Have you ever thought about how much the structure of your organisation affects its success? It's the framework that connects everything together, yet it’s one of the hardest things to get right.
Structures often evolve organically with growth, or are built around people rather than strategic drivers.
Often, a new CEO, a changing market or growth strategy will force a re-think as the structure can be seen objectively with fresh eyes based on the future need.
Ideally, structural design should stand alone, shaped intentionally to support the delivery of your strategy. The right people can then be identified to resource it, rather than fitting the structure to the people.
However, in reality, you will have some fabulous people in place who you want to retain and promote, and other who aren't quite the right fit, so it’s rarely that straightforward. The structure is therefore left alone to grow like an unwieldy vine as it becomes too complicated to re-shape it.
Facing these realities, you might consider a gradual approach to redesigning your structure if a dramatic change isn't possible (or palatable). It’s about knowing where you want to go and making strategic moves as opportunities arise across recruitment, development, retention and succession planning.
So have a think about what your structure would look like ideally, if there were no other constraints. Then you can make a plan to move towards it deliberately over time.
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