top-grading talent to allow for growth.

Our Solution

• Assessed the top two levels of leadership to provide recommendations on any required talent upgrades, development or structural changes.
• Provided an organization scan to determine how the organization was doing against Summit’s proprietary organization performance drivers.
• Worked closely with the PE partner and the founder to create an organization blueprint that was both achievable and also comfortable for their strategic goals.
• Presented our recommendations for immediate and longer term (1 year) actions and engaged the management team to drive the plan.
• Created scorecards and assessed external leadership talent required.

The Results

Over 50% of the top leadership in the company turned over or changed roles. Critical talent upgrades and improved team performance were made. The company was able to quickly pivot in the COVID-19 crisis towards a more e-commerce focus. They hired outside talent with experience at companies of the size they wanted to grow towards. The new management team set an ambitious strategy and executed well through the crisis. Additionally, critical talent was identified and retained. This made it easier to make tough decisions for the day to day business while continuing to put forward the founder’s winning mentality. The company is positioned for rapid growth following the pandemic.