ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: DEALING BETTER WITH COMPLEXITY

Brent Sheridan

COMPLEXITY OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS IS INCREASING

These elements of business are changing…

• More Regulation• Number of Players• Connectivity between

Players• Speed of Exchange

Resulting in more complex problems to

solve

• Uncertainty• Ambiguity• Unexpected

Emergence

TO DEAL WITH INCREASING COMPLEXITY, YOU NEED TO DEVELOP BOTH PEOPLE AND THE BUSINESS

• Structure• Systems and

processes• Policies and

procedures

• Relationships• Power and politics• Stories and symbols

• Skills• Behaviours• Performance

• Level of thinking• Beliefs • Self-confidence

Mindsets Competencies

SystemsCulture

Individual people

Collective/ organisation

Visible/ observable

Invisible/ un-observable

THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS IS ‘FROM THE INSIDE, OUT’

‘Me’ – working on mindsets and beliefs

‘Us’ – improving relationships in the team

‘It’ – tackling complex business process issues

Working on ‘me’ is necessary preparation for effective COLLABORATION

Working on ‘us’ is necessary if you want effective SYSTEMS-THINKING, free from power plays and bad politics

INNOVATION will be possible once people are collaborating from a systems-thinking perspective – and this is when business transformation breakthroughs can occur

THESE ARE THE TYPES OF SITUATIONS WHERE WE CAN HELP YOU…

• As the managing director of a mid-sized global manufacturing business, you are finding it increasingly difficult to get your executive team to focus on the creation of the future direction of the business. Everyone acknowledges that the market and the competition is changing, but sales are still growing and everyone seems to be just ‘getting on with it’, where ‘it’ is their patch, their silo... But you are concerned that a new direction will be needed sooner than later, and by the time everyone sees that, it may well be too late. How do you engage your team to be a team and to get more strategic?

• The Board has just signed off on the due diligence report for the merger of this company with your previous competitor. It looks assured that this will be approved by the government competition regulator. The business case clearly is relying on moving the competitor’s products into your delivery systems and porting their client base into your CMS. You know that their business is renowned for its customer-focus and customer-service… yours is not – that is one of the reasons you bought them. So how do you locate the value in their business processes and how do you preserve it?

• The s*#@! Is about to hit the fan! You have done enough of an internal investigation to know that your guys were in the wrong. It will be touch and go whether or not it has crossed the line into a criminal act… right now all you can do is hope… all the spin that can be spun has been. So, clearly you have a problem with your people and their decision-making. You’ve got the mission, vision and values statements all over the place, on laminated cards, on the intranet… and it has not worked. There is some sort of ‘rogue’ culture or mindset in some parts of the sales team and you have got to do something about it. But what?

CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CAN DO FOR YOU