The business organization chart needs to be reviewed. In these increasingly destabilizing times, #chao is the norm! To survive, there is an even higher priority than the pursuit of excellence: the flexibility of teams who can and should use chaos as a source of competitive advantage. Here are the recommendations for acquiring flexibility and adapting your business organizational chart: roles and interactions of each.
The team is the first source of added value in the company. By defining your organizational chart, you define the job descriptions and the missions that you will ask your team. By using the strengths of each person, you will strengthen the agility of your company and its ability to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow: Relaunching our activities, finding new levers for development and savings.
What discourages and should be removed…
10. Eliminate bureaucratic rules and humiliating conditions
Reduce and simplify unnecessary information and procedures. Our challenge today, since everything goes by email, is to reduce the untimely use of emails and the transmission of information. Eliminate anything that can dehumanize the company and become sensitive to the proper maintenance of the facilities (staff changing rooms, dining hall, corridors). Everything must be clean and in perfect working order for a good working atmosphere.
9. Reconsider the role of middle management, heads of departments
In order to make teams more accountable, it is now necessary to favor horizontal organizational charts rather than traditionally vertical ones. Middle management and department heads must be considered as facilitators who dare to move the limits of functional responsibilities. Promote an inverted organization chart with operational teams at the top and managers at the bottom with the role of “facilitators” and “supports”. The role of middle management must become central “to keep things moving”.
8. Simplify and reduce the structure of the company
The heaviness of our organizations hinders its effectiveness. We must radically reduce the layers of managers, it is a crucial issue. Assign most of the support jobs to be reported to field managers. Significantly increase its non-supervisor / supervisor ratio and give field teams a large field of control. This is true for any size of business. A minimum of supervisor for a tench of 25 to 75 people is the target today.
What encourages and needs to be developed…
7. Provide a guarantee of employment
In order to demand constant risk-taking from everyone in the company, in the name of improving continuous efforts, and chart the course for rapid responses and regular change, the company must ensure the ” employment for a large part of the teams (subject to individual performance), develop tactics to adapt its structure to seasonality with ad hoc recruitments of loyal teams but also a margin for workforce reduction to ensure that layoffs rarely ever see ever. The adaptation of teams inevitably requires permanent training to change or evolve their work and reclassification or change of responsibilities.
6. Offer a financial incentive for everyone
The involvement of professional teams on a large scale is essential to be competitive. To trigger the involvement of teams in the permanent changes requested, the company must promote financial incentives for everyone as a key argument, the ultimate recognition for everyone’s contribution to improving financial results. These target bonus programs must be clearly defined in relation to the perceived opportunity of each to participate directly in the results. The incentive to be effective must focus on working in groups of 10 to 30 people maximum. It is advisable, for some positions to put a variable of 25% in the total compensation and to make a monthly payment in relation to the results. The ideal is also to involve the teams in a bonus on the results of the company, or even a participation.
5. Train and train again continuously
Invest in human resources as much as in tools. Training is all the more important for new employees. Training teams in problem-solving techniques is a priority to improve the quality of service. The training of a new promoted manager is essential as well as at each stage of its development. Use training whenever there is a change in strategy. Training must be field oriented, by field teams. The added value of our companies are our teams and only well-trained teams will stay first but will bring more value to our customer service.
4. Take time out in recruiting
The involvement of teams, their motivation, the atmosphere created can be radically favored through good recruitment. The company, its leader, its managers must invest time in field recruiting. Also use in recruiting simple criteria on candidate behavior (ability to work in a team, customer orientation, service spirit …), which will be important criteria for the business of tomorrow. Through the recruitment criteria, today’s company must insist on the autonomy of its teams and mutual trust given that each person will have fewer supervisors than before. For all these reasons, the recruitment process makes perfect sense.
3. Listen / Celebrate / Give recognition
The full involvement of teams is necessary today to meet customer expectations in terms of quality of service, experience and flexibility. Listening constantly is an essential quality (in an informal or formal way) like that of congratulating, sharing ideas and information but above all recognizing what has been done. Celebrating, formally or not, the small everyday victories achieved by 90% of teams and recognizing improvements is another key success factor for developing involvement and commitment.
Guiding lines…
2. Promote self-managed teams
To achieve an expected level of commitment, the company must organize teamwork as often as possible to promote development, information exchange, innovation and new ideas, action decisions and the personal involvement of each. The risk of this working method is the questioning of the position of manager, or service supervisor who must, as seen previously be a facilitator, a support.
1. Involve everyone in everything
Involving everyone at all levels in the various functions of the company strengthens commitment and flexibility. There are many examples // Quality improvement and self-control programs // Productivity gain solutions // Results measurement and management tools // Development of budgets, management and adjustments // Layout of work // recruitment and integration // Customer relations and business development such as customer visits. You have to firmly believe that there are no limits to what someone so well trained, well managed and well paid for their involvement can do.
There are no limits to the ability to contribute from a well recruited, well trained, adequately supported and above all committed person.
Tom Peters
