Organisational change tends to be hard to pull off – even when it looks like it should be easy.
What makes it hard is that it inevitably involves a complex interplay between the attitudes, behaviours, actions and interactions of multiple people with different perspectives.
Fiefdoms, factions and silos form as a result of the human tendency of aligning with others ‘like us’. Traditional organisation structures and measurement methods turbocharge this tendency, leading to local optimisation at the expense of organisational innovation and agility.
Ever come across an inspirational quote by someone famous that crisply captures and conveys an important insight? Only to have the inspiration morph into irritation when you discover they never actually said it?
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Strategy consultants will tell you that strategy formulation is the foundation for everything else. But to avoid ‘death by mistaken identity’ it’s important to go beyond conventional ideas of ‘strategy’ to see what business you’re really in.
Many business leaders aspire to achieve innovation leadership. This means doing what Apple repeatedly demonstrated under Steve Jobs – that the best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Continuous innovation is challenging, even for organisations with a good track record. Procter & Gamble’s Pampers story illustrates what happens when the time comes to reinvent your organisation.
The 12th century Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux said that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Despite good intentions, many organisations make bad interventions that lead them where they really don’t want to be.
When problems arise, finger pointing is all too easy. But indulging in finger pointing stifles innovation and agility, even when it seems justified. In fact, especially when it seems justified…
Agile organisations go beyond the conventional wisdom of organisation design – recognising that it’s increasingly outdated in a world where future success depends on innovation as a way of life.
Reinventing HR would allow it to add much greater strategic value as a centre of excellence for building innovation and agility for future success.