Focus on the Customer
This week is all about the Customer, but with a different approach from how we typically think. In our research on organizational pain, it has always been interesting to listen to what middle and senior management see as the pain for the organization. I have always thought it funny that they rarely discuss the Customer (the intended output recipient); only when we talk with CEOs do we find any consistent concern for the Customer.
This week it came into focus for me when discussing the structure of a huge multi-national corporation. The system was designed to support the business and to be all about where they could retain expertise, and was inevitably based on the incumbency and skills of the leadership.
So, to take this apart, there is a real danger, particularly for large companies, to build around expertise. While it is tangible and we can see it, it makes it hard for us to adapt to changing circumstances and our ever-evolving world. As I argued before, if we relied solely on experience we would never have gotten through the pandemic because no one had the experience to deal with it. In the future, we need to focus on the ability to think through problems, not resting on how we did it before.
As for structuring around legacy incumbency, it, too, suffers from the same problem. It relies too heavily on experience and is not necessarily based on the Strategy. Structure needs to come from Strategy , not the other way around. We again put too much emphasis on experience and need more focus on thinking about the end-state.
Now the real problem is that organizations that lose sight of the Customer become too involved in their internal affairs. As a result, they have built ivory towers that do nothing for the intended receiver of the goods or services. Instead, it becomes myopic infighting that leads to:
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In the end, we don't achieve our goals and, at the same time, cost the organization money and time. Meanwhile, the Customer is left unsupported.
The answer to this issue comes back to Strategy – which is clearly identifying the spine of the organization. The spine defines what is core to delivering goods or services to the Customer. It is what makes the business work. The spine can change over time as the Strategy changes: e.g the spine can be Marketing but evolve to Supply Chain as the organization develops to meet needs.
It is crucial to align the organization to the spine. In so doing, you are drawing a line in the sand and saying that this function is key to the success of our business, and the others are there in support, and must be aligned by the executive to make it work.
A final point on this is that it is all about continuous improvement. We always need to go back to check to see that our structures and, therefore, our people, are aligned to the common good of the organization. It is healthy to check every now and again. Organizations are like hoarders in that they compile work and structures. Every now and again, you need to clean them out to be efficient, effective, trusting, and adaptable.?