How do you change your team's structure and culture?

My first question would be why do you need or want to change it? Exploring what’s not currently working, the need and the desired outcome first will probably surface a lot of clues as to how to proceed. Additionally, changing the structure and culture while overlapping elements, are quite different. Structure and roles relate to organisation design and you need to have some design principles to guide you like, greater collaboration in the organisational system, or greater efficiency, or reduced distance to the customer. Team culture does impact the effectiveness of an organisation design, and vice versa but they are two different and meaty initiatives.

Assessing your current situation is vital in managing your team's structure and culture. A first step is to evaluate the people in the positions, starting with your leadership team. Talk to your team members and identify their talent. Are they in the appropriate position and are they happy with the work they do? What would make the position better suited for them? Do they have a talent and passion that could be used in a different area? What would they like their teammates to know about them and how could teamwork be improved amongst the group? Through this activity, you'll provide an opportunity for people to be heard and will gain information to guide your next steps in choosing the appropriate tool for further team assessment.

I wholeheartedly support the tools you’ve provided and have seen their effectiveness firsthand. I would also recommend the following: do some benchmarking of other companies to gain best practices and a competitive mindset, leverage market data and insights from companies who specialize in organizational development/restructuring, and have a change management workshop to promote critical thinking, develop a strategic plan, and forecast for the future. Doing a Plus +/- Delta or a Start-Stop-Continue to see what’s working and what’s not, evaluate your current situation, identify barriers and develop solutions to improve overall performance.

I agree with the need to define your desired outcome. After you understand your team's current situation and culture, defining areas for improvement is crucial in maintaining focus. Select opportunities that are important to your staff and can be linked to increasing other measures, such as productivity. Don't lose sight of the things you're already doing well. That can be a common mistake of some leaders - they work so hard on trying to improve opportunity areas that they unintentionally let positive areas fall off the radar leading to other problems.

An assessment to determine positive growth opportunities within the structure of the team is recommended. A solution box, allowing for anonymity, can encourage participation. Connection to team members through an understanding of needs raises morale and increases productivity. Implementation of suggestions emphasizes value.

Once you've identified your desired outcomes and implemented those action plans, it is imperative to monitor the changes. A well-defined action plan should be connected to one or more SMART goals that you will utilize to measure effectiveness of the implemented plan. I agree with all the points outlined in the article. Feedback, communication, and celebrations of shared success go along way with staff to build trust and rapport.

Evaluating and adjusting change requires focus. Be prudent in your journey and don't allow other distractions to remove your focus and follow up from your changes.

One thing I've found helpful in maintaining and sustaining change is to tie the ongoing processes into something communicated permanently such as an employee newsletter or an employee award. A good example would be to increase reporting adverse events by offering a staff reward for good catches. Then, you share the good catches publicly to empower other staff to do the same. You may never struggle with that area again, because it promotes the desired culture.