STEP 4: Build an organization
The ultimate goal is an organization in which people make good decisions, make them quickly, and execute them effectively, all as a matter of course. But some of the most important decisions are the seemingly small operating choices made every day by people throughout the business. Getting those decisions right requires an environment that equips people at every level to decide and deliver. All the elements of the broader organizational system have to support good decision making and execution.
That's why Step 4 of our process involves scrutinizing, and improving where necessary, every one of these elements—both the "hard" elements of the organization, such as structure and processes, and the "soft" ones, such as people and culture.
The power of this approach is the way it focuses the organizational investments that most large companies make every year. Instead of a series of disconnected initiatives, which often confuse people and dilute the investment, the single objective for any improvement is whether it will lead to better decision making and execution.
To take one example, consider the difference between the traditional view of talent development and deployment—which people to assign to which jobs—and a decision-centered approach.
Most companies ask the traditional question: Are we winning the war for talent? Companies have invested massively to get the answer they are looking for.
The decision-centered question, by contrast, is: Do we put our best people in the jobs where they can have the biggest impact on decisions?
To answer the decision-centered question, you need to know the key positions in your organization. These are the jobs that have the biggest impact on critical decisions—and since some of those are everyday operating decisions, the key positions can be almost anywhere in the organization. Many will be on or close to the front line. The next step is to identify the individuals who can best fill those positions, which means singling out the people who have the skills to make and execute decisions well and quickly.
Looking at your organization from that vantage point is likely to change how you think about talent. One technology company, for instance, identified its mission-critical positions and assessed how many of these positions were filled by top performers. The answer was less than 30 percent. When the company then asked how many of its top performers were in mission-critical positions, the answer was only 40 percent. Thinking about deployment from a decision perspective helped this company make the most of its talent pool and improve its decision effectiveness.
Of course, talent management is just one part of an organization. But you can ask decision-centered questions of every major element. Evaluating your organization on these lines will give you a more accurate assessment of what needs to be improved and how to go about improving it.
