Performance and transformation consulting for mid-sized companies
Lyon · France · Europe
The leader of a mid-sized company carries alone what a large group can share out.
He is at once
- the one who decides,
- the one who delivers,
- and the one who answers for it.
This is not a sign of poor organisation: it is how a mid-sized company works, whatever its sector.
What these leaders tell us most often, and what is holding their company back.
A wide range of issues, and ones that the leader too often carries alone for too long.
“We’ve tried everything, and profitability still isn’t back”
One cost-cutting plan follows another and the results never come. The problem isn’t the effort going in: it’s a model that no longer produces enough value for what it costs, and nobody can say precisely where that value goes.
“The order book is full and we’re still short of cash”
Stock is building up, customers are taking longer to pay, and growth is consuming cash faster than it generates it. The issue isn’t financing, at least not first: it’s how the business produces, sells, invoices and gets paid.
“We ought to be growing faster, and more profitably”
The business is healthy, the teams are working, the results are respectable. But growth is falling short of what’s possible, and every point gained costs more than it should.
“Growth just isn’t picking up again”
The offer has aged, the positioning has blurred, distribution channels are narrowing. The issue isn’t sales effort: it’s what you sell, and who you sell it to.
“We’ve grown faster than our organisation can handle”
Revenue is up, margin is down. The organisation is still the one you had before, the processes were never rewritten, and the tools have simply piled up.
“We know what to do, but nothing moves”
The plan exists, the decisions have been taken. What remains is turning them into results, and getting the teams to follow.
“Everything rests on a handful of people”
The know-how has never been written down, and delegated authority has never been set out. That holds growth back long before it becomes a problem on the day you hand over.
“One day I’ll have to hand over, but not yet”
A succession takes twelve to eighteen months to prepare, and seven in ten leaders have yet to start. In the meantime, the business quietly loses value.
“We’ve invested, and we’re not seeing the return”
A management system rolled out to no effect, fifteen tools that don’t talk to each other, figures that have to be pieced together by hand.
“AI interests us, but it worries us too”
The promise is real: time saved, work automated, analysis that was out of reach until now. So are the questions: data protection, European regulation, technical complexity, and where to begin.
“These are things I can’t raise with my team”
A reorganisation under consideration, a manager who ought to be replaced, a sale in the making, a financial deadline. Raise it too early and you unsettle people; say nothing, and you decide alone, without ever being challenged. And over time, running a company alone takes its toll.
“I keep putting off decisions I know need making”
Reorganising, closing down an activity, replacing a key person, committing to a heavy investment. Deciding alone when mistakes are expensive often leads to not deciding at all, and the waiting ends up costing more than the wrong choice would have.
Novexys means proven methods and results, not another report.
- Operating profit turned around from −25% to +5% in 20 months
- Operating profit up from 3% to 13% and revenue tripled in 6 years, under tight resource constraints
- EBITDA back in the black within 16 months under private-equity ownership.
Transformations led in France, across Europe and in West Africa, in industrial, commercial and international settings.
Transform the business.Free the leader.
See our approachExpertise that works together.
Tackling each issue in isolation is the surest way to create new ones: silos harden, decisions cancel each other out from one department to the next, and inertia sets in while everyone waits for someone else to call it.
- 01Turn performance aroundEstablish where value is being lost, and by how much. Restore margin, strip out whatever costs without paying its way, rebuild performance management you can trust, and bring the organisation back to the size of the business.
- 02Accelerate growthReach the next level rather than repair the current one. Rethink the offer and the customers it is built for, overhaul the marketing and communications that carry it, open up distribution channels, build the partnerships that are missing, structure the sales force, move into new markets.
- 03Lead the transformationClarify the vision and turn it into a plan you can genuinely commit to. Organisation, governance, processes, accountabilities, with adoption tracked as closely as the technical indicators.
- 04Get digital right and put AI to workMap the tools and the points where they break down, make the numbers behind your decisions dependable, automate what is stable. Qualify the AI use cases that genuinely hold up in your context, and set the rules that govern them.
- 05Prepare the business for handoverMake the business transferable before putting it on the market: reduce its dependence on the leader and on key people, write down what exists only in people’s heads, set out delegated authority, make the numbers reliable.
- 06Support the leaderWorking alongside the leader on the decisions that cannot be opened up internally: an outside view to help make the call, take a step back, or build the structure that will absorb the next surprise.
Understand.Decide.Transform.Perform.Prepare for what’s next.
A pragmatic approach, built for companies that need results quickly.
The method in detail- 01
Understand
See the business as it actually works, not as it is described. Interviews at every level, time on the ground, data, customers, processes.
- 02
Decide
Identify the levers that will genuinely make a difference. Priorities, trade-offs, a roadmap, clear ownership and measures.
- 03
Transform
Move quickly, working with your teams rather than in their place. Phased rollout, measured results, adjustments along the way.
- 04
Perform
Results are measured, not assumed. Indicators tracked, gaps corrected, gains embedded in day-to-day practice rather than in an action plan.
- 05
Prepare for what’s next
A business that has been turned around also has to be ready for what comes next: a three-year trajectory, capabilities to build, scenarios thought through.
The founder
I ran companies before I advised them. Twenty-five years in general management and sales leadership, in France, across Europe and in West Africa, in food, consumer goods and industry, in international groups as well as under private-equity ownership.
- 25 years
- in general management and sales leadership
- 3 sectors
- food, consumer goods, industry
- 3 languages
- French, English, working German
“My definition of a successful engagement: a stronger company, one that carries on without us.”Christophe Babut’s track record
Insights for deciding faster.
Short pieces drawn from the field on what moves a mid-sized company forward, and what holds it back: turnaround, transformation, succession, digital and artificial intelligence. No jargon, no theory.
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