If you’re having trouble translating strategy into execution, maybe you’re only using half of your organization. Sure, you’ve assigned decision rights, rearranged the lines and boxes in the org chart, set up a knowledge exchange system for better information flow, and tweaked your incentives. These are the formal mechanisms that business executives usually rely on for organizational change management—they’re familiar, concrete, and measurable. To meet the practical demands of execution, you need to design these elements thoughtfully and effectively.
But it takes more than sound structures, well-crafted rules, and rational compliance to get the best out of your people or to change your company’s direction. Emotional commitment matters too. The attributes of emotional commitment—drive, pride, an innovation mind-set—are nurtured mainly beyond the lines and boxes. They stem from informal elements: norms, commitments, mind-sets, and networks.
Author: Jonathan Gruber
Source: strategy+business
Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior
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