Brief

To ensure the Policy Team was working effectively in the new operating model, they needed to assess whether and how much their team needed to evolve as a result.

The team were already looking at processes and governance, together with their deliverables and how they were working with other teams.

Mayvin's support was focused on bringing all of that together and making sure they organised themselves in a way that enabled delivery.

Solution

Starting out face-to-face, Mayvin was quickly able to move the project and processes online as the first Covid-19 lockdown took hold.

Stakeholder engagement was key to this project’s success. The whole team was engaged in the process. The experienced facilitators achieved universal buy-in amongst senior leaders and employees in the new virtual delivery environment.

A dialogic partnership was created between Mayvin and the client through which a significant redesign was successfully co-created. The process was both iterative and agile, with design processes always clear and evident.

Mayvin’s approach to Organisation Design is to provide input and facilitation that stimulates experimental thinking and rich conversations (divergent), always with a focus on relationships. And then to distil that into operating model that is fit for purpose (convergent).

We encouraged the team to challenge their assumptions and familiar ways of working, ask questions, share and debate different models and structures, until, through merging their ideas, they found a workflow (inverted pyramid in case you are interested) that was the right ft for them.

“It could not have been more different from mine and my colleague’s previous experience of Organisation Design, where it had definitely been an experience of decisions being made in a closed room and then ‘being done to’ us.”

“Mayvin are always generous in giving you the tools and making sure you are able to use them. Mayvin were completely absorbed and present and always focused on how they can genuinely help.” 

Outcome

As a result of this work, the Policy Team can now clearly articulate within the organisation what they do and the value they add. Benefits of this include:

• Critically, delivery is enhanced as team members are clear on their roles, responsibilities and boundaries, meaning colleagues in other departments are clear on how the Policy Team can help them. Outputs are more impactful and departmental relationships have greatly improved.
• They are better able to recruit to their team, with the team increasing by 50% after the OD project.
• Team members’ career progression opportunities clearer and improved.