Organizations evolve over time. Leaders regularly make organization design decisions tailored to a specific person or a unique business need at that particular moment. Perhaps they are giving a high performing resource an opportunity to grow and learn a new part of the business, so they move another function under their purview. Perhaps a manager … More A Primer on Spans and Layers
Recently the CEO of my client – one of the most well-known retailers in the world – told my team that he wanted to see his organization data “de-averaged” as part of a benchmarking effort he had commissioned. I was ecstatic. The tyranny of averages plagues us all! How refreshing that our enlightened CEO understands … More Beyond Organization Benchmarking
Over the past three weeks I have shared a series of posts about my new book: Strategies for Organization Design: Using the Peopletecture Model to Improve Collaboration and Performance. In the book, I describe the three longstanding challenges that plague organization design: 1. Design decisions are not linked to human behavior. 2. Design solutions are … More The Third Challenge: The Overlooked Power of Horizontal Networks
Over the past three weeks I have shared a series of posts about my new book, Strategies for Organization Design: Using the Peopletecture Model to Improve Collaboration and Performance. In the book I describe the three enduring challenges that plague organization design: 1. Design decisions are not linked to human behavior. 2. Design solutions are … More The Second Challenge: Over-Focus On the Individual
After more than 20 years of organization strategies consulting, I believe the same three challenges plague traditional organization design: 1. Design decisions are not linked to human behavior. 2. Design solutions are focused primarily on the individual. 3. Design ignores the power of horizontal networks. The first fundamental gap in the existing models is that … More The First Set of Traditional Organizational Design Challenges