Strategies for Organization Design

14Conclusion: What's Next?

“Any company designed for success in the twentieth century is doomed to failure in the twenty‐first.”

—David Rose, angel investor

Now, I may be a glass‐half‐full person, but this is the most exciting time to be an organization designer in the history of work. I wrote this book during the global COVID‐19 pandemic. During this two‐year period, the importance and value of network insights were brought to the forefront of business.

Let me answer the most oft‐asked question in business at this moment: “When do we really need to be at work in‐person?” Let's assume we end up with a two‐days‐a‐week‐in‐the‐office arrangement. While there is no “one size fits all” or silver bullet to optimize a hybrid workforce, it's critical that we make these face‐time collaboration opportunities count. Outside of the known benefits to engagement, innovation, and performance from informal interactions at lunch, around the water cooler, and after‐work socializing, what intentional collaboration must we facilitate to make in‐office time worth it for both employees and employers?

We live and breathe in a tsunami of interconnections. We need to understand the nature of connections so we can change and improve them. Prior to the dramatic shift to virtual work, we used to discuss the networks built based on where you sat in your office. Researchers repeatedly demonstrated that if you sat more than 30 feet from a coworker, you were unlikely to have much of a connection (Morgan ...