Org Design
Marketing organisations face many significant challenges – doing more with less, proving the value of marketing and integrating new technology like AI into existing workflows, just for starters.
​
So marketing org designs need to adapt - going beyond static org-charts, to fast-moving, fluid teams focused on experimentation and growth.
I help you design your marketing function to overcome these challenges and achieve your strategic goals. This is a collaborative process, done ‘with’ your team not ‘to’ them, so we get full buy-in and enthusiasm for any changes we make.
​
This isn’t about creating a static ‘design on a page’, but instead we use tools like the ‘OD Canvas’ to create a toolkit of design principles and practices. This means the marketing function can continue to evolve and adapt to unfolding needs and changing requirements – creating sustained success.
Designing using the OD Canvas:
When most of us think of ‘org design’ we think of structure – org charts, boxes and arrows, lines of command, etc. But in reality, org design is much more than that. Marketing Org Design is the way in which your marketing organisation is intentionally built to deliver against the wider business strategy and goals.
What this includes can be very broad and include nebulous terms like ‘culture’, so to make it simple I’ve created the OD Canvas – an org design on a page that marketing leaders can work through to make sure they’ve considered all aspects of their functional design.
Org Design for the 'real world'.
The OD Canvas doesn’t need to all be agreed up-front, in fact I recommend starting with some real-world team tensions – maybe a workflow that isn’t working, or a customer team that’s struggling, and figuring out how we make the design better in the real world.
​
Once we find some things that work, we can scale them and add to the Canvas – which over time becomes our map for how your marketing organisation works.
This doesn't stop us creating an 'ideal world' vision for how we want our team to work. It's just that we test and learn toward, holding the vision lightly as we see what really works.
Transforming using ‘Lean Change’ principles
Much like traditional org design, classic change management approaches try to ‘predict and control’ – believing that change can be pushed onto people as long as it’s managed in the right way. What this fails to account for is the complexity of modern organisations, where outcomes are hard to predict and people are hard to control.
​
My preferred alternative is the ‘Lean Change’ approach, a more adaptable, collaborative way to make change happen in organizations. It focuses on starting small, learning as you go, and involving the people affected. Instead of following a rigid plan, it uses clear outcomes, simple tools and regular feedback to adjust and improve over time.
Learn more about Lean Change here:
"Collaboration is the key to building the marketing organization of the future. The most sustainable and effective strategy is to design a marketing team capable of strong internal and external collaboration — one with the talent to lead, contribute and cooperate simultaneously."
Gartner
Designing for Collaboration
My OD process focuses intensively on collaboration, as it’s between people and teams that most of our work gets done. This means designing with collaboration ‘built in’ – through practices like Team Charters, Decision Making and Retros.
​
It also means running the design process in a collaborative way, taking inputs from across your team, running inclusive design workshops and gathering feedback (not just buy-in) from the people who will ultimately use these tools every day.