Chasing Digital

CHAPTER 2Organisational design

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

As the model of your business, organisational design describes your company in terms of people, roles and structure. It is the blueprint for your organisation’s capabilities and business strategy. Without revising the mechanics of your business, you cannot execute new strategy and implement the changes you’ve drawn from chapter 1. If you don’t get the engineering right, you will end up with confused roles, a lack of internal coordination, siloed teams, variable outputs, ineffective decision making and stagnation. The most significant problem you’ll face, though, is a lack of speed, as pre-digital incumbents aren’t traditionally designed for the fast pace of our new economy.

Our dual-engine approach to organisational design will ensure your business is equipped to thrive in the years to come. The idea is to serve your current customers while in parallel building out the capabilities to meet the needs of your future customers, even if these sets of customers are the same. In this chapter, you’ll discover how to transform your organisational design using a proven strategy called dual transformation. As part of this process, you’ll become familiar with two additional key concepts, known as Engine A and Engine B.

When your primary engine runs out of fuel

In our new economy, pre-digital incumbents can find themselves bogged down by an outdated ...