THE ARCHITECT AS STRATEGIC DRIVER ~ DR. JIMOH IBRAHIM
If the ‘general as a strategist’ does not have a market, could it be said that the architect had no plan for the general, or that the ‘general as a strategist’ did not follow the plan of the architect? Who is the architect in a business environment? There is no doubt that it is the management. But what is their corporate plan or goal? How do they arrive at the strategic road map of the corporation?

One thing that is certain is that the architect may have a plan, but the general may not follow the plan of the architect. In some situations, the general may approve the plan and then set it aside and run the corporation ‘as the spirit directs.’ Normally, the architect will draw the organisation’s plan in accordance with the instruction given to him by the general. And if the general has no specific instruction as to where the market is or about which of the markets he intends to operate in, then the plan may not take into consideration issues relating to the market, since there is no information from the general.

In any organisation, this scenario leads to no result or at best, some sort of incomplete result. Regrettably, this situation can be likened to taking solders to the war front without a comprehensive plan of where to launch attack, or without adequate knowledge of the geomorphology of the enemy’s location. If they do not know the territory of the enemy, it is either the enemy kills them one after the other or, like the Americans in the Vietnam War, they may lose all their weapons. This situation is equivalent to a corporation starting well but not ending very well, if they even end at all. This calls for great concern.

In most cases, less than one percent of companies incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria remain in operation every ten years! Put another way, less than half percent of incorporated companies operate for twenty five years. Or less than one quarter of incorporated companies operate for fifty years. And it is still in doubt if any company incorporated in Nigeria has ever operated for one hundred years of our centenary celebrations!!

The role of the architect who designs the corporation which does not last for ten years calls for concern. There is no doubt that a poorly designed building will not stand the test of time. The need for key players in management science to do a rethink in incorporating the role of the ‘architect as a strategist’ in any organisation is key and vital to the continuity of the corporation.

If roles are already created for the ‘architect as a strategist,’ the need to comply with the instruction and directive of the architect calls for concern. Today, managers run corporations ‘as the spirit directs,’ so to say. Operational manuals are created and used like photo albums. If otherwise, what will explain or justify a CEO signing the application for disbursement of loan first, without the risk officer seeing the application? When the CEO has signed the approval sheet, what can the risk officer do to disapprove?

This explains the collapse of the building at The Synagogue, originally designed by the architect for three floors, which was raised to six floors. At the end, the building collapsed, killing over a hundred people. Tens of millions have died in corporate Nigeria due to total disregard for the directive of the ‘architect as a strategic driver.’

A rich man once instructed a bank manager to open his bank on Sunday around midnight during his campaign. The manager opened the bank at that ungodly hour for the rich man to make his cash withdrawal. In such a situation, where is the manual of operation?

In the days of Air Nigeria, I once opted to travel with the airline from Abuja to Lagos. I bought an economy class ticket to enable me assess the quality of services the airline offered to the public. Boarding completed, the pilot secured the start-up engine, got approval for take-off from the control tower, and we commenced our approach for take-off.
The pilot was expected to brief us about the weather condition and flight details after the seat belt signs had been put off. But the pilot greatly embarrassed me by starting off, saying, ‘I am happy to welcome on board my chairman, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim ….’ This was not how the manual of operations directed the pilot to commence flight operations. It was a great disappointment to me, for a pilot to deliberately violate the operational manual designed to secure safety of passage by the architect. In a competitive industry, the airline can lose market shares as many passengers may not take the airline serious and customer referral would create more damage.

The strategic road maps of many organisations, as designed by the ‘architect as strategic driver,’ are, in most cases, done in great detail. But the major problem is compliance with the manual of operation. A CEO in one of our companies once sacked a junior member of staff for consistently creating mechanical problems in the distribution van in a bid to fraudulently make money from the company. The sacked junior staffer petitioned the GMD’s office. The GMD asked the CEO to recall the staffer immediately, since he was not given a query in the first instance. For the GMD, this was a painful decision to take. But the issue is: What does the manual of operation say if a staff member is to be sacked?

The protocol is simple: Issue a query; get a response; the administration department refers the matter to the company secretary and the later refers the case to the disciplinary committee, who will now mete out appropriate punishment if the staffer is guilty.
Disciplinary measures could be in any of the following ways: Refer matter to the police if it is criminal in nature and put staffer on suspension while investigation is on. And if that is not the case, issue a warning letter, suspend from office for a specific period; advise staffer to resign or resort to outright termination or dismissal.

The question is: how many CEOs are ready to comply with this simple instruction of the company’s manual of operation when it comes to matters relating to junior members of staff? In all situations, compliance with the manual of operation of a company is the fuel that drives a corporation. And once you are running a corporation with disregard for the operation manual, the implication is that you are running a car without fuel. If a leader mixes up the operational manual with ‘as the spirit directs’ approach to management, it simply means you are running a car with a mixture of petrol and water in the engine. It will be hard for you to drive the corporate car in that situation. You may have to be the mechanic that would do the separation of the mixture!

The strategic architect also designs the road map of the organisation. Issues as to when investments are made and when to disinvest are in the plan. This approach is to regulate the movement and direction that will assist growth and sustain cash flow of the organisation. In practice, CEO will not follow the instructions of the manual of operation in this direction. To the CEO, divestment can only happen when the company is in trouble. I find it very difficult to understand why a divestment from property is not done when the property value is at the highest peak, invest the proceeds in cash investment and buy more properties from the cash when the price is low. In practice, we sell properties when the price is so low. We look for buyers that we cannot find! We suffer cash flow to hang the company. Incredible!

Many times, the company’s investment manual will explain when to do more investment to avoid over-investment that can be obsessive, which usually results in major decline in business. But we never follow the manual. We could just wake up one day and say: ‘We need to set up ten universities across African countries (praise God), even when the cash flow is putting us in a difficult position when it’s time to pay appropriate salary in the companies we have. Or if it is a bank, we may decide to open one hundred additional branches in two years for aggressive marketing, when the branches we have cannot break even. Or, for instance, in a newspaper, we may decide to install more machines or increase the print run when our unsold is 30 percent. The right approach is to return to the investment manual or develop investment manual if you do not have one. The architect as strategic driver will assist greatly in this instance.


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