Reinventing Organizational Design: How Top Startups Do It

Rapid growth is an objective that almost every startup now pursues, but it is an objective that comes with its own risks. Not all businesses are ready for rapid growth, especially since growth comes with the need for more resources, better workflows, and seamless operations in general.

For startups, the answer to the challenges of rapid growth is a better organizational structure. By establishing an efficient structure to support the growth of the company, startups can get around resource limitations and continue growing at an incredible rate.

So, how should organizational design and structuring be approached? We took a closer look at how some of the best startups reinvent the concept. Here are our discoveries.

The Days of the Waterfall Are Gone

In the old days, a business is structured with multiple levels, with workers residing on the lowest level and C-level executives filling the top positions. Every directive needs to come from the top and workers at the bottom of the structure cannot make decisions on their own.

This structure isn’t agile enough for the challenges of today’s market. With the market being as competitive as it is today, workers – employees that are involved in the day-to-day operations of the company – needs to be able to make key decisions in a fast, controlled, and measured way.

This is why a lot of organizations now adopt a more horizontal structure. Zappos was among the first – and most successful – in adopting a hierarchy in favor of a horizontal structure. It may look like a mess from the outside, but the system is actually very effective in eliminating bottlenecks.

You Are Not Alone

If you think organizational structure is something that you need to figure out on your own, you are mistaken. There is actually plenty of help available from the resource centers and stories of other startups to organization design consulting companies ready to help you work on your startup.

That last part is important. On-the-Mark, the leading name in organization design consulting, is a good example of a team of experts in their field whose collective experience will help you to improve your own business.

Working with a team of experts have other advantages. Realigning the entire organization will be easier, which means you can aim for a higher, more strategic objectives. You also have the help you need in eliminating bottlenecks and even anticipating future problems.

Create a System

You can’t expect to monitor every part of your startup’s day-to-day operation. In fact, you shouldn’t. Trying to control everything – trying to micromanage – will only result in serious problems, even before you start experiencing rapid growth.

Instead, aim to create a system that allows every component in the company’s processes to check each other. The system, integrated with business solutions, gives you more time and resources to focus on other important tasks, including taking your startup to the next level.

This approach has proven effective in many startups, including bigger names like Tesla and Facebook. Combined with a more fluid organization structure and help from the best organizational design consulting firm, you can prepare your startup for the rapid growth it deserves to enjoy.