The Ideal Organization – a more realistic approach #41
There is no end to the number of advisors who will tell you that you need to get re-organized if you want better results. They talk of organization around functions, better organizational charts, span of control reporting lines and the like. While these ideas look good on paper, in reality they never have much of an impact on bottom line results. They all overemphasize theory and ignore the reality about people and how they work (or not work).
Some simple truth about people and work:
1. People are not ideal and do not fit nicely into the ideal organization chart.
2. People have a history, act a certain way and have their own goals.
3. It is an idealized wish (fairy tale) that people will work together, be fully accountable and cooperate with everyone else to achieve the greater good of the company.
4. Rivalries, empire building and hidden agendas, which exist in every organization, need to be taken as the norm.
5. People always do what makes sense for them to do.
6. People do best with organization and structure.
7. Structure and organization must be developed, managed and kept fresh all year long. It is a never-ending, positive growth element.
The better approach – don’t force fit anything; yet, triple your expectations!
Begin with what you have. If you want to re-organize, learn how your organization now operates. The goal is to be fully open to how things actually get done and how the key players now function.
Forget about changing people. Instead, find out what they can do better and more in line with the direction in which you want to head. Expect to double your own performance standards.
Some weak players may have to go. Some of your own leadership traits also may have to go, too. That is all good news and part of the improvement.
An early first step is to once again (fresh look) identify the real long range objectives of your company. It is impossible to re-organize anything without knowing where it is to lead. You get a lot of leverage when you build up the top 2 to 3 objectives. Make sure they have plenty of pull and appeal.
Morale will zoom
Morale is the first thing to improve as specific, realistic actions for change are begun.
Hope you can use this.
Richard Reardon
800 560 0880
