Last November 9-10, I had the privilege of attending (and presenting at) the 13th Annual Organization Design Conference in New York City. This conference is designed for executives and practitioners from any discipline responsible for large-scale transformation efforts, and it is always interesting to attend because it is the best event of its kind in the field of organization design.
Traditional organization design methods don’t always move fast enough to keep up with the pace of change with which businesses must cope. More and more leaders are seeking innovative organization design approaches and solutions to address new and compelling marketplace trends. They are asking themselves: “How valid are these trends, and how might I leverage them to best advantage in
Precision in language and clarity of thought go hand in hand. A few months back I was speaking with a leader about some work we were planning for his organization, and he said, “what I really see when we’re done is some kind of hybrid design.” While this appears to be a perfectly reasonable statement, it reflects a certain popular
In the organization design field, we often use the phrase, “Organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they’re getting.” In other words, if you want different results you have to change some aspect of your organization design. This principle has led to some big trends in the marketplace that are radically transforming the way organizations do work, and the
An Agile organization is one where leaders have thoughtfully embedded Agile principles into the ways the organization works. The benefits of Agile can be significant, and organizations are exploring how to change traditional ways of working (e.g., project management, life cycle management, etc.) into Agile ways of working (e.g., Scrum, kaizen, etc.). Agile organizations also adopt beneficial cultural dimensions like
In Part 1 of this article, we discussed the process of building organization design capability in change partners. Now, let’s examine the role of the Alignment Leader® in organization design, and learn how to assist an Alignment Leader in building organization design capability. Why Alignment Leaders Need Organization Design Skills To remain viable, an organization must change in ways that
These four questions can provide a guideline to help ensure change partners have the organization design capability necessary to implement successful change.
Throughout the process of organization transformation, leaders often reach points where they must decide when (or whether) to step in and take action, versus sitting back and allowing a situation to play itself out. There are times when the wisest course of action is inaction. However, in many cases inaction can prove to be a costly choice. Failure to act
Traditionally, much of the activity involved in change management has revolved around the art of communication and persuasion. To effectively create change in an organization, it is imperative to anticipate the reactions of stakeholders to a proposed change, and effectively communicate with them in such a way that they willingly buy into and accept the change. But as critically important
Working virtually is no longer the wave of the future. Readily available technology has made virtual work environments ever more prevalent, both within and between organizations. Virtual, networked organizations offer many advantages. For instance, holding a meeting on Zoom is cheaper, more convenient, and has a lower environmental impact than flying people in to meet face to face. Being able