In adaptive organization design, we don’t just structure for efficiency, such as by removing bottlenecks or redundancies. We design to shape leadership behaviors, system interactions, and team dynamics to prevent reactive cycles and instead enable prompt, sound, and proactive decision-making.
Topics: Adaptability, Organizational Decision-Making, OrgDesign
This week’s DeepSeek incident sent shockwaves through global markets wiping out over 1 trillion in market value in a single day. The Chinese AI startup’s sudden rise—offering an alternative to existing AI models—led to a steep selloff in major tech stocks, including a historic $593 billion drop in Nvidia’s market cap alone. While this sounds like a once in a life-time event, the reality is: It's part of a very normal "faster, cheaper, better" innovation cylce. The sheer speed of brutal competition and disruption raises an essential question: Is your organization designed to embrace competition and stay ahead of disruption?
Topics: Organization Design, Business Innovation, disruptive change, Disruptive Innovation, Adaptability, OrgDesign
When organizations transition to flatter structures, they often aspire to empower teams, foster collaboration, and enable agile decision-making. Yet, one of the most common challenges we encounter when we are being called into an organization is the persistence of "zombie structures." These are legacy habits, processes, and behaviors that refuse to stay buried, undermining the transformation effort.
Topics: Organization Design, Business Innovation, Adaptability, OrgDesign
As we welcome 2025, we want to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Reflecting on the past year, we’re deeply grateful for the positive impact we’ve created together with our clients. Now, we look forward to a year filled with adaptive organization design, business model innovations, and business transformation.
While the new year naturally brings action-oriented energy, it’s also a valuable opportunity to reflect, plan, and align with the goals that truly matter. What do we want to achieve in 2025? How can our business create meaningful change? And how can we ensure that the transformation we undertake leads to a positive, lasting impact—both within our organizations and beyond?
Topics: Organization Design, Business Innovation, Adaptability, OrgDesign
For leaders, this reflective process goes beyond tidying up. It’s about creating room to innovate, realign, and prepare for the road ahead. As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to ask bold, transformative questions that challenge the status quo and unlock new pathways to success.
Here are five powerful organization design questions to guide your thinking and set the stage for a stronger, more focused 2025.
Topics: Organization Design, Adaptability
Organization design has long been recognized as critical to driving business impact. This trend has prompted many companies to establish internal functions, from Organizational Design teams to expanding C-suite roles, such as Chief Transformation Officer. Additionally, reorganizations are on the rise. McKinsey data shows that nearly 60% of executives have experienced organizational redesigns within the past two years, and 25% more companies are redesigning three or more times as often as they did just a few years ago. These developments evidence the growing number of businesses embracing organizational design to enhance adaptability and ensure business continuity. While this is a promising trend, the challenge now lies in moving beyond approaches that might necessitate frequent redesigns, toward creating systems that naturally regenerate and evolve dynamically.
Topics: Organization Design, Adaptability, Expertise, Generative Learning
Topics: Organization Design, Adaptability, EmployeeEngagement
Anyone who has tried to design a work environment for engagement, connectedness, and motivation knows it’s no small task. The challenge lies in the wide range of factors that influence these outcomes. Motivation exists on a spectrum—from self-driven (intrinsic) to externally regulated (extrinsic) forms. Intrinsic motivation, such as personal enjoyment or fulfillment, typically leads to better outcomes like happiness and improved performance. Extrinsic motivation, driven by external rewards and recognition, also plays a role, though it tends to be less impactful. Finding the right balance is a challenge. Transitioning from motivation as a foundation to true engagement is even harder. While motivation drives action, engagement depends on creating a deeper sense of belonging, purpose, and well-being. This is where the need for uniqueness comes in—people won’t feel connected to an organization that isn’t distinct but is just like any other company.
Topics: Organization Design, Employee Engagement, Self-Determination Theory, Motivation
Sound familiar? The latest employee satisfaction survey results are in, and they deliver what feels like a gut punch for any HR/OD team: a significant dip in employee engagement. After the initial shock, the team is sent back to the drawing board. Under immense pressure from management, focus groups are formed to brainstorm new initiatives in the hope of driving those numbers back up and reigniting engagement.
Topics: Organization Design, Employee Engagement
The book “The Good Life” by Robert Waldinger discusses the findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on human happiness. The study, which started in 1938, has tracked the lives of 724 men over 75 years and now includes their children. The key takeaway from this extensive research is that good relationships are the cornerstone of a happy and healthy life. The study found that people who are more socially connected to family, friends, and community are happier, physically healthier, and live longer than those who are less well-connected. Conversely, loneliness is associated with less happiness, poorer health, and shorter lifespans.
Topics: Organization Desgin, OrgDesign, EmployeeEngagement, RTO, Happiness, EmployeeWellBeing
