Royal Medical College - Organisational Review

Our Client

An eminent Medical College and Charity with income of £12 million and several hundred staff, providing education, examinations, training, research and audit services to its membership and the profession in general.

Our Brief

To review the existing committee and management structure of the college and identify areas for improvement. This included:
· whether the management structure supported the objectives of the College
· the role/responsibilities/duties of the College Secretary and Heads of Departments
· the committee structure, and
· governance arrangements.

Our Approach

An essential strategy was to adopt a consultative approach as the assignment involved collecting a wide range of disparate views and distilling them into the key issues for the college. In some areas, where these views were so entrenched a very convincing (and well researched) case for change was required.

The college was dysfunctional in several areas- it’s high degree of compartmentalisation, it’s lack of mutual awareness between departments and a total absence of corporate focus. Our report included initiatives specifically designed to break down these barriers between departments and to get the senior management of the college working as one “team”.

Because of the nature and extent of change we eventually recommended, it was important to adopt an iterative approach to developing our proposals so the trustees fully understood the thinking behind our proposed solutions. It was also necessary to set up an interim structure which could be adopted until it was possible to fully implement our proposals.

Our Achievements

Our recommendations led directly to the selection and appointment of a new Chief Executive, who, in all major aspects, has implemented the new proposed structure.

In addition, the College now has:

· Agreed job descriptions for the Chief Executive, President and Heads of Departments
· Trustees with a much better understanding of their governance role
· An empowered senior management who now work as a team

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