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6 steps to reboot your organisations workflow

workflow

Written by Ralph Tait

Having worked in key strategy and project roles across multiple businesses, Ralph has successfully delivered organisational change programmes for over 15 years. Leading and managing change has been the key theme throughout his career, and has led him to found EchoChanges, which is a software firm that helps corporations land complex change more effectively.

So where are you reading this? At the kitchen table or in a shed? On your phone whilst trying to teach a math lesson to your 7-year-old? Or maybe you’re in an actual, real-life, office. Two metres away from your nearest colleague. With only half the number of people that would normally be in there with you. The rest are at home ducking that journey in on the train. 

At lunchtime, do you head to the fridge? Or to the nearest Prêt?  With its limited menu, new queuing system and distinct lack of buzz. 

All the habits of your daily work life have changed. Such so that the long term impacts are far from known.

What your business is, what it does, and how it’s going to get the work done. Are the type of questions your CEO and leadership team will be asking you.  Sadly, they may be asking you to look at reducing headcount. At repositioning your business. Shifting your location strategy and adjusting ways of working. All while trying to understand what the hell has happened to your culture. 

There is a worrying risk right that businesses will be making snap judgements in response to the pandemic.  Decisions that will affect the shape and culture of your organisation. Not to mention the impact on your people and your success. 

Now, more than ever, decisions need to be made in a controlled and rigorous way. To ensure that you design your way back to health with data and insights, rather than using instinct and guesswork.

So faced with all that? Where to begin? And how to begin? How can you make quick changes that will enable you to survive? While adopting a long-term outlook?

A step-by-step approach to re-booting your organisation

Mindyasa’s operating model framework has been designed for HR professionals.  To help re-imagine, rewire and re-boot your business. To lead organisations and employees through a step-by-step phased transformation.

Workflow

Vision and objectives

Without a clearly defined vision, strategic priorities and values to anchor and guide your organization, any changes to your workforce, your processes, and your ways of working will be doomed to failure.

These critical foundations firmly establish the key objectives that your design needs to achieve. At this stage, it’s also a good idea to analyse your current levels of organisational health. An area we’re going to cover in detail in a further post next week.

Workflow

Once you know what your organisation plans to achieve, you can fully understand the work that needs to be done to deliver those goals.  

Capabilities

Based on what has been identified as your new workflow. You need to establish specific capabilities (not roles) that are required to complete each activity. Regardless of whether the workflow has changed. Re-visiting and fine-tuning your capabilities regularly enables you to stay on top of how your organisation is evolving. Many of the capabilities may already exist in your organisation. However, it is possible that you may also have some gaps. Running this assessment will enable you to have complete visibility. What do you need, what do you have and what gaps need to be filled.

Process

Once you are clear on the capabilities and the work that is required – it is essential that you are able to deliver. As well as organise the different capabilities effectively. Your processes are the glue that bring it all together. They provide clarity on how the work gets done. They ensure that people are able to work together more effectively.

Roles

Now is the time to think about specific roles. Some won’t have changed a great deal. However, now it will be much easier to see what new roles are required to deliver the processes. As well as how many roles are needed. 

Having these insights will allow you to make more informed decisions. Where you have excess capacity as well as skill gaps.

Organisational design

The right number of roles, with the right capabilities, will dictate the shape and design of your organisation. Grounded in data and insight, rather than personal opinion and bias. 

By the end of the six phases you’ll have created the following deliverables and outcomes:

  1. A set of cultural foundations including purpose, mission, strategic priorities and values. Giving your employees and customers clarity on why you are in business and what your goals are.
  1. An understanding of the organisational health of your business. Including strengths and areas for improvement.  As well as a set of data points to benchmark progress.
  1. Key workflows identified for the business and by each department. Allowing you to steer your company successfully and deliver your goals. And any changes will be easy to understand by all employees.
  1. High-level capability analysis for the organisation.  Your insights will make it far easier to determine the capabilities that are most important. As well as identifying any gaps you may have.
  1. High-level process mapping of the key processes within each of the workflows. Clarity, clarity, clarity. Helping you to communicate across the company who does what. How they do it and how teams need to interact.
  1. Operating model principles, decision-making principles and design principles. Your key ways of working will be determined by these. Testing each of your decisions against these principles will ensure that you stay coordinated.
  1. An org design that is grounded in your vision and strategic priorities. Confident that was has been created will solve your specific business challenges.

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