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Strategies For Organization Design: Using The Peopletecture Model To Improve Collaboration and Performance Tiffany Mcdowell
Strategies For Organization Design: Using The Peopletecture Model To Improve Collaboration and Performance Tiffany Mcdowell
ORGANIZATION
DESIGN
TIFFANY M C DOWELL, P H D
STRATEGIES FOR
ORGANIZATION
DESIGN
USING THE PEOPLETECTURE MODEL
T O I M P R OV E C O L L A B O R AT I O N
A N D P E R FO R M A N C E
Copyright © 2023 by Tiffany McDowell. All rights reserved.
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Prefaceix
Chapter 4 Hierarchy25
Chapter 5 Networks37
Chapter 7 Measurement65
Chapter 8 Membership83
Chapter 9 Responsibility97
Chapter 10 Teaming111
vii
viii Contents
ix
x Preface
get them to start acting like a team. But my colleague and I felt it was
time to propose a more systemic intervention—one that we really
believed would help the CEO finally put an end to the territory
grabs, internal competition, gaming the system, and political turf wars,
to name just a few of the ineffective behaviors we were seeing (and
that we see in many large organizations).
We gathered data to aid our pitch to the CEO. We took some
existing information on their corporate relationships and analyzed it
at length to come up with a different approach—something we had
not done before at this scale. We were both excited and nervous as
our next CEO meeting loomed.
The day arrived, and we filed into headquarters with purpose.
Stepping out of the elevator, I nervously checked my teeth on my
phone camera to make sure my lipstick wasn’t smudged. I took a deep
breath and smiled. With my colleague next to me, we marched with
great intentions into our client’s office.The CEO looked up from the
stack of papers on his desk, peered over his computer at us, and said,
“Oh, it’s the consultants, come to point out my faults and tell me how
to do things better!” Gulp. But then he let out a big laugh and invited
us to sit down.
After the requisite small talk, the CEO abruptly turned to the
matter at hand, “So, you have done all this analysis on my company,
what’s the punchline? And please, no death by slides.” I subtly placed
my 50-page PowerPoint deck in my lap, a deck that was filled with
beautiful pictures and data that I had been overly prepared to present.
I stared down at my new Louboutins for a moment. I cleared my
throat. “Well, let me start with the highlights, and then we can dive
into any details you like.
“You have called out several business issues. One is that you
acquired quite a few strong leaders onto your executive team that
have amazing resumes and track records, yet they are not collaborating
effectively with your more tenured executives, nor are any of them
making progress against your strategy. Now you are questioning
whether you made the wrong talent decisions.
Preface xi
“Another is that you bought into the ‘agile’ framework and put
pods and squads and such things in place to create an empowered
network of cross-functional teams, but instead of getting an explosion
of innovation and growth, the silo walls between your business units
have actually become higher and thicker.
“Finally, you told everyone they were empowered to make
decisions, but despite this decree, accountability has all but disappeared,
and decisions have slowed down even more than before. Until now,
much of these tensions were invisible. But we have taken some
network data of your executives and their teams, and we have some
valuable insights to share. Allow me to show you just one slide.” He
nodded. (See Figure P.1.)
“Let’s look at the key takeaways from this visual. The different
shades are your departments. The circles are all the people in the top
three levels of the company. The size of the circle represents the
CEO
UNKNOWN WOMEN
We marched back out of the room with even bigger smiles than
before. Actually, I think I was beaming. Our first big breakthrough in
bringing a whole new set of insights and interventions to improve
how organizations thrive in this ever-changing world of work.
Almost two years later I was sitting in the same office, and I was
able to say, honestly, “You killed it on the quarterly earnings call this
morning!” My CEO smiled, thanked me and said, “It doesn’t hurt that
earnings are up 40%! But it’s not just about the strong business
performance today. I really feel we are positioned in the best way
possible to navigate the uncertain future. Letting go of making all the
decisions at the top and using the power of network analysis to drive
intentional collaboration has actually worked! We got two new products
launched in record time! And the market loves us for it!” he laughed.
“Yes, I thought you were crazy when you made me put team incentives
in place, but it seems to have worked and not cost me too much.
“The other day someone walked up to me and said they felt
empowered and that knowing they could take responsibility for
company decisions brought meaning to their work and a sense of
belonging to our company. A year ago, this seemed like an idealistic
dream whose day would never arrive.”
Have you ever felt that your company could do better, be better?
That it would be easier to get a new job than to move up or get
recognized for your contributions in your current job?
Having had many client experiences like the one I just described,
I felt compelled to write this book to help more organizations shift
their improvement focus from fixing employees to fixing the system,
by using insights into how people behave in groups, and by making
the invisible visible through network insights.The ideas I will describe
in each chapter collectively come together in the Peopletecture
Model to comprehensively solve these challenges for the first time,
with practical solutions that can be immediately applied to invoke
change. If you want to learn how to accelerate organizational
transformation in a data-driven, scientifically supported way, to make
work more meaningful for all humans, then this book is for you.
1
Right Intentions,
Wrong Focus
1
2 Strategies for Organization Design
the same old way. After all, they are paid to sell a brand. How much
of that brand they sell directly impacts their paycheck. They would
be worse off personally if they followed the new solution structure.
The marketing people are furious with the salespeople because they
are now incentivized by solution market share, but the salespeople are
not working with them on this. So instead of collaborating, they put up
higher and thicker barricades. They don’t know or trust each other.
Morale quickly plummets, absences increase, and turnover ensues in
large numbers.The engineers like working with each other and sharing
new ideas across the different brands, but production and innovation
slows to a standstill because it is unclear whom they should work with
to get solutions to market, given the behavior of the marketing and sales
teams. Each team is responding rationally to its unique and separate
context but, in doing so, is suboptimizing the enterprise.
Today we talk about organizations’ ecosystems and platforms,
strategy and transactions, and the operating models and capabilities
needed for future success. In addition to the chief executive officer,
we have chief strategy officers, chief transformation officers, and
various business unit heads. Then, in a totally separate part of the
company, we talk about workforce experience and employer brand,
incentives and rewards, and hiring and retaining for the workforce of
the future. Often these issues are relegated to the chief human resource
officer, the chief diversity officer, or some similar title, like chief
impact officer or chief people officer. These conversations occur in
separate silos, as if they are completely unrelated to one another, but
they are actually one and the same.
The choices made on how to set up an executive team, their roles,
and their accountability for profits have a direct and predictable
impact on how middle managers feel and how frontline workers act.
We need to use these insights early and often to create an environment
where an understanding of human behavior is at the center of
the design.
4 Strategies for Organization Design
IX
— Vielä häntä kysyy! Minähän sen tietysti söin. Luulin sinun sen
älynneen.
Santtepekki oli ainoa, joka heti pääsi selville siitä, mitä Lustin
huoneessa tapahtui. Se mikä muille oli sairaan kuumehouretta, oli
hänelle, joka näki salatunkin, valtavinta kamppailua ihmisen sielusta.
Hänen poissa ollessaan oli tuo sama tumma mies, jonka kanssa
Lusti oli taistellut, ilmestynyt tuonne vuoteen viereen ja ehdottanut
peliä. Ja voitonhimo, halu taas saada paljon rahaa, oli saanut
sairaan Lustin heti myöntymään ja niin oli peli alkanut. Onni oli aluksi
suosinut Lustia. Kultaa oli kasautunut hänen vierelleen ja vavisten
kiihkosta hän oli intohimoisesti jatkanut. Mutta sittenpä oli onni
vaihtunut. Raha rahalta vyöryivät kolikot takaisin tumman miehen
taskuun, hänen kolkosti ja kylmästi hymyillessään ja taitavasti
korttejansa käsitellessään. Tämä kiihdytti Lustia yhä enemmän.
Menettäen malttinsa hän pani peliin vähitellen kaikki, mitä omisti,
jopa vihdoin nekin rahat, joita tiesi Santtepekillä olevan. Vihdoin hän
oli aivan tyhjä, ei ollut enää jäljellä mitään. Kärsimättömästi hän
viskasi kortit syrjään ja sanoi synkästi:
*****
Santtepekki istui uskollisesti Lustin vuoteen vieressä ja hoiti häntä
hellästi. Lusti oli nyt joutunut siihen virtaan, joka juoksee nopeasti,
valtavana ja sileänä vuolteena, iankaikkisuutta kohti. Jo häämöitti
tuolla kaukana se siintävä ja rajaton meren selkä, jonka aaltoihin
vaipuminen avaa ikuisen rauhan ja levon portin.
*****
Kun Santtepekki heräsi syvästä rukouksestaan, makasi Lusti
kalpeana ja kylmänä. Hänen kasvoilleen oli jäänyt kirkas ilme, joka
ihmeellisellä tavalla nuorensi häntä.
XI
— Toki lienee vielä jäljellä vieraan vara. Käy sisään, vanha mies,
lepäämään. Lienet jo pitkänkin taipaleen kulkenut.