Organizational Clarity Part 3 :: Leveraging Structure

How can leadership structure enhance organizational clarity?

Creating the Leadership Team on the organizational chart is important in building organizational clarity. Here are specific basic disciplines of business:

• Sales/Marketing
• HR
• Operations
• Technology
• Finance/Admin

Businesses may have some of these broken out separately, or combine others as their business size and needs dictate. These roles are typically filled by people with strong organizational skills, as they are responsible for reporting verified information to the CEO. These are present in most every organization, even companies with under 5 employees.

 

What is the missing piece?

Most companies, however, miss the role that I call the “Creative Thinker”. This is a responsibility that goes to someone that is curious and can ponder and think outside of ordinary thought lines. They are usually the person or team that the CEO delegates R&D projects to. Here is a sample of what this role would play in a company:

• The company wants to expand its offerings by exploring different opportunities. The Creative Thinker researches the market, assesses the opportunity and provides a report to the executive team on their findings.
• The company wants to improve one of its processes. The Creative Thinker can research the dangers of keeping things as is, assess the opportunities for improvement, and provide a report to the executive team on their findings, without the bias of having to execute the changes.
• The sales team wants to present its offerings to a potential client. The Creative Thinker can demonstrate expertise in an area of focus without pushing the services offered. This unbiased expertise presented strengthens the presentation.

 

How do I get it?

Here are the first steps to bringing this structure into your company:

• Identify the traits and skill set needed for this role
• Create the initial project list for this role by identifying opportunities and dangers the company would like to research.
• Review your current personnel to see if anyone can fill the role. If nobody is capable, look to hire someone for the role.
• Once hired, include this person on your executive team so they can be up to speed on everything within the company, giving them insight on things that will help them be more effective in their responsibilities.
• Ensure this person lives and breathes your values, mission, and purpose. 

This structure will prove to be key in developing a world class organization. It reinforces organizational clarity, helping keep the company on its desired course.