How can you ensure organizational design changes are sustainable?

Yes you need all of these six steps to help you decide whether to make a change, what change to make and how to follow through. But, for your change to be sustainable, it needs to be the right change and it needs to be led by a senior team who want it to happen and have the leadership skills to make it happen: the skill and will test. Normally, you need to make changes to the senior team if you are making significant changes to the organisation.

Sustainability will not happen if organizational design changes are not useful and in keeping with the "purpose" of the organization. Ensuring that any proposed organizational design changes will help the organization and its members to accomplish the purpose of the organization – at the very beginning of a change endeavor – is essential.

Es stellt sich die Frage, ob das Erheben des IST-Zustandes tatsächlich der erste sinnvolle Schritt ist, oder ob es nicht viel eher eine Vision oder gefühlte Notwendigkeit (die Organisation zukunftsfähig zu halten/machen z. B.) ist, die den Ausschlag dafür gibt, über eine Änderung des Organisationsdesigns nachzudenken. Meiner Erfahrung nach leitet sich der Wunschzustand aus den empfundenen oder offensichtlichen Notwendigkeiten ab. Dann gilt es, Ist und Soll abzugleichen, Handlungsfelder zu identifizieren und abzuprüfen etc.

This is where storytelling is important. Yes, you need to talk about outcomes, vision and benefits but this is often change programme focussed rather than focussed on what the future is going to be like from a people perspective. Create a cohesive story that enables people to really feel and experience what the future is going to be like for them. How will their day at work be different? How does this change deal with some of the things that are issues for them right now? What is the organisation going to be like and feel like in the future? You can do this in written form, using visuals and/or verbally. This will build excitement for the future far more than some dry statements about the project plan or design principles.

For twenty-five years I’ve been talking to senior executives about transition. Over that time I’ve always advocated that when planning the future to take account of the successful parts of the business. Culture plays an important part and can be understood by listening to the ‘informal company historians’ in the business.; the people with the knowledge of what’s already been tried, what’s worked, what’s failed… and importantly why. (Stephen Harvard Davis)

Flawless execution is key. Identifying and overcoming resistance, pro-active communication and support are essential. Rewarding desired performance and the adoption of the new organizational processes, etc. is also important. Celebrating successes and recognizing the manner in which the new changes help the organization and its members accomplish organizational purpose are also key to sustaining the improvements.

The area that could be emphasized a bit more across these steps should be the human element - the people management. It could be managing expectations, buy-in and leveraging influencers across all levels, and continuous feedback. It’s important to be aware of the environment and how everyone involved/affected are responding to the changes going on. This can either help realize adjustments required for a successful change or identify areas of improvement through communications or the change itself.

One of the most challenging parts of sustainable organizational design changes are egos involved in what sometimes looks like a fight for territory. Any organizational design needs to start with the customer experience in mind. A key principle for any effective org design is autonomy for people to take decisions as close as possible to this customer experience. If people feel their work makes a difference they do better work. The more layers in an org design, the more reports, meetings and egos involved; effectiveness suffers. Have you ever seen a manager say "sure, it makes more sense to integrate my team with this other unit, I am ready to let my job go"?