Reorganising for performance

Finding your North Star

We reorganise in pursuit of improvement... an increase in performance.  To find your North Star you must be able to immediately and clearly verbalise what performance you want to increase.  Efficiency, innovation, customer service, profit..?  What is it that we seek to improve?  The answer to this question is your North Star.  This may seem a no-brainer question, but without a good clear answer to it, you will not find your Southern Cross.  One I always like to refer back to is "responsiveness".  Whether it's to respond with a new product to an opportunity for innovation, a delivery when an order is placed, an answer when a question is put, a defence when an attack is made, an organisation that cannot respond with sufficient agility will die. The definition of "sufficient" is determined by the market.

Responsiveness has often been my North Star when reorganising.  Efficiency, innovation, customer service, profit etc. have always flown from that.

Finding your Southern Cross

So if responsiveness is a North Star, where does one begin with reorganisation?

As one begins to explore the many options and possibilities, the relationships and interdependencies presented not only by existing internal processes, but also external organisations like customers, it's easy to get sunk in a quagmire of complexity.  How does one make the right decisions when you're deep down in the detail of the pros and cons of decision?

When going through any reorganisation, I always look to a set of core values which line up with the North Star against which to optimize an organisation, a kind of guiding Southern Cross if you like.  This helps me make decisions when I am in the details and faced with complex and difficult choices.  

How does this particular choice increase or decrease each of the values in this core set.  Figuring the answer to that question always sets direction and clarifies the choice.  It'll help you make the right decisions, not perfect decisions.

When reorganising for responsiveness, the stars in my Southern Cross are:

1. Autonomy for as long as possible

2. Decentralised decisions as close to the action as possible

3. Visibility and measurability of outcomes

4. Co-location

5. Autonomous unit sizes as small as possible

There are other values that I can add to the list, but I have limited the stars to five.  They are prioritised.  There are only five bright stars in the Southern Cross.  Adding more to your Southern Cross will only make you loose focus, something your Southern Cross is precisely there for to help you keep.

I will expand on each of these stars in my next post.  It would be good to have your views.