How to – Redesign Your Department Do you ever find yourself wishing you could just destroy your existing department, eliminate the old organizational chart and start out with a fresh, clean piece of paper upon which you could simply start over from scratch?

What stops you if:
• Your department or division is not running as efficiently as it could (or should);
• Folks are in crisis;
• Cuts to people, positions and budgets have left things unrecognizable;
• People are doing more than one job (but for only one paycheck for 40-50 hours/week).

Then you should seriously think about a departmental redesign.
While not something you can do overnight or in a one-day off-site retreat, there are things to do and ways to create a fresh approach. You don’t have to limp into the New Year with tired people and an ineffective methodology and structure for accomplishing departmental/divisional goals.

You will need to pay close attention to:
• Creating senior-level support for a departmental reorganization
• Designing a departmental structure that can meet organizational strategic goals and objectives
• Using departmental policies, procedures, and process to model organizational change
• Developing flexible job descriptions that demand needed skill sets now but can evolve over time
• Building a collaborative team of individual star performers
• Attracting, selecting, hiring, and mentoring key staff
• Identifying similar (and complimentary) teams and skill sets in other departments that will complement and extend the impact of your department
• Evolving toward your ideal departmental structure even if you cannot start from scratch

Creating a department from scratch is not simple or easy so don’t view it as a panacea. You may make mistakes and missteps. Success lies in a departmental structure that is tied tightly to your company's strategic goals and objectives. You will have to walk the talk, but your ability to execute a departmental redesign will build credibility within your organization.  8:25 PM •