CHANGING STRUCTURE IS NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER
If you want to see people lose the plot, just mess with their reporting lines. Even the most rational organisational structures land in a sea of human irrationality. Your structure may be a perfectly rational extension of your aspirations but remember that human beings are not very rational.
Almost every leader tackles their organisation or team’s structure at some point, yet the overwhelming majority of structural changes fail to deliver the desired outcomes. Often times, this is because leaders are applying a structural solution to a behavioural problem. In doing so, they just move the problems that they were trying to solve for, somewhere else.
Of course, structure is a legitimate lever for leaders to pull, but typically, it is pulled too early and too extensively. Think about it this way, what would happen tomorrow, if the only way work could get done in your organisation was through the formal hierarchy? Nothing would happen!
A better place to start – at least initially – are the standards of behaviour exhibited by team members. With the right standards, almost any structure can work. People have an exceptional ability to work around formal hierarchies to get things done.
INSPIRATION FROM OTHERS
“Every company has two organizational structures. The formal one is written on the charts; the other is the everyday relationship of the men and women in the organization.” – Harold Geneen
“Major organisational changes create uncertainty.” – Irene Rosenfeld
QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON
- How would you describe your past experience of organisational restructurings?
- How does work actually get done in your team or organisation?
- If people worked really well together in your organisation, would you need to change the structure?
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