5 ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TIPS YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO IGNORE

HE HELPS A GROUP OF COMPANIES DEVELOP THEIR ORGANIZATIONS AND THERE'S A COMMON THEME RUNNING THROUGH THE WORK

Everyone knows they have to grow their infrastructure but no one knows how to go about it and where to start. 

Tip 1: As an organization evolves the infrastructure needs to become more complex.  

The same is true for companies; only these systems represent the interdependent functions, locations and business units. As the systems grow, they must continue to branch out, to avoid becoming too insular and ineffective. 

Just as branches divide into smaller branches; companies need to form smaller teams, grouped by customers and regions. 

Tip 2: To keep a business moving the organization must continually evolve.  

As you go from 12 employees to 40, you need a structure with clear functional leadership and accountabilities. At this stage, an obstacle can be not having enough leaders throughout the company who can delegate getting things done.

When you go from 40 to 70 employees, you need to evolve the systems again -- to show stakeholders which channels, customers and products are making money. At this stage, an obstacle can be not having the systems to handle complex communication and decision making.

And by the time your company reaches 250 employees, your structure and systems will have been upgraded and integrated multiple times.

Tip 3: Remove obstacles by conquering different areas of complexity and channels of communication, which have grown many times at each stage of growth.

Verne Harnish, the business thought leader, says that to scale an organization to the size needed to dominate a category, senior leaders need to reduce the time it takes to manage the business’s operational activities by 80%.

So you’re probably thinking, how do you actually do that?

Tip 4: Start the process of change with a shift of your mindset. 

If you're feeling stuck, take time to imagine your organization pulsing at a faster tempo.

Then switch your thinking to new ways of working to enable this tempo. Maybe you need to start a daily huddle, to support communication and decision making. Or create a map of key processes (sales, customer service, etc) that drive your business, and assign accountabilities. For other inspiration go to Rockefeller Habits or Traction.

Tip 5: It doesn't matter which systems you use, the key thing is you need to commit to making changes happen and adopting new habits and tools to help your business evolve.

Because each time you make changes, you remove an obstacle, and the weight you’ve been dragging turns into wind at your back. And with this new momentum you will hit those bigger goals in life and business.

Here’s to your success!