ILLUSTRIOUS
Picture

THE BLOG

  • Home of Illustrious Consulting
  • About
  • The Work
    • OKRs
    • Amplified
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Library
    • MURAL Templates
    • Video
    • Courses
  • Contact

2/10/2022

Your Future Org Chart: Interdependency and Team Design

2 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
For those of you leading organizations in growth mode, you are continually having to balance efforts between the business you are and the business you are becoming. As your team expands, you’ll need to consider new and exciting (yes, they can be!) iterations of your org chart. 

I recently worked with a corporate team coaching client. We were tasked with building an interdependency journey in Mural that would allow leadership to measure where interdependencies were happening on their global finance team. Interdependency is not only a function of a team, it’s also a quality that emerges at the higher stages of team development (think storming, norming, performing, etc.).

If you’re familiar with McKinsey’s innovation horizons, you know that each level of product or portfolio planning requires new or different team members, leadership styles, mindsets, language, business systems, experimentation frameworks, and management methods.

Just as in innovation, interdependency has a similar way of scaling. According to the 1967 book Organizations in Action by sociologist James D. Thompson, for each level of team interdependence (pooled, sequential, or reciprocal), there are different levels of coordination required (standardization, planning, or mutual adjustment). 

Pooled - This type of task interdependence combines separate parts. Business units perform separate functions, not necessarily interacting or overlapping. Like a gymnastics team, however, their individual performance can negatively impact the rest of the organization.

Sequential - Like an assembly line, this type of interdependence means that one unit depends on the output of another before they can do their part. Planning and scheduling become vital to avoid bottlenecks in production.

Reciprocal - These units are highly interactive and reflexive. It’s sequential, but with the addition of multiple rounds or cycles. Teams or departments may adjust as the situation changes (think sales, marketing, product development, R&D, etc.) and if one department underperforms, the house of cards could come crashing down.

A lack of agreement between the types of interdependence and levels of coordination can reduce results, bruise relationships, diminish well-being, or shutter businesses. 
Picture
For now, consider these questions:
  • What are your team's beliefs about how they will accomplish their work together?
  • Are they a gymnastics team (performing individual events, garnering cumulative scores)?
  • Are they a hockey team (requiring complex and spontaneous coordination)?

Picture
I’ve built a Mural to explore this concept and lead a conversation around team design. It’s best used to prime the thinking of the CEO or executive team before moving into org chart / team design mode. Get a sneak preview here.

For more posts and templates like this, sign up for our newsletter, and if you need help designing or facilitating a workshop, let’s set up a call.

Share

2 Comments
Laurie A Durnell link
3/3/2022 11:07:52 am

One reflection I have is that there's a nested aspect to the levels of interdependency. For example a group that is at the sequential level needs good planning AND the standardization required at the lower level as well. Reciprocal-level teams need all 3 coordination technologies for their work to be successful.

Reply
Joran
3/3/2022 11:11:08 am

Oh, yes! The fact that these types of interdependency "transcend and include" is really important. You wouldn't change the way you manage the assembly line simply because you added more factories. These really should be pictured as concentric circles. Thank you, Laurie!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

Details

    ABOUT THE Author

    Joran Slane Oppelt is an international speaker, author and consultant with certifications in coaching, storytelling, design thinking and virtual facilitation.

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020

    Categories

    All
    Business
    Business Model
    CEO
    Change
    Churn
    Coaching
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Consent
    Consulting
    Content Creation
    Copywriting
    Creativity
    C Suite
    C-Suite
    Culture
    D&D
    Design
    Design Thinking
    Disruption
    Dungeons & Dragons
    Empathy
    Employees
    Executive
    Experimentation
    Facilitation
    Future
    Games
    Goals
    Graphic Recording
    Growth
    Hybrid
    Innovation
    Interdependency
    Leadership
    Lead Generation
    Listening
    Management
    Marketing
    Mastery
    Meetings
    Messaging
    Mindset
    Mission
    MURAL
    Music
    OKRs
    Operations
    Organizations
    Participation
    Products
    Remote
    Results
    Sales
    Selling
    Social Media
    Storytelling
    Strategy
    Success
    Teams
    Teamwork
    Technology
    Time
    Turnover
    Uncertainty
    Vision
    Visual Thinking
    Whiteboard
    Work

    RSS Feed

Services

Visual Facilitation
​
Change Management
Graphic Recording
Business Consulting
​Executive Coaching
MURAL Design

Shortcuts

About Us
The Blog
​Our Reading List
​
Courses

Support

To schedule a Discovery Call:
​Call Joran at (727) 771-5656
​Or e-mail joran@illustri.us
© COPYRIGHT 2020, ILLUSTRIOUS CONSULTING.
​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home of Illustrious Consulting
  • About
  • The Work
    • OKRs
    • Amplified
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Library
    • MURAL Templates
    • Video
    • Courses
  • Contact