What are Intelligent Agents and their main applications?
The ability to adapt and transform is essential for the survival and success of organizations.
In this context, Organizational Redesign emerges as a powerful tool to align the company’s structure with new market demands, optimize processes, and improve overall organizational performance.
In this post, we will explore the most common scenarios that call for a review of the organizational structure, as well as a step-by-step guide to put that review into practice.
As you read, keep in mind that an Organizational Redesign effort can be carried out across the entire company or within a specific part of the operation.
When should you review the organizational chart for your area or company?
Reviewing the structure of your area or organization can be beneficial in a wide range of scenarios. Below, we highlight some of the most critical situations that call for an Organizational Redesign:
Your area or company is experiencing strong growth
In this scenario, our clients often feel that their operations are constantly dealing with “fires” and their teams are consistently overloaded. Loss of clients and quality issues are also common complaints.
Frequently, roles and responsibilities within the organization are unclear, and the creation of new roles becomes necessary to consolidate the current operation and lay the groundwork for future growth.
A desire to change culture and behaviors
Organizational Structure often receives little or no attention when discussing the desired culture and behaviors within an organization, but the organizational chart and the division of roles and responsibilities can be a powerful ally—or an obstacle—to the cultural changes one aims to achieve.
A company seeking, for example, to move away from a “siloed culture” to promote a more collaborative environment, but that maintains a completely functional and hierarchical organizational chart, will have difficulty succeeding in this change.
A revision of the organization’s strategy
We must keep in mind that an Organizational Structure should be a conscious decision about the best arrangement of people and resources to execute what the organization intends to do.
For a revised strategy to be effective, it must be reflected in the organization’s org chart. It may be necessary to create or dissolve areas, change roles and responsibilities, increase or reduce the presence of partners and third parties in the operation, and so on.
Shifts in client expectations and requirements
The agile movement illustrates this scenario well by proposing significant changes in how teams are organized within a company to better accommodate volatility and uncertainty in certain markets.
Structural changes in your industry - and in your clients’ behavior and expectations - call for a review of how you operate.
How to carry out a successful organizational redesign?
Once you have identified the need to review your organization’s structure, below are the steps we recommend to make the redesign as effective as possible:
Shifts in client expectations and requirements
We must remember that the organization’s structure is the channel through which its strategy will be implemented. Therefore, the org chart and the roles and responsibilities across areas need to reflect the company’s strategy.
Understand, in detail, the current Organizational Structure and existing pain points
One of the major sources of value generated by an Organizational Redesign is the overall improvement of an operation in terms of productivity, quality, and internal environment.
To maximize that value, we first need a detailed understanding of how the organization operates today and which pain points can be resolved or mitigated through a better arrangement of activities. In this analysis, we must not forget to consider parts of the operation that may be handled by third parties.
Gather relevant benchmarks for the company
It is highly valuable, in a redesign effort, to understand how organizations of similar size and in similar sectors structure themselves internally.
Benchmarking will provide ideas for assembling structure scenarios (the next step) and will strengthen the case for approving changes, since part of those changes are already in place at other organizations.
Present and debate scenarios for the new Organizational Structure
When we talk about Organizational Redesign, there are multiple arrangements capable of generating the desired outcomes. We therefore suggest creating several future-structure scenarios to discuss with the leaders involved in the project. This helps explore more possibilities and makes leaders more comfortable and engaged.
Communication and Implementation Plan
With the future structure defined, we recommend great care in preparing the Communication and Implementation Plan. It is worth noting that, as a result of a project of this nature, many important changes may be required, including leadership changes and significant shifts in roles and responsibilities.
Typically, companies take 1 to 2 years to carry out all the changes needed to be in compliance with the designed future structure. Implementation therefore needs to occur in a phased and very careful manner. For each implementation stage, we need to plan a detailed set of one-to-one and group communications that will need to take place.
Final considerations
Moments of reflection and review of the Organizational Design are fundamental throughout an organization’s journey and must be conducted in a well-planned way in order to achieve the intended results.
Bridge & Co. has extensive experience leading projects of this nature in companies of various sizes and sectors. If you are interested, please contact us to schedule a conversation.