Centralize or decentralize — answered with evidence, not opinion.

The ask

Provide a recommendation on centralized, decentralized and hybrid organizational models for the forestry, horticulture and natural resources division, against their existing decentralized model.

Our approach

• Conducted over 30 interviews with stakeholders ranging from the Chief Operating Officer to foresters working in the field, so the options and their ramifications were understood from both ends of the organization rather than only the top.
• Analyzed data to evaluate what each option would do to business operations, budget, assets and headcount.

The outcome

A comprehensive report and restructuring strategy including implementation plans, vetted through executive sessions with the department’s leadership to discuss and pressure-test the recommendations.

Why it matters

Reorganization recommendations fail when they are built from the executive floor alone. Talking to the foresters is what surfaced the operational consequences that would otherwise have been discovered after the reorganization, not before it.