Does All That “Structure” Help?

Organisations are complicated

They have:

• Customer requirements
• Partner requirements
• Legal requirements
• Compliance requirements
• Legacy systems
• Specialist teams
• Obsolete databases
• Competitive pressure
• Profitability problems

And all those competing priorities are in conflict with each other.

How do we manage complexity?

By creating process and structure:

• RACI frameworks
• Target Operating Models
• Interim targets
• Delegated authority levels
• KPIs
• Heads of
• Clusters
• Hubs
• Spokes
• Committees
• Matrix management
• Solid lines
• Dotted lines
• Business partners
• Front offices
• Back offices
• Middle offices…

You name the problem, we have a structure for it.

All that structure is rigid

It is hard to manage complexity with rigidity.  It is like pushing water uphill with a rake.

To manage complexity and rigid silos we need “integrators”.  Managers who get out of their chairs and go and chat to people.  Managers who understand what people have to do in their daily jobs and help them do it.

Integrators bend the rules and fudge the boundaries.

Integrators overcome obstacles and remove barriers.

Integrators create collaboration and drive productivity.

How do organisations respond to integrators?

They:

• Enforce accountability
• Minimise decision-making exposure
• Reinforce barriers
• Add incentives
• Demand results
• Cast blame
• Reshuffle roles and responsibilities

Or, to put it another way — they jump up and down on their heads.

Is it a surprise we have a productivity problem?

Would it be so bad to drop some of that structure in the name of flexibility? To promote a little integration and cooperation?

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Image by Paul Townsend

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