Being an old patriarch that I am, I have seen a few restructuring efforts in my time. A few of them actually achieved what they set out to do – but only very few. Why is this? And why do we keep trying and failing?
Recently we came across an article from UNSW that looks at this specific issue and offers some constructive advice (click here to read). Part of the problem identified in the article is that the people doing the designing are bringing their backgrounds and biases based on the old structure. Too often these flow into the design of the new, which misses the mark.
Outlined in the article are six steps to ensure your organisational redesign has a good chance of actually achieving its goal. The article is a short read but packed with plenty of good tips. Following is a point form summary of the six steps:
- Understand the organisations strategy so the structure can support it.
- Understand the current and future) state of work – thins are different now from what they were 15 years ago!
- Define design criteria and make sure the criteria reflect the organisations strategy.
- Identify options to overcome the biases people bring.
- Assess options against the design criteria.
- Test and refine the preferred option.
While this won’t necessarily guarantee success every time, it does at least offer a process that can improve the chances. Tuck this one away for the next time you are involved in an organisation restructure.