Org DNA: Improve your organization

IMPROVE YOUR ORGANIZATION

Translating Research into Action

Beyond furnishing a framework that makes intuitive sense to people living in organizations, Organizational DNA provides a road map for practical, tangible, and actionable remedies. And that’s the greatest benefit of this research. The patterns and common themes that emerge from our growing database shed light on lessons learned and fixes that are transferable to other organizations with similar issues.

Many of our clients begin using Organizational DNA by asking us to set up a password-protected site where a cross-section of their organization—however targeted or broad—can take the survey.

Generating a profile, however, is not the point. Taking that knowledge and translating it into sustainable solutions is. Our clients have used the Org DNA Profiler^® to improve their organizations in a variety of ways. Below are five of the most common.

Organizational Diagnostic
Organizational DNA Workshop
Transformation Enabler
Merger Integration
New CEO Transition

Organizational Diagnostic

Organizational DNA can easily be applied as a diagnostic tool to discover why an organization is not getting results. In these situations, senior management often knows that it confronts organizational challenges, but is hard pressed to pinpoint the root causes. The Org DNA Profiler^® can help identify and prioritize these problems and align management around the solution. By providing quantifiable data about what is and isn’t working, the Org DNA Profiler^® focuses attention on the right remedies.

First, Booz & Company sets up a customized, password-protected Org DNA Profiler^® Website for the client.
We tailor the demographic questions to establish the comparison groups that are most relevant to that client’s situation (e.g., what division/location a respondent works in, whether he or she came from an acquired entity, etc.).
The client invites a designated cross-section of the organization (typically between fifty and five hundred or more individuals) to take the survey.
Booz & Company collects the data, categorizes responses, and identifies differences across functions, management levels, and other relevant criteria for the client.
Booz & Company prepares a report that can be used in any number of ways—as input to a senior management discussion, as the basis for a management team workshop, or as a road map for a larger organizational change initiative.
NOTE: On both the public site and the company-specific sites, individual responses are strictly anonymous; no names—company or individual—are requested or revealed. The data collected are used only for analysis and comparison purposes.

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Org DNA Workshop

Booz & Company offers companies the opportunity to identify and improve their Organizational DNA through a facilitated one-day workshop for senior management. Using the Org DNA Profiler^® as a starting point, business unit and staff leaders (from ten to one hundred or more) come together for a facilitated discussion to focus on the impediments to effective execution in their organization.

The morning is usually devoted to a discussion of the organization’s Org DNA Profiler^® results, which helps attendees develop a consensus on what type of organization they currently manage and the root causes of execution problems. In the afternoon, attendees begin to develop sustainable solutions to these organizational “roadblocks” with the assistance of Booz & Company facilitators. Breakout discussions enrich the general sessions and serve to bring senior managers from disparate parts of the organization together in a problem-solving setting. At the end of the day, participants leave with a better understanding of the root causes of their organization’s behavior and performance, more productive relationships with their colleagues in other departments, and a high-level action plan to drive improved results.

This off-site workshop delivers the greatest impact when it involves the senior and upper-middle management ranks of large organizations. Pricing depends on group size and whether the assessment is administered and analyzed in advance.

Download an Organizational DNA Workshop brochure.

Watch a client testimonial on the benefits of the Organizational DNA Workshop.

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Transformation Enabler

In organizations undergoing major transformations, Organizational DNA can be used not only to diagnose organizational issues, but also to design a new organizational model to support the transformation. Since the Organizational DNA framework examines all aspects of an organization’s ability to execute, it can help ensure the new organization will promote lasting behavior change. The overall Organizational DNA concept and its four building blocks—decision rights, information, motivators, and structure—can be used in the change management and implementation effort in such areas as workforce planning, training, and leadership development.

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Merger Integration

Studies routinely conclude that most mergers fail, and more often than not, the reason is culture clash. The two organizations cannot integrate the core elements of their DNA. Who gets to make which decisions? Do they have the information to make the right choices? Are they motivated to make them? Who reports to whom? The Org DNA Profiler^® can yield quick and easy intelligence on how each of the two organizations coordinates decision rights, information, motivators, and structure. Comparing the two premerger organization’s results can show where the major integration stumbling blocks are likely to lie, and where pockets of excellence can be leveraged.

Learn more about Booz & Company’s approach to merger integration.

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New CEO Transition

Organizational DNA can help a newly appointed CEO with a quick assessment on pressing organizational issues and challenges so he or she can hit the ground running. According to Booz & Company research, CEO dismissals and other forced departures reached record levels in 2004. New CEOs—whether insiders or outsiders—have at most 100 days to align the organization behind their agenda; it’s mission critical that they know how and why the organization works, even before they take the job. We have seen experienced, highly successful CEOs fail upon taking the helm at a new company, simply because they assumed their new organization would behave like their last one. But different types of organizations have different traits and behaviors. The Organizational DNA methodology provides a useful, easy way to get a lay of the land, whether you’re a new CEO, business unit head, or division leader.

Learn more about the New CEO Transition.

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