Multiple, coinciding challenges are forcing corporations to rethink their strategies and change the way that they operate. Responses to issues like the global pandemic, economic disruptions, and fundamental shifts in expectations of how and where work is done have often been reactive, resulting in piecemeal change initiatives rather than strategic and holistic assessments of the impacts of the change to the overall organizational design.
When strategic direction changes, structures, roles, and functions should be realigned to the new objectives. When this does not happen, responsibilities can be overlooked, resourcing can be inappropriate, and functions and people can work against each other. Organizational structure affects both the overall behavior of companies and the situations of individuals and functions within the company.
This is particularly relevant today within the corporate real estate (CRE) function. CRE has taken on an increasingly critical role in delivering an optimal and flexible work environment for all employees while maintaining high-performing organizations. The design of the CRE organization is a critical factor in ensuring that roles and responsibilities are effectively structured to deliver against desired outcomes. While CRE organizations within companies may range from vastly complex environments to simpler groups or functions, what remains consistent among them is the need to perform to achieve a company’s goals and objectives. The best-suited organizational structure, with the right people communicating effectively, can truly propel the organization on its path toward innovation and transformation.
When organizations fall out of alignment, responsibilities can be overlooked, resourcing can be inappropriate, and functions and people can work against each other. An organizational assessment informs an organizational design that is truly tailored to a company’s goals and needs and is a powerful tool for optimizing the efficacy and efficiency of CRE services delivery. While every organizational design or structure will face its share of potential risks, a greater pitfall is expecting an organization to operate at peak performance when it is not properly structured to do so.
What are the key considerations when undergoing an organization assessment?
What are the key considerations when undergoing an organization assessment?
When developing the organizational design structure that will successfully deliver to the defined desired outcomes it is important to consider the following factors and how they influence design decision making.
Business Alignment
Business Alignment
An organizational assessment is intended to realign the team, roles and responsibilities and skillsets with the strategic direction of the corporation. It is crucial for CRE leadership to identify its role in helping to achieve company goals and objectives and to clearly understand the following:
- The corporation’s mission, vision, and strategy
- The organizational culture, rules, values, customs, and guiding principles
- Key external drivers and their impact on the organization
- Management practices
Understanding this foundational information will guide design for the future state of the organization. An organizational structure may be well planned, defined and implemented but it will only be effective in meeting enterprise goals and objectives to the degree it is aligned to specific desired results and outcomes.
Service Delivery Model
Service Delivery Model
The service delivery model defines support for customers, providers, and stakeholders. When designing the most effective organizational structure, it is essential to understand what support is required and how that support will be delivered (i.e., what is managed and delivered internally versus what is outsourced and managed by a third-party partner). Often, strategic operational changes impact the skill-sets required to meet new goals and objectives. When this is planned strategically and effectively, it ensures the right competencies are accounted for and that there is no duplication or shadowing of roles and responsibilities.
Roles and Responsibilities
Roles and Responsibilities
At the heart of any organization’s success is its most important resource—the employee. How the individuals who make up an organization act and behave in their everyday will influence an organization’s trajectory more than anyone or anything else. What are those individuals doing? How are they doing it? Are the right people with the right skill sets in the correct roles? Is their daily activity producing the desired outcomes? Do they have the appropriate level of authority and decision making?
If roles and responsibilities are not adequately defined or communicated, “points of pain” can ensue. These include redundancy or shadow organizations, non-value-added steps, excessive hand-offs, multiple points of accountability, lengthy cycle times and an overall increased opportunity for error.
Once roles and responsibilities have been established, their efficacy will be heavily impacted by the degree to which individuals understand their roles and how their responsibilities interact with other people and processes across the organization. When an employee truly understands how his or her realm of responsibility contributes to the creation of value for customers and attaining desired results, the overall organization will be better positioned to demonstrate success in achieving its goals.
When an organization isn’t evaluating and planning roles and responsibilities effectively, negative impacts can include inadequate work product across key deliverables, increased risk and costs, lack of credibility, and general lack of trust within the organization. At the end of the day, it is worth the effort to ensure that the people who make up an organization are structured and behaving in a way that helps the organization reach its desired outcomes. This is one of the key essentials needed to ensure that any CRE business strategy comes to life.
Communication and Collaboration
Communication and Collaboration
Designing roles and responsibilities without proper understanding of the communication pathways can result in unproductive silos. An organizational chart may indicate who owns components of service delivery, but it cannot be relied on to inform how those individuals will collectively communicate and collaborate as they execute their responsibilities. It is important for organizational leadership to understand how communication, information, and decisions flow through the organization. How is work executed? Where does work stagnate? Where are there bottlenecks and where does work stop? Without formal paths of communication and effective collaboration, an organization can increase its risk for error, create frustration within the organization, and fall short in meeting organizational objectives.
Another reason to properly plan and implement a plan for communication is to build and foster trust across the organization. When individuals begin to lose trust in their teammates, the negative effects can easily escalate to unproductivity (or a perception of it), tension and an unhealthy business relationship. When an organization is communicating and collaborating effectively, employees are getting the information they need when they need it. Conflict is mitigated. Employee engagement, productivity, culture and satisfaction improve, and high-value teams are more innovative.
In Conclusion
In Conclusion
Organizational redesign goes well beyond making a few changes to your current organizational chart based on anecdotal feedback or gut instinct. When done properly, the redesigned CRE organization can yield many long-lasting benefits such as improved service delivery, reduced risk, talent retention, increased output from the supply chain and greater value to your company/business enterprise.
As a leading management consulting firm that specializes in corporate real estate and facilities management, SIREAS has extensive experience supporting clients with organizational design that aligns the client’s vision and strategic objectives, that optimizes the service delivery model, and that minimizes total cost of ownership.
Leveraging SIREAS’ extensive experience, in-depth market knowledge and complete objectivity will bring significant value in helping you envision and implement the future of your organization.
