HR, finance, and other functions play a vital supportive role in every organization. Like the air conditioning in a car, it isn’t essential to getting from point A to point B, but it sure makes the journey much more comfortable. Just as air conditioning with no engine or chassis or wheels will not get you anywhere, support functions exist primarily
Almost all organizations are actively looking for growth opportunities. While growth is not without its challenges and downsides, the positive aspects of growth are compelling enough to drive most organizations to commit a great deal of effort and resources into seeking and pursuing opportunities for profitable and sustainable growth. Most organizations, however, have limited resources, and leaders must face tough
Learn how employing four Agile principles in your organization design can improve the efficiency, effectiveness and speed of your organization.
A colleague once told me a story about an acquaintance of his who was asked to take over management of a failing manufacturing plant in the hopes that he could turn it around. All he did for the first month or two was walk around observing: listening, watching, and learning. Nothing changed. Finally, at end of a couple of months
In our previous blog, we discussed how organizational strategy impacts the design choices organization leaders must make. We also touched on the concept of organization alignment with strategy using our Cube model of organization design, which equates the organization systems (work processes, structure, information and metrics, etc.) of a business to the sides of a Rubik’s cube. Let’s expand on
There is a tendency among organizations to equate strategy with goal setting: what we want to become, where we want to go, what we want to achieve. These goals are often set from a financial or operational performance perspective. For example, targeting revenue goals, achieving a market leadership position, or increasing sales of a new product. Goals of this type
Almost all organizations now are aware of the importance of diversity. Most have identified at least one person at the executive level whose role and responsibility is to help the organization address systemic issues around lack of diversity or the lack of inclusion of certain types of people, including people of color, women, LGBT, people with special needs, etc. Within
In a dynamically changing marketplace, the need to be faster and more agile has become an organizational imperative. Since change is inevitable, an organization’s transformation strategy has to be taken into account when designing a winning business model. As we point out in our book, Mastering the Cube, one of the most challenging things facing leaders is this reality: while
Many companies are setting up internal centers of expertise (COE) to help do and manage the work of implementing organization change. Having these capabilities in house can be an efficient and cost effective way to manage change within an organization. However, COEs that operate in isolation or as a bolt-on to the organization often struggle to gain the traction needed
All great accomplishments start with great ideas and/or plans, but it takes action to bring them to reality. When we redesign an organization’s business model or its organization design, it’s one thing to blueprint or architect it to create a good approach for achieving marketplace success, yet it is another thing altogether to bring the organization to the point where