Vivaldis Interim; A strong centrally managed family company converted into a flat organization

2016 – Vivaldis Interim is a temporary agency with 25 offices in Belgium. It employs approximately 170 people. About six years ago, this company joined the project Innovative Labour Organisation (ILO) of Flandres Synergy (FS).

At a meeting two managers talked about their experience and this is reported in the Members Magazine of Flandres Synergy. Find below a summary of this article. 

Workplace innovation
A strong centrally managed family company was converted into a flat organization. There are five managers now and the staff is working in self-managing teams. Teams are constructed around the core processes. The employees also play various supporting and organizing roles. In each team a coach acts as moderator when there are disagreements. 

Drivers
There was no immediate reason for changing the business in for instance, a bad performance nor in a change of the market. A new CEO did not like the culture of control and did not feel well about the exercise of power. She and the HR manager ensured that a good future perspective functioned as a pull factor for the staff. 

Approach
The approach is conform the ILO FS model. The first step was the vision development. In the second step employees and customers were involved in the change process. The third step was the analysis of the primary process. Then teams were built around the core processes. 

Results

The article does not report any results. 

Lessons learned

You have to tell new employees in advance that there are few possibilities for vertical grow in this company. There are however many options for grow and development in horizontal direction. 

Reference

Vivaldis Interim, Case ‘Thank god, it’s Monday’ In: Flandres Synergy Members Magazine – Number 7 – September 2016, pp. 9 – 11. The article is attached.

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