Avoiding Some Common Traps

Too many managers rely on simplistic fixes to address complicated alignment problems. Be alert to these all-too-common pitfalls:

• Trying to restructure your way out of deeper problems. Overhauling your group s structure in times of trouble can amount to straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic . Resist doing so until you understand whether restructuring will address the root causes of the problems. Otherwise, you may create new misalignments and have to backtrack, disrupting your group, lowering productivity, and damaging your credibility.

• Creating structures that are too complex. This is a related trap. Although it may look good on paper to create a structure, such as a matrix, in which people in different units share accountability and in which creative tensions get worked out through their interactions, too often the result is bureaucratic paralysis. Strive where possible for clear lines of accountability. Simplify the structure to the greatest degree possible without compromising core goals.

• Automating problem processes. Automating your group s core processes may produce significant gains in productivity, quality, and reliability, but it is a mistake to simply speed up an existing process through technology if the process has serious underlying problems. Automation will not solve such problems and may even amplify them. Analyze and streamline processes first; then decide whether automating them still makes sense.

• Making changes for change s sake. Resist the temptation to tear down the fences before you know why they were put up. New leaders who feel self-imposed pressure to put their stamp on the organization often make changes in strategy or structure before they really understand the business. Here again, the action imperative discussed in chapter 2 creates a sure recipe for disaster.

• Overestimating your group s capacity to absorb strategic shifts. It is easy to envision an ambitious new strategy. In practice, though, it is difficult for a group to change in response to large-scale strategic shifts. Advance incrementally if time allows. Focus on a vital few priorities. Make modest changes to your group s strategy; experiment; and then progressively refine structure, processes, skills, and culture.