The right structure for growth: delivering business transformation through organisational design at ThreeTwoFour

 

Rapid success often creates its own challenges in business. This forward-thinking consulting company recognised the need for external support and brought in People Puzzles to help create the right organisational structure for ongoing success.

The ThreeTwoFour Consultancy specialises in the resolution of security and technology risk challenges. As an entrepreneurial, owner-managed business, it has grown rapidly since its inception in 2019, and like many businesses on a steep growth curve, reached a point where organisational change was needed to support and deliver the next phase of growth.

But change can be difficult, especially in an owner-managed business where the founders and leadership team are so invested in the company’s journey. That’s when an experienced pair of hands, who can remain impartial, is often the best solution. An independent HR expert can help plan for these major shifts and disruptions, while identifying areas where the business can thrive, mapping out the people plan against the business’ strategic objectives. From reviewing the organisational structure to the skills and experience needed to drive the business forward and deliver against its goals, a fractional HR Director can really make the difference in delivering successful and smooth transition in times of change.

The founders reached out to People Puzzles, and in November 2021, part-time People Director Divya Kanani-Jones came on board to support the leadership team and navigate some challenging decisions.

“ThreeTwoFour has gone on a very exciting, but at times quite challenging, journey. The opportunity to provide both support and counsel to the Founder and Leadership Team members during these challenging times, seeing it through to stability, has been very rewarding.” Divya Kanani-Jones, People Director

Divya supported ThreeTwoFour in three key areas:

1. Enabling business transformation through organisational design

Working closely with the Founders, Divya provided both direction and counsel during a review of the organisation design and structure, which helped establish what was needed to support the business growth plans. Having a strategic, impartial viewpoint helped clarify and refine the vision.

Once the new structure was agreed, it was clear the leadership roles needed to be reviewed too. Each role needed to be aligned to deliver against the business goals in the growth plan. This required new job descriptions that gave absolute clarity on each of the individual roles in the leadership team, what they were responsible for delivering and the skills and experience needed to achieve this.

With any business change, it’s important to ensure that the wider team are kept informed every step of the way. Divya supported this by developing a program of communication, that fed key information to the team at the right time, helping to ensure that these changes had minimal impact on the positive culture within ThreeTwoFour.

2. Building robust HR Processes to support scaling up

With any growing business, processes and procedures also need reviewing and updating. What often got you to where you are today, will often break under the strain as your business grows. Divya reviewed the effectiveness of ThreeTwoFour’s HR platform, and implemented various initiatives that would support the business after their organisational change and prioritise recruitment for future growth.

Working with a Talent Partner, Divya reviewed the hiring process and implemented a more cost-effective, direct hiring model. This helped to successfully reduce the cost of hiring by bringing it in-house and prioritising direct hiring.

Divya also identified and implemented a structure for an assessment centre to create an inclusive and effective selection process, which not only led to the successful hiring of an ex-military veteran, but has contributed to the business seeing the lowest staff turnover since its inception.

Finally, to ensure consistency across the board, all employee contracts were harmonised to support a flexible and agile resource model, which not only supports the retention of great people at ThreeTwoFour but was key to attracting great new talent to fill new roles as the business grew. 

3. Delivering an enhanced positive culture through core values 

Reviewing company values to ensure they are fit for purpose, both for now but the future, is vital for every business. Divya supported ThreeTwoFour in defining and implementing its core values, which have been embedded into all people functions from recruitment to employee review, reward and recognition. As a direct result of making the values more visible and consistent, ThreeTwoFour has been able to enhance the positive culture across the business. 

Divya has enjoyed working with 324. “ThreeTwoFour is an employer with a big heart,” she says. “They truly believe in the importance of the employee experience and supporting enabling team.  They also appreciate the value a People Director brings and it’s a pleasure to work with them.”

Building future-ready foundations

ThreeTwoFour’s success story and support from Divya doesn’t end there. After the changes in the business and their transformation program, ThreeTwoFour has been successfully acquired by Node 4, highlighting the importance of a strategic people plan in aligning business functions to achieve business goals, whether those goals include attracting investment, acquisition or sustainable growth.

 

Could your business benefit from some expert guidance on structure, culture and performance? Whatever stage of the journey you’re at, if you can see the benefit of keeping people at the heart of your business and creating a future-ready strategy for growth,  we’d love to have a chat. For a free 30-minute consultation with an HR Director local to you, please contact us on 0345 646 5201, or email hello@peoplepuzzles for a call back.