Organisational development is increasingly a focus for Chief Executives. Creating a culture of constant evolution and renewal is taking over from the desire to have big set-piece change programmes which bring more disruption to the organisation than benefits.
Culture change
If a constant in life is change, a constant in business is change management; ironically enough, there are even permanent staff in some companies called 'change managers'. While the drive for improvement must be continuous, change needs to be aimed at making a decisive shift in culture, and for us such culture change plays out nowhere but in the behaviours lived by individuals on a daily basis.
We support teams across the organisation to focus the macro change into micro activities that make a palpable difference to the way in which the business is run.
Restructuring
If there's anything guaranteed to raise the heckles of employees, it's another round of restructuring: most of them have seen it all before, and if they're jaded, it's because they've seen little improvement in performance as a result.
For us, restructuring is a last resort - but it can be an effective one. What that means is taking the politics that usually motivates restructuring as far out of the equation as possible. What is left is the business objective that the restructuring is supposed to serve. Even then, restructuring will only take you so far - the improvement in whose name it was done needs to be reinforced in behaviours.
Business transformation
Organisations go through cycles, obey rhythms, and occasionally become worn out. Once in a while - after a merger, an onset of innovation in the market, or an unanticipated competitive threat - true business transformation is called for. At the heart of business transformation, for all its daunting complexity, stands a simple rule: tighten the link to the customer.
When we do business transformation, our starting point is always the end point: we begin with the customer and redesign the business process so that they are lined up with that customer and can flex with the customer's needs.
Case studies
Delivering strategic priorities by rebalancing resources
The Challenge In 2003 FCO published their strategy for the next ten years, but their organisation needed updating to deliver it. Needed less emphasis on geography across the world and more emphasis on cross cutting themes Key Issues Needing options for reconfiguring the organisation in order to better deliver new... Read this case study in full More case studies on Organisational development
