When the Organization Behind the Growth Had to Catch Up
They came with
“We need to build HR.”
The question became
What kind of organization does HR actually need to serve?
A fast-growing shipyard initially asked for help establishing its HR capability. We agreed — but did not begin by building an HR department. We began by understanding the organization that HR would need to support.
The business was managing multiple complex shipbuilding projects at the same time for global customers. The economics made execution unforgiving: projects were contracted at an agreed price, cash was released progressively as milestones were completed, and a significant amount remained tied to final delivery. Delays, unanticipated costs and coordination failures therefore did not simply create operational inconvenience; they eroded already-thin project margins.
The analysis showed that the issue was larger than HR. The organization had grown around strong technical functions, while value — and financial performance — was being created through projects that cut across those functions. Internal communication costs, unclear cross-functional accountability and late delivery were directly affecting the economics of the business.
We therefore reframed the work around the organization itself.
Designing around how value was actually created
The resulting design separated two forms of accountability. Vertical expertise centres retained responsibility for technical depth, people, resources and professional capability. Horizontal project management carried responsibility for integrating the work around each shipbuilding project — coordinating functions, managing the customer relationship, protecting schedule and budget, and driving delivery.
The design went beyond structure. Roles and governance were clarified, key people were assessed against the capabilities their future roles required, and development priorities were identified. Performance and reward mechanisms were redesigned to reinforce the same economics: on-time, on-budget and complete delivery should create better outcomes for the project and for the people contributing to it.
At the same time, the original HR requirement was not forgotten. We helped recruit an HR Manager and worked alongside him during the design and enablement stages, mentoring him as the HR department and its systems were established so that capability could increasingly move inside the organization.
What the project became
What began as an HR request became a broader organizational redesign: a project-based hybrid organization supported by governance, roles, capability development, performance mechanisms and an internal HR function capable of carrying the work forward.
Projects
Expertise centres
A sound structure does not make itself real.
Matrix accountability places significant demands on leadership, people management and organizational culture. Those conditions need to be designed and enabled with the same care as the boxes and roles.
The work began with HR. The real challenge was designing the organization that HR — and the business — needed to make work.