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Move guide

Measure it, fund it, finish it

Your report suggested a move on at least one of these four practices:

  • whether each unit's scorecard measures what that unit controls;
  • whether rewards make people share work or hoard it;
  • whether people and money can move between teams without a restructure;
  • how the last restructure was run, and whether it finished.

This move guide rebuilds each unit's measures for the work it now controls. It writes the rule for sharing the customers teams fight over, and holds back money to move during the year. Then it finishes the change and reviews it at ninety days.

1. When it applies

Use this move guide if your report placed any of these practices in the lowest two stages.

Practice Where it may sit today Where this move guide aims
Whether each unit's scorecard measures what that unit controls Lagging: "Units have no scorecard of their own, or the business restructured and kept the old KPIs, so people are still being paid to do the old job."
Basic: "Every unit has a scorecard, it has grown to dozens of measures, and at least one metric known to make managers do the wrong thing is still there."		 Competent: "Each unit's measures are things that unit actually controls, and they were rebuilt the last time the structure changed."
Whether rewards make people share work or hoard it Lagging: "Two teams fight over the same customer, and two units have invoiced the same client separately."
Basic: "Everyone agrees it is eat-what-you-kill, and the sharing rules are settled by argument each time."		 Competent: "Where the strategy needs teams to work together, part of their reward depends on the joint result, and the revenue-sharing rules are written down."
Whether people and money can move between teams without a restructure Lagging: "The only way to move money is to move people, and the only way to move people is a restructure."
Basic: "Budgets are fixed by unit for the year, and anything that moves does so through a headcount fight."		 Competent: "Managers can shift effort within agreed limits without asking, and part of the budget is held back for reallocation during the year."
How the last restructure was run, and whether it finished Lagging: "The last restructure was announced before it was designed, and people found out what their job was by who stopped emailing them."
Basic: "It was designed on a chart, everyone reapplied for their own job, and it finished in name only."		 Competent: "The change was designed before it was announced, and existing people were moved into the new roles rather than made to reapply."

If all four already sit at the middle stage or higher, skip this move guide.

It comes last. It needs the structure from drawing the organisation and the costs from building the cost model.

2. What to do

Four steps, over eight to twelve weeks.

  1. Rebuild each unit's scorecard for the work it now controls. Remove by name the one measure that makes people do the wrong thing.
  2. Write the rule for sharing the customers two teams fight over. Where the strategy needs them to work together, put part of both teams' reward on the joint result.
  3. Set the limits within which managers can move effort without asking. Hold back a stated share of the budget to move during the year, and report what moved.
  4. Finish the design before you announce it. Move people into the new roles rather than making them reapply. Book the ninety-day review on the day you announce.

Table A below holds the measures, the rule, the money and the dates on one page.

The four free worksheets do the recording:

3. What to produce

One table, plus the four worksheets above.

Table A. The measures, the rule, the money and the dates

Item What we decided Owner Date
The measure removed, by name
The sharing rule, in one sentence
The share of each team's reward on the joint result
What managers may move without asking
The share of the budget held back
The day the change is announced
The ninety-day review

A measure the unit cannot move is a measure of luck.

4. A worked example

Illustrative. Written for this move guide. It describes no client.

A business software company sells through a direct team and a partner channel. It has drawn a new structure, with a partner team of its own.

The measures.

  • The partner team was measured on the number of partners signed, which it controlled. It was also measured on partner revenue, which depended on the direct team's leads. The second measure went.

The rule.

  • Large accounts were contested by both teams. The new rule gives the direct team every account above a set size. The partner team earns a share when its partner does the work.

The money.

  • Managers may move up to a tenth of their team's time without asking. Five per cent of the budget is held back, and the leadership team moves it each quarter.

The change.

  • The design was finished before the announcement. Everyone moved into a named role, and the ninety-day review was booked that day.
A quarter on Illustrative
  • 1 measure removed from the partner team
  • 5% of the budget held back to move in the year
  • 0 people asked to reapply for their own job

On a retake, all four practices could be answered at the middle stage.

What it looked like in our work

From our own work. Redrawn.

An insurer's functional restructure never reached the shape it was designed for. The redesign finished it.

Before After
Who directed claims Three executives, one claims operation One owner for claims, split from the portfolio
Senior roles Pointed at the old design Re-pointed at the new one
Review None booked A ninety-day review, booked at the start

The redesign kept one deliberate exception. The pricing actuaries stayed with the finance head, for governance.

5. Effort and dependencies

Who
  • Chief executiveSigns the sharing rule, and owns the announcement and the review.
  • Finance directorRebuilds the scorecards and holds the reserve.
  • Head of peopleMoves people into the new roles, and runs the ninety-day review.

What you need

  • The new structure and its costs, from steps 8 and 9.
  • Each unit's scorecard, and a list of the customers two teams both claim.

How long

  • Eight to twelve weeks.

What gets in the way. We have seen these in our own work:

  • A measure that pulled the wrong way. In a national labour-hire network, branch measures rewarded local prospects over national accounts. National clients drifted to whichever state manager answered first.
  • Rewards that made people hoard. A professional-services partnership paid people for the work they won themselves. Staffing followed the reward, and the best person for a job often sat idle.
  • A halfway house. An insurer's functional restructure never reached the shape it was designed for. Three executives ended up directing one claims operation.

6. How will you know it worked?

The test is the ninety-day review. Retake the check after it. Each of these should be true when you answer:

Practice You can answer Competent when A document alone does not count if
Whether each unit's scorecard measures what that unit controls Each unit's measures are ones it can move, and the worst measure has gone. The scorecards were reviewed, and every measure stayed.
Whether rewards make people share work or hoard it The sharing rule is written, and part of each team's reward rests on the joint result. The rule is written, and both teams are still paid only on their own bookings.
Whether people and money can move between teams without a restructure Managers move effort within their limits, and the held-back budget was moved during the year. The reserve is set, and it was spent in the first month.
How the last restructure was run, and whether it finished The design was finished before the announcement, people moved into roles, and the review was held. The review was booked, and it never met.

The worked example is illustrative.

Start the check

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Measure it, fund it, finish it · onestepright