ADAPTIVE STRUCTURES
No one sees the big picture, each unit only looks at itself to make sure that it performs well in the eyes of the executive board.
The typical (actionistic) approach for structural problems
Situation
Silo thinking prevails in your company. Over the years, the divisions have increasingly diverged. Employees identify more with their area of responsibility than with the overall organization. The solutions are usually politically motivated and not always relevant.
Approach
You develop cross-functional projects to promote cooperation and generate synergy effects. You talk to various employees and managers from different departments and divisions. You analyse where you can still leverage potential for increasing efficiency and initiate the appropriate measures.
Stop! Think in terms of impact!
You have identified silo thinking as the cause of several problems in the company. So don’t just scratch the surface, dig deeper and think in terms of impact.
Also reflect on the values, leadership principles and typical behavioural patterns underlying your organization. What does one need to do in order to make a quick career?
Which behaviour is rewarded and valued? Perhaps it is not the structures that need to be improved, but rather the prevailing reward systems and the overall culture.
The company appears sluggish and reacts only slowly to market changes.
New ideas are nipped in the bud, bureaucracy reigns.
The organisation loses its proximity to customers and no longer understands the needs of customers.
The better solution: adaptive structures
What do we mean by adaptive structures?
Structures form the blueprint, the architecture of the organization. They include processes and procedures and enable value creation in line with strategy and culture. Adaptive structures are characterized by a high (self-) adaptability. Through their structure, they permit customer-oriented thinking, feeling and acting, speed and intelligent decisions by employees as well as the development of existing potentials through co-creative processes.
How are adaptive structures created?
Create a fit between context, strategy and culture in terms of functions, leadership, decision making, value chains, performance and quality management systems. Lean and decentralised structures are better than centralised and highly branched structures.
Teams should be endowed with a high degree of personal responsibility. The entire organization is not hierarchically structured, but consistently oriented towards the customer.
Get to know the concept of a Healthy Organisation
The concept of a healthy organization fully unfolds the potentials in companies. What are the challenges and goals in your company? We can lead the way to a healthy organisation within your company. In a free and non-binding initial consultation. Call us – we will be happy to advise you.
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