‘We started by trying to amend our existing structure, but it wasn’t working. We know that we need to start with a blank sheet of paper but where do we start?’
This insight, and variations upon it have been a recurring feature of the conversations we have been having over the past few weeks. A combination of financial imperatives, and the thought that this might be an opportunity in the midst of all the threats, is leading some people to think about what a radical re-design of their organisation to meet the challenges of the new abnormal might look like and what it could deliver.
Starting with a blank sheet of paper is hard – as any writer knows – so here are some tips and ideas to get you started.
As Dawn has written organisational design is not just about what your org chart looks like; it is about structure, culture and systems and processes.
- Structure: how the organisation is organised into internal groupings (often called departments), reporting lines, job descriptions and person specs.
- Culture: ‘the way we do things around here’, the things we actually do (rather than the things we say), the unwritten rules, the way we behave towards other people inside and outside the organisation.
- Systems and processes: staff and trustee policies, remuneration systems, decision making practices, knowledge management systems, financial and risk management systems
Any significant change to organisational design needs to consider all of these elements not just the org chart.
Some key questions to consider:
- What do you want your new organisational design to enable your organisation to achieve and how do you want to achieve it? Remember ‘culture eats strategy’; if there is a conflict between your mission/strategic aims and your culture, your culture will always win, leaving you with undelivered ambitions and demotivated staff.
- What would you like to change about how your organisation works but have never had the opportunity/head space/appetite to change it? This may be the best opportunity in a decade or two to think and act radically.
- What should a C21st arts or cultural organisation look like and how should it organise itself? Most of our models are based on C20th mass industrialisation – all those siloed departments and vertical reporting lines – but they could be different if we are brave and creative.
Designing for the new abnormal
Lots of things are uncertain at the moment: will social distancing be reduced to 1m, will people want to be inside for performances, will there be a government bailout, will there be a second pandemic spike?
In the face of these uncertainties, one thing is certain: responsive, adaptable, creative organisations that learn fast are going to be in a much better position to survive and grow than those who are inflexible, wedded to past ways of doing things and inwardly focused.
- Start with purpose. For this transitional period (1-2 years, maybe longer) what do you need your organisational design to enable you to do? How are people going to need to behave in the new abnormal?
- Think teams not departments so you can work flexibly and bring the right people (and only the right people) together for each project.
- Imagine a more porous organisation with a small core team but a strong constellation of partners, freelancers, volunteers.
- Think projects and experiments not permanent programme elements.
- Design for learning not success/failure. Focus on learning well and quickly from everything you do. In this environment some projects will not go to plan, what will matter is what you learn and how quickly you use that learning to design the next experiment/project.
- Push decision making down the organisation to empower people, encourage them to take responsibility and free up time among more senior staff.
- You are going to be asking people to do things differently and most probably with less resources than they are used to. Invest in people’s development and in the systems they use. People will need new skills to do new jobs and you want people to work on activities that add value not just ‘pushing paper around’.
- Design for informed risk taking. This means an open culture of sharing risks and active management not a six-monthly review of the risk register at the Board’s finance committee!
Organisational change is difficult but for many organisations it is now inevitable. How could you turn this unwelcome necessity into an opportunity?
Resources for further thinking.
There’s a wide range of resources on organisational design and while we offer a few here we encourage you to bring your critical thinking to the fore. These are intended as prompts rather than definitive guides.
Reinventing organizations illustrated
Susan