The Core Challenges of Organizational Design
Effective organizational design requires a holistic and strategic approach. Based on discussions with BPI members, leaders and HR teams face several recurring challenges when undertaking these projects. The primary questions that emerge are:
- Overcoming Fear: How can leaders be encouraged to embrace organizational design as an opportunity for holistic improvement, rather than view it with apprehension?
- Building Capability: How can leaders and HR teams be quickly skilled-up to effectively facilitate the organizational design process?
- Ensuring Integration: How can cross-functional integration be achieved to ensure that redesigned functions align with each other, especially when project timing varies?
- Communicating the Future State: What are innovative ways to share the new organization design that go beyond charts and provide real insight into how work will be different?
Based on research and member conversations, several key themes and best practices have emerged to address these challenges.
The Strategic Role of HR Business Partners
A recurring challenge is the frequent disconnect between HR Business Partners (HRBPs) and business strategy during organizational design changes. When HRBPs lack strategic understanding, their effectiveness is limited.
One best practice is to invest in comprehensive training for HRBPs. A member company shared success with a 12-month program that provided HRBPs with the tools and training to articulate strategy effectively. The outcome is clear: when HRBPs know the business, they become invaluable thought partners and drivers of change.
Furthermore, "upskilling" HRBPs yields significant benefits for systemic health. They become better equipped to facilitate lateral integration across departments, acting as powerful change agents at all levels of the organization.
Ensuring Accountability and Preventing Slippage
Once a new organizational design is approved, a significant challenge is ensuring the changes are sustained. To prevent "slippage"—where decisions are slowly undone—organizations can implement specific checks and balances.
- Leadership Principles: One effective method is for the leadership team to agree on a set of guiding principles for the new design. An annual snapshot is then reported to show adherence to these principles.
- Metric-Based Reporting: Another recommendation is to provide leadership with monthly reports on key organizational metrics. These reports can flag progress or regression, reinforcing the implemented changes and holding everyone accountable.
Sustaining Change and Preventing Fatigue
Stemming from accountability is the topic of sustainability. Organizational change can be exhausting, and it is vital to keep people engaged and motivated.
One of the most critical roles belongs to the CEO and senior leadership. A shared best practice is to continually bring employees back to the core strategy and business model. It is essential for leadership to repeat key messages frequently—as many as 15 to 20 times—during periods of both active change and stability. This consistency from the top reinforces the new direction and ensures process continuity.
HRBPs also play a valuable role in monitoring the future state. They can serve as "vehicles of the change curve" by implementing, communicating, and holding people accountable without policing them. This support is crucial for sustaining the new design long-term.
Conclusion: A Framework for Sustainable Design
Successful and sustainable organizational design change hinges on a few core elements. It requires a shared understanding of strategy that permeates all levels of the organization, fostered through active dialogue. Critically, it depends on having HR Business Partners who are properly trained in organizational design and empowered to guide the transformation.