Reverse Engineering the Organization, Starting from Customer Process

Posted by Dick Lee on February 22, 2011

0 comments | 782 reads

What customers want from companies is becoming a common “conditioner” of organizational design and change management – but rarely a driver. That’s unfortunate, because empirical evidence shows the best way to build customer-centricity AND streamline companies is by starting with customer experience and redesigning the work (process) of the company from the customer in. Plus, putting customer interests first also greatly mitigates resistance to change by giving employees a much more palatable goal to work towards than “making more money for the company” (although that’s what ultimately happens.

But going “outside in” also involves serious change: changing work; who does it; how it’s done; and the underlying technology – all of which in turn require organizational change. Is that why companies continue designing change from the executive level down? Or is it more that management doesn’t like taking direction from customers.

Frankly, I suspect it’s the latter, although we always have to respect management resistance to change. “Taking orders from customers” flies in the face of the long-held belief that companies can manipulate customers into doing their bidding, buying into their brand, etc. And when you step back and considers how out of sync with today’s reality this belief is – you get a sense of how desperately senior management continues clinging to it.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Dick Lee.

Dick Lee

Consultant, author and educator Dick Lee, founded High-Yield Methods in 1994. HYM helps clients build customer-centric organizations with process design, organizational design and enabling technology. Please visit Dick's Linkedin group Building the Customer-Centric Organization. For more information visit www.h-ym.com.

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