Agile organizational structures

Service by the book or empowerment? Your balance sheets know the answer.

Agile organizational structures

Stability is the backbone of any organization. The aim of a change process cannot therefore be to simply eliminate the controlling and stabilizing elements. Instead, they need to be further developed and adapted to the new circumstances. While complete autonomy produces chaos and can only be experienced in start-ups at the very beginning of the company’s foundation, companies that regard their controlling and stabilizing elements as immutable laws inevitably develop into bureaucratic organizations. But bureaucracy means standstill. Ensuring a balance between the two poles of stability and flexibility is the major challenge on the path to an agile organization. Unfortunately, there is no ready-made recipe for mastering them. But the ingredients are well known.
Agile Organisationsstrukturen

Agile team structures in the field of tension between autonomy and alignment

When designing helpful structures for speed, flexibility and customer proximity, the following questions are important: What do your employees need in order to be able to experiment, be entrepreneurial, take personal responsibility and act flexibly in roles and teams (autonomy)? How is collaboration ensured in multifunctional teams? Which controlling and stabilizing elements should be retained because they increase efficiency or are necessary due to the legal framework? Find out where you stand – we will be happy to help you.

Key areas of action for agile organizational structures.

Once the strengths of a company have been identified, it is important to focus on the flexibilizing and dynamic elements: These must be promoted or even considered permissible for the time being. Only then should further measures be introduced to create an agile organizational structure. An important step is the establishment of decentralized responsibilities and flat hierarchies. It enables employees of an organization to meet at eye level. It also gives them the necessary room for manoeuvre to work faster in a self-organized manner and make more flexible decisions. This requires trust and the willingness to empower employees to think entrepreneurially. In complex social organizations, multidisciplinary teams that cover the entire customer value chain are more successful than individuals. This cross-departmental collaboration promotes both transparency and the flow of communication within the company. Employees who no longer have to follow hierarchical structures, know the “whole picture” and are also guided by a common vision and shared values, know how to make decisions in the interests of the company. Are agile forms of organization such as squods, chapters or swarms also helpful for your company?

Agile Methoden im Ueberblick: Design Thinking, Design Sprint, Lean Start Up, Scrum, BMC