There are four phases of a redesign effort: determine design direction, develop the design, plan the implementation, and implement and evaluate.

In each phase, there are two major issues that must be addressed: hardware (processes, reporting relationships, spans of control, etc.) and software (leader and employee behavior and performance patterns.) Your eventual success can be derailed if you do not address these issues appropriately at each phase.

Phase 1: Determine Design Direction
Once you decide you have a compelling business case for a redesign, your first task will be to clearly define what you want to accomplish with your redesign effort. At this stage, you want to articulate a compelling rationale for the change and inspirational vision of the future.

Hardware considerations:
First, it is necessary to complete a current state review. This means asking the following questions and giving careful consideration to the answers: What’s working/not working today? What reasons do we have to re-organize? Are they good ones? What are our customer requirements/business strategy needs? How will redesign affect our process/workflow requirements?

In the area of design criteria, it will be necessary to create a careful and concise list containing the various positive results that the organization redesign is expected to provide, such as “responsiveness,” “efficiency,” or “developing new markets.” The design criteria are what will guide your design process, evaluate options against and eventually measure the success of the entire effort.

Software considerations:
People are more likely to buy into a change they had a voice in creating, so involve stakeholders, subject matter experts and employees as much as possible. Sometimes, due to other business imperatives, the process has to be accomplished with very few employees being aware of the change. In those situations, consider providing some degree of communication to avoid starting rumors (such as talk of layoffs), that could derail performance during the process.

Phase 2: Develop Design
Now it’s time for the fun to begin! You’ve established your direction, so it’s time to come up with options, evaluate those options against your design criteria, and begin to develop the details that will add meat to the bones of your new design.

Hardware considerations:
There are four levels of design. First, there are the Overall Groupings that reflect the top layer of the organization. This is the part of organization design that connects to the business strategy and forces the organization to deliver on its most important capabilities. Second, there is the management structure. This part of the design relates to management spans of control and centralization/decentralization of decision-making. Next on the agenda is role design, which defines what each person does. Finally, along with determining individual responsibilities, it is imperative to consider and make decisions about Lateral Coordination, which refers to inter-departmental coordination (horizontal alignment) and must take into account the ways in which the work is connected among departments.

Software considerations:
As in phase 1, the more employee/stakeholder involvement, the better. Involving employees in the design will aid in its adoption later and will more than likely provide unique insight that top executives don’t have about how work really gets done in the trenches.

Phase 3: Planning for Implementation
One common reason that redesign efforts fail is that too many leaders assume the job is finished when the new design is announced. The reality is that is when the rubber hits the road and the toughest part of the work, implementation, has just begun. That is why planning for implementation must be done with great care and thoughtfulness.

Hardware considerations:
The new organizational chart is just the tip of the iceberg. Decisions around changes to job titles/descriptions, performance measurement, work processes, physical settings, etc. still have to be made. Furthermore, the plan to move the organization from today to its desired future state will have to be crafted.

Software considerations:
The implementation plan has to take into account the readiness and capacity of the organization to absorb and integrate the change. Pacing can’t be too slow, which causes a loss of momentum, but it also can’t be so fast that the organization cracks from the pressure. You will also need to consider how resistance to change will be anticipated and managed.

Phase 4: Implementation and Evaluation
At T-minus two minutes and forty seconds and counting, the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, heard that dreaded word, “Hold,” from the control tower again. It seemed there was a little computer problem. Growing frustrated, he yelled, “I’ve been in here more than three hours…why don’t you just fix your little problem and light this candle?” In other words, you have analyzed, designed and pondered, and now it is time to act.

Hardware considerations:
It is essential to put metrics and hyper-care into place, in order to ensure success. You want to be able to track and monitor progress and make course corrections when needed. Furthermore, you need to recognize that no matter how good your design team is, a host of details that weren’t on the radar inevitably will arise.

Software considerations:
Performance that aligns with the new direction captured in the new organization design must be fostered and rewarded, especially in key leadership roles. The worst mistake organizations make at this phase is retaining visible leaders and employees who do not make the adjustment to the new normal after a reasonable amount of time.

The bottom line

Moving through the phases of organization design requires a delicate balance of reflection and analysis, as well as decisive action. Too much analyzing leads to missed opportunities and lost credibility, but action without consideration is also costly, due to the quantity of rework and increased risk of failure.

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