Before You Restructure Your Org Chart, Try This
There’s unrest and conflict within your organization. Projects are failing to move forward. We’re not growing. People are distant and blame-shifting. There’s palpable anxiety.
Leadership has a meeting and comes to the following conclusions:
“We need to restructure our org chart.”
“Let’s reorganize.”
We particularly love doing this in the church/non-profit world. (I’ve been in those meetings.) It happens in the corporate space, as well.
Remapping the org chart makes us feel like we’ve done something profitable. It makes us feel like we’re big time. We’ve done something. But that’s the problem with messing with the hierarchy. A different group of leaders will have the same conversation 5 years from now and restructure things a different way. Possibly chart-changing and shape-shifting back to where things were before.
The change management yo-yo.
This is a terrible way to lead change in an organization. Problems are almost always rooted in organizational culture. A readjustment of the org chart rarely fixes this.
Often the real issue is a failure to have or communicate organizational values. There’s a misalignment between the values you have written on the wall (or, more likely, tucked away in notes from a meeting) and the way people act daily.
Values are a promise you make to yourself, your clients, and your team:
This is the experience we will provide.
These are the beacons that will guide our decision-making (from budgeting to hiring to new products and services).
This is the culture we will live in.
This could lead to an org chart restructure.
Eventually.
But first, know what’s important to you.
Know the culture you promise to create.
“What are the core values of your organization?”