Deconstruct your current organization chart into the lines of business under each manager, and document individual accountabilities and clear work flows.

Without changing your current organization chart, you can make a lot of progress on some key organizational objectives:

• Identify accountabilities for deliverables (not just resources and processes)

• Document and clean up work-flows

• Optionally, begin to develop a service catalog

• Begin to get managers thinking like entrepreneurs

• Assess the need for future changes in your structure

There are two steps in this process:

• Document which lines of business are under each manager

  This is a shortened form of the Rainbow Analysis. Using the framework of all the lines of business within organizations (the Building Blocks), each manager identifies the business(es) within his/her group.

  While this inevitably generates insights on the current organization chart (and may build interest in a future restructuring), it does not require any change in your current structure.

• Walk-throughs

  Outside routine production lines, it's not appropriate to use a rigid process-engineering approach. In a more dynamic environment, work-flows take the form of "walk-throughs."

  Walk-throughs are done for one or a few projects or services. In each, the leadership team identifies the "prime contractor" -- the group wholly accountable for the entire initiative.

  Then, that prime contractor identifies the help needed from other groups within the organization -- "subcontractors" who are in turn wholly accountable for their sub-components (deliverables, not tasks).

  Subcontractors may, in turn, need help from peers -- sub-subcontractors -- and so on.

  The result is a clear definition of cross-boundary teams: who's involved, each member's individual accountabilities for results, and the chain of command within the team.

  Optionally, participating leaders may record their products and services as they do walk-throughs. If they do, a draft service catalog begins to emerge. This gives you a head start on a potential follow-on project to develop a comprehensive service catalog.

Walk-throughs are not a rigid pre-defined process. They're a method for flexibly generating clear processes in the context of the unique requirements of each project or service.

The benefits go beyond just the one or few walk-throughs done in this process. The definitions of lines of business and the walk-throughs method can bring clarity to all future projects and services.

If you're not ready to commit to a major restructuring, but are interested in moving toward an accountable, entrepreneurial organization with crisp cross-boundary teamwork, this is a powerful first step.

Abstracts Free library

Books Speech abstracts

NDMA coaching/consulting services

UP.... NEXT PAGE....