An integrated approach to implementing new organisational ways of working plays a vital role in the success of restructuring within an organisation. Restructuring is often associated with negative connotations and the mere mention of it can cause disruption and unrest amongst employees and other stakeholders.
In my opinion, there is a simple six step approach that will address both organisational design and restructure framework:
1. Strategic alignment. To commence any project of this scale, it’s important to gain an understanding of the organisation strategy and the requirements at a functional strategy level. The phased approach for achieving the strategic goals is also developed during this stage.
2. Target operating model. Defining the operational framework to deliver a phased approach to the restructure.
3. Organisational structure. Determining the capabilities within the structure and the associated budget requirements. Roles, levels of work and structure are also aligned in this phase.
4. People mapping and HR integration. This phase involves the integration of the HR resource as well as the mapping of people from current to new roles.
5. Leadership preparation and alignment. The preparation for changes and the integration of a new way of thinking is critical to garnering assurances of support, commitment and involvement in the process. “The coaching of the leadership and management teams is not a phase to be taken lightly – much time and work is required here.
6. Change management and communication. In this phase a communication plan should be developed and delivered to the identified stakeholders affected by the process.
Organisations must, however, be cautious when looking to undertake the restructure process as an internal project. The majority of human resource departments are not equipped to deal with such extreme changes to their organisations. External teams, that have prior experience and little to no attachment to departments or the organisation as a whole, are able to guide internal teams through the process in a much more effective manner. Ultimately, any spend in this realm will see far more return from external project managers, as opposed to an internal team navigating such a complex path.