The demands of today’s business environment are unprecedented. Organizational success requires leaders to balance conflicting pressures, including becoming more efficient while driving innovation, expanding globally while addressing local needs, and enhancing growth while ensuring sustainability. Organizations that can continuously adapt and reimagine how they create, deliver, and generate returns are at a significant advantage.
The pressure on organizations to become more efficient and effective will never end. Shareholders and customers expect more, and therefore companies need to deliver. In today’s global market, companies are facing unparalleled issues stemming from economic uncertainty and weakening global growth, shifting trade polices and tariffs, elevated interest rates, and inflation. In addition, AI disruption, digital market dynamics, gig economy transformations, supply chain risks, and evolving consumer behaviours are forcing organizations to be more agile.
It feels as if a never-ending storm of issues has arrived, and that this storm is unending. And then it happens: a senior leader walks into your office and says, ‘We are facing a downturn in sales, and we need to redesign our organization.’  How you choose to respond to this situation can dramatically impact the likelihood of success.
On the one hand, you are a diligent HR/OD professional committed to supporting the organization in achieving success. When a respected leader says they need a redesign, your default answer is, ‘Sure, let’s go.’ But wait. Consider asking: is a redesign the right solution? Do we know it will work? What is the problem we are looking to solve? How can we ensure that we are in a better place once the redesign is complete? How can we guarantee that we avoid the common pitfalls of other organizations?
While you have a strong bias for action, the reality is that many organizational redesign initiatives fail to achieve objectives:
- 82% percent of all respondents say they have experienced a redesign
- 75% of redesign efforts fail
- Nearly 50% of executives say their redesigns were abandoned before being completed[1]
So, what do you do? Well, the best place to start is with a curious question. You ask, ‘That sounds like an interesting idea, but before we go any further, tell me more about what you are trying to achieve.’
As HR/OD professionals, we need to remember that supporting our business is key, but providing the right support is paramount. We are here to challenge, guide, and assist to ensure that our leaders achieve the desired outcome because when they are successful, we are successful.
So, next time you are asked to support an organizational redesign, there are a few common mistakes that you can avoid to help ensure that the leader and the organization are successful.
Mistake #1: Organizational redesign is always the right solution.
It’s easy to jump into the redesign trap without understanding whether it is the right solution. Think of it this way: you love organizational design, it is challenging work, and a respected leader has asked for your help. This sounds like the perfect scenario, until it isn’t. Before getting too excited, you first need to take a step back and think about what they are asking before you say, ‘yes’.
If every business problem is a nail (sales, cost, quality, customer satisfaction, etc.), then every solution is the hammer (OD).
The best strategy in this case is the ‘seek first to understand’ before touching the design. You need to investigate what problem(s) you need to address before starting the work. Another way to look at this is: would you redesign your entire bathroom if all you needed to do was fix a leaky pipe? Probably not.
It is quite possible that you may already have the right boxes, with the right people reporting to the right managers , but there may be a job duty that needs to be performed differently or more effectively. In this case, it is probably a training, coaching and/or reinforcement issue (think leaky pipe), and not a redesign issue (think entire bathroom). So, if you go down the redesign path, you can cause a lot of commotion and may still end up with a leaky pipe.
Remember, a redesign is not the solution for every problem. You need to trust the leader but validate the issue to determine the root cause before arriving at the solution.
Mistake #2: If we fix the organizational chart, things will be just fine.
Most HR/OD people have had a leader come into their office with a revised organizational chart ready to go. They are proud of the work they have done, having found the ‘perfect’ design, and now all you need to do is implement it…like right now!
I must admit that this situation is a challenging to navigate, as you want to remain professional and respectful. You know it is their function and they are accountable for the outcomes, so maybe it’s best to agree and move forward.
The most common definition of organizational design is the creation of an organizational chart. Yes, an organizational chart is an output of an organization design process, but this definition is much too basic.
Organizational design is a more robust process that focuses on aligning structures, systems, and processes to achieve strategic objectives. Organizational redesigns also provide a good opportunity to examine critical business processes.
Analyzing core business processes often identifies where most critical breakdowns occur. Business process analysis becomes a tool for identifying where to place organizational boundaries. Executives should also address critical organizational systems (i.e., rewards, goals, metrics, decision-making, training and staffing, etc.) that will support the structure when completing an organizational design.
Organizational design is not about the bricks (boxes and people), it’s about the mortar (linkages and behaviours).
The reality is this: you may have the right structure, but your design may not work. The reason being is that most people forget that a design works (or not) when people perform their work in new or different ways (i.e., behaviours) to accomplish expected results. Putting people in new boxes, with different titles and/or reporting structure is only part of the solution. You must consider how people need to interact with each other (i.e., linkages) to ensure that your structure operates effectively and efficiently to achieve desired outcomes.
Mistake #3: There’s a ‘perfect’ organizational design. We just need to find and replicate it.
It’s 9:00 AM Monday. It is the week after you kicked off an organizational redesign project with one of your largest functions. A top executive walks into your office and says, ‘Ah ha, I’ve got it! Look at how successful this organization is. If we just copy their structure, we will be successful too.’  Oh, if it were only that simple…
I like to call this the ‘comparing an apple to an orange’ fallacy. Although it may be tempting to do the old copy-and-paste option, trying to clone another company’s success is not the best approach to organizational design.
Perfection is a trap. The goal is to find the best design to achieve your strategies and objectives.
The reality is that large consulting firms often share standardized organizational structures as best practices. They communicate that there is one, and only one, solution that will work for every company in your industry. However, this is not true. The truth is that every company is different, and it is impossible to copy and paste a design into your organization without significant modifications.
To succeed in business, you must chart a unique path that works for your company and not rely on ‘one-size-fits-all’ structure to solve your problems. You need to involve the right people at your organization to help determine the right structure for your unique situation.
Pitfall 4: Not starting with a clear end in mind.
One foundation that is often forgotten in organizational redesigns is the development of design criteria. In other words, consider: how will we know how to evaluate our design prototypes? How will we know if the design works after it has been implemented?
Design criteria are 4-6 statements describing what the design must achieve in terms of observable or measurable outcomes. How will we know we will like our house if we don’t tell the architect what a ‘good’ house looks like?
This is a critical step in the design stage. You will want to generate 2-3 different design prototypes that you can compare against the design criteria. Each design can be tested to determine which one best fits your design goals. After the design is implemented, you can use these criteria to measure the overall effectiveness of the design and make tweaks if necessary.
Without design criteria, all designs look great.
Pitfall 5: Redesigning your organization without considering your culture
I love the quote by Peter Drucker, ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ I believe that culture eats organizational design for breakfast too. You can’t expect new boxes and reporting lines to achieve results; organizations change when people change. People are a product of their work environment, and they act in accordance with the way they are led, empowered, recognized, and rewarded.
Let’s say you work in a traditional, stable, bureaucratic organization with few competitors. Employees work in well-structured roles performing standard tasks. Managers make all decisions and employees are reprimanded for making mistakes. The industry has now become deregulated, and competition has intensified. The organization needs to pivot to address changing marketplace and customer requirements. Cost, innovation, and speed are paramount. A decision was made to flatten the organization by removing managerial layers and transitioning decision-making to the front lines. This sounds great in theory, but unfortunately, decision-making has slowed, employees are still afraid to make mistakes, and innovation has been stifled. What happened?
New Design + Same Behaviours = New design that doesn’t work
This is an example of culture overriding the desired design outcomes. Employees are not going to suddenly come up with 1,000 new ideas overnight, nor are they going to make decisions freely just because you want them to. They have been conditioned to be cautious and are now afraid to step out of that mould and offer new solutions and ideas.
It is important to ensure that the design aligns with the culture and that the culture supports the expected goals of the new design. New behaviours must be identified and targeted strategies deployed to ensure people (employees and leaders) think, behave, and act in new ways to achieve desired results.
Pitfall #6: Not aligning design with strategy.
This one is one of my biggest pet peeves. You implement a new design and hope that it will achieve your strategic objectives. Well, organizational redesign should never be left to hope.
Strategy is about making the right decisions to drive success. A good strategy will force the organization to make difficult but necessary choices and trade-offs about what to produce, where to invest, what resources to consume, where to compete, and which customers to serve. You can’t be everything to everyone, and it is necessary to say no to effectively focus, align, and achieve your strategic vision.
Good organizational design choices are dependent on a clear strategy. Then, and only then, is it possible to design the right structure to achieve the organizational vision. The design will become an enabler for achieving strategies and goals versus another initiative you hope will attain results.
The clearer your strategy is, and the more specific your design criteria, the better your design will be.
Strategy + design criteria = Better results
The key thing here is focus. Better focus leads to better design, which in turn yields= better results.
To redesign or not redesign is the first question to consider. While I’m not saying that redesigns are wrong, I am saying that you need to be prudent when determining whether redesigning is the right solution to achieve your specific goals.
Organizational redesigns are not easy. They require a significant investment in time and resources and often deliver lacklustre results. These facts should be top of mind the next time you hear a leader request a redesign. If you decide to move forward with a redesign, it is important to avoid the common design mistakes that can impact success. There are significant people and business ramifications if you don’t get the design right, and sometimes, it takes a long time to recover after a failed effort. And, before you know it, you can easily fall into the ‘never-ending circle of redesigns’, hoping that the next one will work. This cycle can erode trust in management and cause a constant state of change and disruption.  Don’t be another statistic. Think before you design, and make sure you select a design that is ‘fit for purpose’ the first time.
While this article is not meant to be exhaustive, it is important to consider the following six questions the next time you are asked to redesign your organization:
- Why are we doing this? Is redesign the right solution? Are there any other (less invasive) ways to achieve the same or better results?
- What is the end in mind?
- What are our design criteria? How will you evaluate the design options to make the right choice?
- Are the leaders aligned? Are they ready, willing and able to lead, implement, and support the design?
- Does this design fit our culture?
- How will we ensure that the design works (i.e., linkages, communications, behaviours, rewards, training, performance, etc.)?
About the Author
Mark Coulter has over 20 years of Human Resources experience in retail, consumer goods, and consulting, with expertise in talent acquisition, performance management, leadership development, succession planning, career development, culture integration, and organizational design. He has led HR teams to design, enhance, and deliver talent and organizational development solutions that ensure companies attract, hire, develop, and retain the talent needed to achieve and exceed company goals. His innovative strategies have enhanced employee engagement, leadership and employee performance, and organizational processes. He holds a Master of Industrial Relations (MIR) from Queen’s University, a BA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in HRM from Humber College.
Mark is the facilitator for the Queen’s IRC Organizational Design program.
[1] De Smet, A., & McGinty, D. (2014, July 1). The secrets of successful organizational redesigns: McKinsey Global Survey Results. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved September 26, 2025, from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-secrets-of-successful-organizational-redesigns-mckinsey-global-survey-results
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