Category Archives: Organizational Performance and Design

A deliberate process of configuring: Structures, processes, people practices and technology systems to create an effective organization capable of delivering on the organizational mission.

Am I On Track With My Professional Purpose? [“Start With Why”]

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“The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.”—-Mark Twain

Mark Twain offers up the profound idea that our primary mission in life is discovering why we are here. Once we have a driving reason for getting up each and every morning our life simply becomes wonderful! While we can all agree that finding our professional purpose in life is a good thing, the difficult part is figuring out how.

For example, unearthing why we lead, why we do organizational development or why we do any chosen profession is not as easy as opening up a fortune cookie. Rooting out our core professional purpose takes a great deal of lived experience and self-reflection.

In fact, #SimonSinek [www.StartWithWhy.com/WhyU] has created a cottage industry around the importance of finding what he calls your “Start With Why” statement in order to answer the question: Why you do what you do in your professional life?

Sinek and other have convinced us that is it valuable to know our why statement. However, how do we know if we are on the path to “why” enlightenment? Without cues to help guide us towards finding our professional purpose, the task can become daunting.

As a result, I offer up a few key signs that you are digging deep enough to figure out your professional purpose:

  • You are energized, excited by the statement

When I read my “why” statement I actually get emotional at times.   I cannot imagine doing any other type of work since helping others succeed via organizational development is just so darn rewarding.

“To provide employees with voice for more productivity and fulfillment. “

You believe that the world would be a significantly better place if your why statement became true. Your purpose is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. It excites you to know that you get to work on this amazing mission all day and positively impact those around you.

  • Your why statement will not change fundamentally

You cannot envision your why statement ever changing – you are that committed to it. Your ideal job would be spending all your time making your why statement come true.

For many of us doing mission driven work such as organization development is a calling. I find myself describing my work to improve organizations in a manner similar to how clergy describe being called to their religious positions. The work is such a perfect fit with my need to help others via organization that I forget that choice is even an option. This profession is a win-win so why not continue forever!

  • You can relate to the words in your “why” statement, they are real to you

You can cite examples where you have “lived” the statement. You have carried out your purpose in your personal and professional life. I have held many organization development positions, however, a common thread across these gigs is that I always help employees be more efficient and happier in their roles.

In addition, I have helped give “voice” to my son who initially had a medical issue which made speech a difficult task. The irony is that not only did he recover from this childhood challenge, he went on to excel in speech, winning the state speech tournament in high school. I have clearly literally lived this why statement!

If you answered no to the above cues, then you simply have more work in front of you. Dedicate time to reflect on your professional experiences in order to figure out what is gratifying and energizing about your work. Then, your path becomes one of amplifying this message to those you are partnering with.

Attend the MNODN session on November 2, 2017 to hear more on crafting your professional purpose and other relevant topics!

https://www.mnodn.org/event-registration/?ee=135

The content reflected in this blog does not reflect the opinions of my employer.

 

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The Importance of Peers In Our Organization Development Work

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“We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.”

Dorothy Day

As #OrganizationDevelopment (OD) professionals working with peers is one of the most important factors leading to our success.  Helping our organizations succeed is a team sport and the ideas and support we receive from our fellow OD colleagues is invaluable.  I have been a sole provider of OD consulting at several organizations.  The freedom to design and deliver interventions that I deem to be the best is empowering.  However, I will take an OD partner to collaborate with any day.

As we start our careers, most of us learn the field of OD from our peers.  This was certainly the case of my career path.  I learned a great deal about the theories of organizations in my Doctorate program.  However, I became adept at actually doing OD work early in my career by spending countless hours with my OD teams discussing business challenges, designing solutions and co-leading interventions.  The powerful and unique viewpoints and techniques that each of us brought to the table was my true school of OD.

I focused on industrial organizational design as part of my academic program and early application work.  My peers steeped in the psychological world of OD opened up for me the importance of coaching, teams and culture.  Working with talented colleagues I observed first-hand how to navigate the “soft” side of our work.  I learned a great deal from them and it motivated me to become a well-rounded consultant just as prepared to take on an organizational design or process project, as a teaming or culture challenge.

Once we have found our footing as an OD professional, we are looking to hone our ability to provide even more impactful work.  At this stage in our careers there is no substitute for the clashing of ideas that professionals steeped in various aspects of organization provides.  I can clearly recall a heated discussion where each member of our OD team saw a business problem from a completely different perspective.  Each of us made a case that the root cause of the problem at hand stemmed from people, process, structure and even technology challenges!  In the end, our solution encapsulated each of these aspects of organization and was much more effective than addressing a single root cause.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that in addition to success, OD colleagues provide a deep level of satisfaction in carrying out our work.  I experience this on a daily basis with my current OD peers.    Together we share the highlights when things go well with a client, as well support each other through the challenges and disappointments.

As OD consultants we help our clients work through challenges.  But who helps us when we run up against road blocks?  The answer is simple, it is our peers who provide us with the community that allows us to carry out powerful, fulfilling work.

As OD consultants we help our clients work through challenges.  But who helps us when we run up against road blocks?  The answer is clearly our peers.  At a recent MN Organizational Development Network (http://www.mnodn.org)  meeting some of the founders of the OD practice in the 1970s cited the community of practitioners as being one of the keys to putting our field on the map.  That has not changed over time. It is our peers who provide us with the community that allows us to carry out powerful, fulfilling work.

Note: The content of this blog does not reflect the views of my employer.

If Mayors Ruled the World!

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mayorruledworld

If Mayors Ruled the World [http://bit.ly/1kq50ah] it would be a better place!  This premise of a recently released book is becoming increasingly true as each day passes.  As gridlock and a circus-like atmosphere permeates Washington, with many State governments not far behind, the important work being carried out at the City level chugs on!

During my two years of leadership and organizational development work at the City of Minneapolis, I witnessed first-hand smart, hard-working employees make this City run.  A small subset of these efforts hit the papers.  Rather, most of the stories we read about in the media concern highly visible construction projects, the latest neighborhood fracas and interesting tidbits a council person muttered at the last committee hearing.

However, these topics are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the practical work the City carries out that positively impacts citizens each and every day.  I am talking about the folks who ensure that the water that comes out of your tap tastes good, the roads you take to work are quality, the building where you work is safe, the restaurant where you have lunch is a healthy environment, the park where you take your kids is enjoyable…   You get the idea.

The combined impact of each and every service provided by our City, which we too often take for granted, is significant.  Here are additional wins from a rush of other recent books about Cities:

  • A Country of Cities: Ninety percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 86% of our jobs are generated in metropolitan areas. And, by the way, these metropolitan areas comprise 3% of the land in the U.S. [Chakrabarti, 2013, http://amzn.to/2rTZDKT%5D
  • Green Metropolis: Cities are poster children of sustainability since density linked to infrastructure consistently lowers carbon footprints per person. This allows for the creation of walkable neighborhoods which builds community connections. [David Owen,2010, http://amzn.to/2r2GPrw%5D
  • Triumph of the City: People with a powerful skill ready to tackle the problems of the day tend to migrate toward and settle in cities. Cities such as Minneapolis and Boston have capitalized on great schools and a highly educated workforce.   [Edward Glaeser, 2012, http://amzn.to/2t1WBUu ]

The authors of these books praising Cities all make the similar point that City’s offer us solutions to the big problems of our day.  These author admittedly down play the challenges in many major cities around public education, equity and inclusion and maintaining quality of life at reasonable price points.  However, even on these fronts, Cities are diving in and making progress.

As a result of doing organizational development at the City of Minneapolis, I had a front row seat to the work cited in these books.  At a leadership level, the City Coordinator function brings an outstanding level of strategic expertise.   Regulatory Services, Planning, Property Services, Fire, Communications and Public Works leaders are paving new ground (In the case of the latter, literally!).  To name just a few of the amazing leaders.

Combine all this with Human Resources leadership with a compelling vision for building Talent Management of the future.  This capability allowed me to deliver one of the most innovative Leadership courses in the country hands-down – public or private sector.  This six month program involves emerging leaders from across City Departments exploring how to increase skills and collaborate more.  The program also involves bringing in some of the most experienced leaders from the Twin Cities in government, nonprofit and the corporate sectors.  They deliver practical, real-world advice that hits the mark.

Equally impressive I worked with young up and coming leaders doing incredibly innovative work with their teams.  A few examples of the many:

  • Imani Jaafar is partnering with various City departments on Civil Rights Office efforts which are practical and get to the heart of challenges.
  • Kim Keller’s Regulatory Services internal services group is finding new ways to move quickly from strategy to execution.
  • Patrick Hanlon’s Environmental Health staff dedicate 20% of their time to cutting edge projects which have had sizable impacts. [Take that Google!]

These are the types of innovative leaders that every organization in the world is trying to attract and retain.  Ramping up the level of leadership is the key to making great public organizations even better as pointed out in Transforming Public Leadership:

“Leaders possess the ability to structure conversations that create a sense of collaboration and a feeling of mutual support by their ability to communicate openly about what may be achieved in the future and what can be achieved through each individual’s purposeful actions so that those involved believe in themselves.” [Christine Gibbs Springer, 2007, http://amzn.to/2sRUnHP%5D

In the end, these local City efforts perhaps do not have the scope that national and state-wide initiatives make.  However, given the latest news coming out of Washington, perhaps local public servants making a difference in our daily life is the real news!

Note: This blog does not express the views of my employer.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Renew Your Organization

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death desert.jpeg

Whipping down the streets of Washington D.C. in a taxi, I was dreading my arrival at a recent business acquisition.  I mistakenly believed that my organizational design role was to break the hearts of these leaders.  Twenty years earlier, they had founded a company in their garage and now they had made it big, having been purchased by a Fortune 100 company.  I erroneously thought that my role was to deliver the news that their small company ways of doing things would now have to completely change.  They would need to assimilate to the mother ship!

I glanced down at the final piece of research I had gathered in preparation for this meeting.  It was the Ichak Adizes model of an organizational life cycle (Ichak Adizes, www.adizes.com, 2017).  This holistic and intuitive approach fundamentally changed how I approach recently merged companies, as well as how I engage with all smaller entities within larger organizations.

The Adizes model of an organizational life cycles provides a metaphor for viewing the stages of organizations.  Adizes wisely observed that the basic principles for managing organizations as they mature are similar to living organisms.  We have all exclaimed in frustration at some point that managing our staff is like trying to deal with a bunch of unruly kids.  Adizes took this statement usually made in jest to a whole new level!

Adizes pointed out that the predictable and repetitive patterns of behavior that humans experience as they grow and develop are similar to what organizations experience. As a result, just as you develop ways to help your teenager move from adolescence into adulthood, you can leverage similar strategies at an organizational level.  One can reflect on the characteristics of the organization at each stage and, more importantly, identify prescriptions that will assist the organization to move to the next stage.  This model, metaphorically, allow long standing bureaucratic organizations to detour and in some cases even avoid death.

The organizational implications and lessons that fall out of Adizes model are wide and deep.  However, my main concern was that I was about to be dropped off at the door step of the founders of the small company that we had recently acquired.  Wasn’t there a more positive message that these leaders should hear as we become the same company, working towards the same goals?  This is where Adizes learnings about why large mature companies buy small growing companies is invaluable.

Adizes maintains that the large bureaucratic companies desperately need the small innovative companies in order to grow and stay alive.  While established companies often times have a great deal of cash and strong financial statements, they have many factors working against them.  Adizes points out that they tend to:

  • Be interested in reducing risks
  • Reward employees who follow directions versus innovate
  • Value uniformity and consistency

This push towards maintaining the status quo is exactly what brings down many of these organizations.

Enter the newly acquired kid on the block…  These small nimble organizations typically offer growing technology in new markets.  And most important, they have flexible ways of thinking and working, quickly embracing new strategy.  This provides an agility injection into the staid bureaucratic organization.

Based on this line of thinking, you can probably guess the end of the story.  I did inform the founders, who it turned out still acted more like teenage rebels than leaders, that I would be helping them introduce more structure and control.  They understood that this was an important part of their growth and development.

However, the larger, more amplified message was that our now combined companies needed their innovative products and new markets.  And most importantly, we needed to tap into their agile approach of doing business and infuse some of that bias for action into our increasingly unadventurous culture.

I had falsely believed in a compliance focus in working with newly acquired companies.  I was all about sticking pins into them for their own good.  Adizes helped me realize that the actual opportunity lay in bottling up the innovative thinking and approaches that the smaller companies offer and infusing them into the larger bureaucratic culture.  This strategy offers big wins as the ripple effect positively impact a hundred times more employees than are housed at the acquisitions.

In the years following my mergers and acquisition role, I have applied the Adizes approach in working with all types of small, innovative departments and teams within larger organizations.  As I help these groups grow and accomplish their larger objectives, I make sure to avoid squashing their agile thinking and approaches.  In fact, I help them find ways to capture these innovative approaches and embed them into the larger organization.

With mixed results Americans spend millions of dollars a year on products which claim to help us stay young.  The Adizes approach offers a tonic that really does allow old dying organizations to reclaim youth!

Note: The views expressed in this blog are my opinions and do not reflect the views of my employer.

Organizational Structure: Start with Design Principles

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House project

It would be foolish to design a home without first thinking through your needs. How much living space do you need? How many bedrooms?  What style do you like?

However, organizations are built each and every day without considering these types of fundamental questions around what the design is attempting to accomplish.

In order to create organizational structure, the key is start with design principles which are statements about what the design should provide.   It is critical that these design principles guide the entire design process since they focus us on creating an organization which accomplishes our objectives.

Below are ten organizational design principles from groups that I have consulted for:

  1. Build depth of leadership capability
  2. Be more agile via delivering faster
  3. Create cost efficiency
  4. Optimize people and system resources
  5. Enable process efficiencies
  6. Create best in class customer satisfaction
  7. Foster better service delivery
  8. Increase manager accountability
  9. Enable collaboration between departments
  10. Build internal change readiness

For example, I helped design a very different type of structure for the organization hoping to increase leadership skills versus the organization seeking to deliver products faster. In order to improve leadership, we crafted a structure that would challenge leadership to gain new skills, knowledge and abilities.  While at the organization looking to deliver products more quickly, we streamlined the structure resulting in more agility.  Clearly, depending on outcomes, the types of functions created, how they are organized and the roles and responsibilities within those functions are going to be very different.

Design principles are the foundation for trade-off decisions.  The design principles provide leadership with a tangible way to surface and discuss competing interests and outcomes.  Leaders are able to clearly state the improvements that they want to see as a result of the design.  This allows for a robust discussion across parties helping leadership gain consensus around the primary outcomes. [JayGalbraith.com, 2016]

I typically have leadership rank the importance of design principles since it allows them to evaluate the value of various design solutions.  I have found this to be the most effective and fastest way to determine which outcomes are most important to leadership.  We can then more easily determine whether an organizational design that is functional, divisional, strategic business unit, matrixed or project based will result in the best outcomes.

Jay Galbraith [JayGalbraith.com, 2016] makes a strong case for the importance of robust design principles.  He says that the criteria should be debated, rated, and kept prominent throughout the design process.  As a result, design principles are a topic in each and every conversation that I have with clients about the new design.  Clients find that as a result of this ongoing exploration of the principles, their understanding of what they are driving towards via the organizational design and how to get there becomes clear.

Questions:

  • Imagine that three years from now the Wall Street Journal [WSJ] names your organization the best in your field. What is the WSJ saying about you that makes you the best?  [This will provide you with clues as to your design principles.]
  • How can we best organize our work and people in order to accomplish our strategy?

Note: This blog reflects my thoughts and not the opinions of my employer.

The Foundation of Organizational Design: A Strategic Approach for Success

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Concept of building the brick wall

Good organizational design has the ability to transform an organization’s culture and accomplish business goals beyond anything imaginable.   As a result, many organizations allocate significant time and resources to this design process.  However, impactful organizational design can be done more efficiently and effectively if one goes about it in a strategic manner.

We will explore the overall definition and purpose of organizational design.  Understanding the scope of organizational design and knowing when and when not to tackle this endeavor are key prerequisites for success.

Definition and Scope of Organizational Design

Organizational design is:

The deliberate process of configuring:

  • Structures
  • Processes and policies
  • People practices
  • Culture

.       To create an effective organization capable of delivering on the Organization’s Vision/Strategy/Goals. [Adapted from jaygalbraith.com]

A key aspect of organizational design is determining where formal power and authority are located.  This is the traditional organizational chart with boxes representing grouping of work.  These structural components determine the hierarchy and resulting relationships within the organization. These formal components are important since they channel the energy of the organization and provide an identity for employees.

A key point of this definition is that in addition to the structure, one should also pay attention to processes and policies, people practices and culture.  Too often organizations craft the formal structure and never get around to the organizational mechanisms which are the underpinnings of the overall structure.  Only establishing boxes on an organization chart is akin building the foundation of a house without putting in electrical and plumbing.

The processes allow decision making and work to be carried out effectively and efficiently.  The policies help clarify how the organizational components are interrelated for an extra boost of productivity.  Finally, one cannot emphasize enough how people practices and culture impact the ability of the organization to accomplish valuable work in a manner which empowers employees.

When to Tackle Organizational Design

Another key aspect of organizational design is knowing when to dive into a redesign effort.  Many leaders believe that organizations need to be redesigned every few years regardless of what is happening in the organization and around it.  I have consulted for organizations which have successfully operated with the same organizational design for decades.  On the other hand, I have advised organizations to dive into redesign within a year of a previous design effort due to the below types of changes:

  • Growing/expanding/shrinking
  • Change in strategy
  • A crisis or significant events
  • Organization around you has changed
  • Change in external environment (such a regulation)
  • Lack of performance
  • New leadership

The following points emphasize how critical it is to be clear about why a redesign is being launched:

  • It is important for leadership to know the reasons why the redesign is needed. The rationale for the redesign helps define the outcome.
    • For example, I worked with a nonprofit organization which launched a redesign due to lack of delivery and a change in strategy. As a result, we measured the success of our effort via organizational performance moving forward.
  • The root cause of the redesign also helps shape the redesign strategy.
    • For example, a redesign in a government organization was launched due to changes in the external environment, including regulatory changes, which required an outward focus. We crafted a design process with mechanisms for measuring and monitoring the impact of external factors such as government policies and third party stakeholders.
  • Finally, articulating the rationale for the redesign will help employees embrace the effort and necessary changes.
    • For example, it was important for employees at a business to understand that a redesign effort was being launched due to a crisis.  These employees gave us the benefit of doubt knowing that the organization’s survival, and as a result their jobs, were predicated on the success of the redesign.

Next Steps

We have established the definition, scope and rationale of your redesign effort.  In future blogs we will explore how to carry out the actual redesign.

Key Questions:

  • Why is your organization tackling an organizational design? How will these reasons impact your design outcomes?  How will these reasons impact the design plan and processes?  How will these reasons impact how you will explain the rationale for the redesign to employees?
  • What is the scope of your organizational design? How will you ensure that you design not only the structure, but also processes and policies, people practices and culture?

Note: The views expressed in this blog are my opinions and do not reflect the views of my employer.

 

Applying Organizational Development Methods to Product Design for Better Outcomes

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product design

Designers are incorporating human centered design into products for our common good.  Wendy De La Rosa, Lead Behavioral Strategist at Irrational Labs [@wdlrosa, #SXSW, #hackingbehavior] says that human centered design involving combining user centered design principles with behavioral science for the good of human kind.  Many of us have benefited from this discipline in form of the FitBit which is designed to help one stay motivated and improve health by tracking activity, exercise, food, weight and sleep.

Chris Risdon, Head of Design, Capital One Labs, Capital One [@ChrisRisdon, #SXSW, #humancentereddesign] makes the compelling case that designer have the potential to positively impact the behavior of hundreds and thousands of consumers through product design.  While products can influence many citizens in terms of volume, the extent to which products influence complex behavior is limited.  Most of the applications today, such as the FitBit, send a single data point to the user in the hope that they take a specific action.

This is where organizational development methods can make a significant contribution.  Organizational practitioners, like designers, leverage behavioral science.  However, instead of applying these principles in the design of product, we apply these learnings to the creation of workplaces.

What the theory and practice of influencing human behavior in the workplace lacks in volume, is made up in impact.  Organizational interventions transform human behavior on a regular basis in complex aspects of work including structure, processes and people practices.

Below are some organizational development tools and examples of their impacts:

  • Structure: Jay Galbraith’s emphasis on leveraging design principles in the creation of organizational structure helps ensure that the design accomplishes the desired outcomes. The principles are statements about what the design should provide.  These principles guide the design process, provide criteria for making trade off decisions and keep all parties focused on creating the same outcome.  This organizational design methodology has allowed me to take a dozen independent marketing groups within a Fortune 100 company and align them for quick response to customer demands and other unexpected challenges. [jaygalbraith.com]
  • Processes: Edward Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act [PCDA] continuous improvement circle has provided the framework for managing improvement projects.  The method helps employees stay focused on data collection and analysis driving them towards identifying and solving root cause.  Outcomes of leveraging this method includes savings millions of dollars, along with better quality products and services.  [http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/project-planning-tools/overview/pdca-cycle.html]
  • People: ‘Start/Stop/Continue’ is a straight-forward group exercise that can lead to increased effectiveness and efficiency. As the name suggests, the goal is to reflect on programs, activities and processes and come up with three distinct categories of future state action.  I have had employees report back that this simple exercise has been transformative in terms of getting groups of people more aligned and working in a more collaborative fashion towards their objectives. [https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/SKS-process.htm]

Building organizational design methods into products and services may result in impacting complex human behavior in ways that are unimaginable today.  For example, prompting consumers to identify their design principles, follow the road map of Plan-Do-Check-Act and reflect on what they need to Start-Stop-Continue doing may provide practical approaches for better outcomes.

These tools, in addition, to the hundreds of similar methodologies leveraged by organizational designers can result in shaping consumer behavior for more impact.  Possible outcomes include people becoming more reflective about how they can create more success, carry out day-to-day activities more effectively and efficiently and collaborate with others in new and improved ways.

These outcomes would far outweigh the value provided from a simple stimulus and response such as our FitBit buzzing once we have reached out daily goal.  Organizational design approaches may allow us to accomplish Steve Selzer, AirBnB Experience Design Manager [@SteveSelzer, #SXSW, #frictionhumancentereddesign] vision of a world where products help shape positive social values and successfully navigate an increasing complex and changing world.

Reaching this utopian state will require that we dive much deeper into behavioral science and organizational development is a great first place to mine approaches.

Questions:

  • How can we communicate the value of organizational design methodologies to the product design world?
  • What organizations and people are well positioned for the challenging work of embedding these behavioral science approaches into products and services?

Note: The views expressed in this blog are my opinions and do not reflect the views of my employer.