Where to Start?
Any organization design effort worth considering should start with a solid assessment of your current reality. Don't skip this. Assessments are not created equally however, and if they are not done well or with the right people, you may be wasting your time and a huge opportunity to start building ownership early on. If you want a systemic view of your organization, this honest "look in the mirror" will not only help you know where to start, but how big of a change you may be facing and what it will take to succeed.
The framework below provides a snapshot of the key elements to assess and explore during Phase 1: Case for Change.
"Is your current operating model capable of delivering the business and culture results your organization strategy expects?"
How We Work
Operating Model (the "what") elements guide activities and decisions during each of the Design Phases (the "how"). Elements 1-3 are considered drivers. Elements 4 and 5 are reinforcing.
Design Phases (the "how") drive aligned decisions and phase-gate milestones, all based on a series of choices and decisions based on the 5 Operating Model elements. Each phase builds on the previous one, improving alignment and shared ownership.
Phase 1 is building the complete "why" or case for change, assessing the current operating model’s fit-for-purpose and then defining the future organization strategy, competitive difference, products and services, customer experience and desired culture.
Phase 2 & 3 focus on designing the future Operating Model, going from a conceptual operating framework to an actual blueprint with organization charts, roles, core processes, information flow and a management operating system tying things together.
Phase 4 is about readiness and implementation, including even more people, taking a collaborative approach paying attention to the social system, building commitment while doing the design work; this creates pull and reduces the need for change management.
Why Organization Design?
If you are reading this, there is a good chance you may benefit from a proven, step-by-step (see Design Phases) decision-based organization design approach that starts with assessing how fit your current operating model is with your strategic direction.
- Is your business environment changing, maybe due to new technology or customers' changing needs or preferences?
- Have you been working on a new strategy and identified capability needed, yet are not sure your current operating model is best suited to execute that strategy.
- Are you growing so fast you have not had the time to consider how to best scale or grow for the future, or what the most critical or differentiating work is, that you want to make sure you pay more attention to going forward?
- Are you exiting a business or growing your business through mergers or acquisitions?
- Are you moving from a product-centric focus to a strategy where customer centricity is more important?
Why KUBA Consulting?
There are many reasons why an organization should consider getting organization design process support and coaching (whether using internal resources or partnering with consultants like KUBA). The return on investment can be amazing, when a solid, phase-gate approach with clear milestones and decision points is followed. Too often though, organizations try to wing it (you know..the old back of the napkin drawings), don't involve the right people, lack enough objectivity, or jump right in to analyzing the organization charts and mostly the structure. This desire to take quick action can lead to unintended consequences or power struggles, and almost always lack of alignment later on when it comes time to implement.
Even if the proposed design (napkin drawing or not) makes sense, the way of going about determining the new design may get in the way of it ever being effectively implemented. Creating organization-wide ownership using collaborative methods (KUBA®), aligning leaders and supporting you through the transition is something we do better than most. We'll help you build this muscle too. The ability to continuously reconsider how your organization is designed will become even more of a competitive advantage in the future!
What we do...