Discouraging what we want to encourage
When planning strategic initiatives, leaders often overlook business-as-usual aspects of the organization, especially “sacred cows” that impede progress. Examples include:
- Economies of scale and specialization are foiled by a highly decentralized decision-making and performance management structure
- Social-purpose goals are undermined by compensation models that mainly reward short-term shareholder return
- Efforts to establish a culture of empowerment and ownership are diminished by decision authority remaining tightly held at senior levels
- Returns on major acquisitions premised on cross-selling synergy are stymied by commission structures that incentivize sales teams to hoard leads
More than will
Re-aligning organizational systems requires more than will (though this is a good start). Key ingredients include: understanding of the specific ways in which each system affects stakeholder decision-making; ingenuity in crafting simple solutions; insightful sequencing of deployment, and persistence. Remember, legacy structures and “unspoken rules” are often supported by influential stakeholders.
Aligning by design
Our Growth Systems work helps your leadership team to accelerate the execution of strategy. We bring objective analysis, skillful facilitation, decades of experience in operating model and organizational systems design, and a bias for simple, practical solutions.
Outcomes of Growth Systems include:
- Operating models designed to support the next wave of business growth
- Additional gains in deployment results that would not otherwise have been realized
- Sustainment and continuous growth over time, preventing fall back to old ways
- Respect and credibility for removing obstacles that most people thought were “untouchable”
