Topics › Making the organization work
Reshaping the organization
A new strategy, growth, an acquisition or rising cost pressure: the organization has to work differently. But structures, targets, incentives and habits still pull the old way, and the change needs real commitment at every level of the organization, from the leadership team to every employee.
What is at stake
A stalled change carries the cost of the old structure without yet delivering the benefits of the new one. The longer the in-between lasts, the more management attention it absorbs and the sooner good people start looking elsewhere. Every month without visible progress also weakens the authority of those who decided on the change.
What typically goes wrong
- The decision is announced but never translated into what each unit has to do differently.
- Targets and incentives still reward the old behavior.
- Those who lose influence are left out of the conversation, so they negotiate in the corridors instead.
- Leadership endorses the plan in the meeting and falls silent when the first conflicts arrive.
- Responsibility for the change sits with a project team that has no authority over the line decisions that determine whether it succeeds.
What changes for you
- A change that every unit can translate into its own priorities and decisions.
- Targets, mandates and incentives that point in the same direction as the change.
- Conflicts resolved early by the people with the authority to settle them.
How we approach it
We start with the people whose agreement the change depends on, and with what each of them stands to gain or lose. From there we bring the leadership team to agreement on targets, mandates and the conflicts it is prepared to take on, and prepare the conversations that carry the decision into the organization. We stay involved until the new way of working holds without us.
What we clarify first
- Which decisions and responsibilities does the change actually alter, and for whom?
- Who stands to lose influence, budget or status, and how are they involved?
- Which targets and incentives still reward the old way of working?
Tell us what’s at stake
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.