Revamp

Do you ever find yourself wishing you could just destroy your existing department, eliminate the old organizational chart and start out with a fresh, clean piece of paper upon which you could simply start over from scratch? What is stopping you?

 

IF:

• Your department or division is not running as efficiently as it could (or should);
• Folks are in crisis;
• Cuts to people, positions and budgets have left things unrecognizable;
• People are doing more than one job (but for only one paycheck for 40-50 hours/week)

 

Then you should be seriously thinking about a departmental redesign.

 

OK - you can't do it right overnight or even in a one-day off-site retreat. But there are things you can do and ways to create a fresh approach. You don’t have to limp into the New Year with tired people and an ineffective methodology and structure for accomplishing departmental/divisional goals. You could be the one who tries innovation instead of stagnation.

 

 You will need to pay close attention to:

• Creating senior-level support for a departmental reorganization
• Designing a departmental structure that can meet organizational strategic goals and objectives
• Using departmental policies, procedures, and process to model organizational change
• Developing flexible job descriptions that demand needed skill sets now but can evolve over time
• Building a collaborative team of individual star performers
• Attracting, selecting, hiring, and mentoring key staff
• Identifying similar (and complimentary) teams and skill sets in other departments that will complement and extend the impact of your department
• Evolving toward your ideal departmental structure even if you cannot start from scratch

Creating a department from scratch is not simple or easy so don’t view it as the remedy for all your problems. It's not easy to truly let go of the past and create something new. You may make mistakes and missteps. In fact -- you can count on it!

Success will lie in a departmental structure that is tied tightly to your company's strategic goals and objectives. You will have to walk the talk, but your ability to execute a departmental redesign will build credibility within your organization. People will be watching to see if you really mean what you say and if things have really changed.

But imagine what tings could be like if you could build something that makes sense today -- for the way things are today.