The steps involved in organizational design consulting vary from project to project and from organization to organization. The proper steps may depend on why the organization is rethinking its design, whether in response to changes in the market, the launch of a new business strategy or the fact that the current organizational design is no longer fit for purpose.
Common steps involved in organizational design consulting are as follows:
Diagnosis: Organizational design consultants begin by understanding the organization’s current structure, culture, processes and performance. They also consider any external factors shaping a company’s environment. They gather data through methods such as employee interviews, surveys and focus groups.
Analysis: After diagnosing any issues, org design consultants analyze the data to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the organizational design. This process may include tools such as SWOT analysis, stakeholder mapping and process mapping, among others.
Design: Organizational design consultants work with an organization’s leaders to develop a new organizational design that resolves any issues and aligns with the organization's goals and strategy. This step may involve creating a new organizational chart, defining roles and responsibilities, designing processes and workflows and developing a new culture.
Implementation: Org design consultants with the organization to implement the design. Implementing the change likely involves drafting a change management plan, building and executing a strategy to communicate the change to employees, training employees on new processes and roles and monitoring the progress of the transformation.
Evaluation: Organizational design consultants assess the effectiveness of the new design. Using key performance metrics and feedback from stakeholders, consultants identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement and refine the organizational design.