Alignment > Blueprint

Why organizational development requires more than just a model

A good blueprint doesn’t help much if everyone is building something different.

Organizational redesigns are common enough, but successful change is far from guaranteed. A McKinsey Global Survey found that only 21% of organizational redesign efforts fully succeeded, i.e. meeting their objectives while improving performance.

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The difference often comes down to what happens before and around the redesign itself.

Successful organizations are more likely to begin with alignment on strategic objectives, identifying the mindset and behavior changes needed, establishing clear criteria for the new structure, and rigorously planning and communicate the transition.

Interestingly, the kinds of problems businesses run into when undergoing organizational change tend to be different depending on the size of the business.

Larger organizations face issues when it comes to bureaucratic matters like governance, but smaller organizations often encounter hiccups at the smaller level, like role responsibilities or performance management.

In all cases, however, the organizational redesign was more successful much more often than not when strategic objectives were aligned prior to executing the redesign itself.

In other words, organizational change isn’t just about creating a new structure, it’s about getting leadership, people, processes, and purpose working toward the same outcome.

Canopy Inclusive helps organizations build that alignment, navigate change, and turn strategy into coordinated action.