We were presenting out the results of an organization restructuring during a steering committee meeting at one of my clients. The Chief Commercial Officer said of the new design “I love it. I am a big fan of dotted lines.” I smiled and nodded, but inside I cringed. Trying to overcome silo issues through the … More Ways of Working: How to Intentionally Bridge (not break) Organization Silos
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
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