Org Design Is Deep Work: Why Leaders Must Go Beyond Moving Boxes

When most leaders hear “organisation design,” their mind goes straight to structures. Boxes, reporting lines, org charts. Who sits where, who reports to whom. But let’s be clear: that’s not organisation design. That’s restructuring. And while restructuring can sometimes be necessary, it’s only one small part of a much deeper discipline.

True organisation design is deep work. It’s about intentionally shaping how strategy, people, systems, and culture fit together to deliver value. If you reduce it to “moving boxes,” you’ll miss the chance to unlock speed, clarity, and adaptability.

So how should HR and business leaders approach org design differently? Here are four grounding points.

1. Restructuring ≠ Organisation Design

Restructuring is about reallocation: shifting teams, combining functions, removing roles. It’s reactive, usually triggered by cost pressures or leadership changes. Organisation design, on the other hand, is systemic. It asks:

• What capabilities does the business need to win?

• How should work flow across boundaries?

• Where do decisions get made, and by whom?

• What behaviours and cultural signals will reinforce the strategy?

A restructure may deliver short-term savings. But without design, it often creates hidden costs e.g. duplication, slower decisions, or frustrated talent. As one maturity model puts it: low-maturity organisations focus only on structure, while high-maturity organisations design around value creation, culture, and adaptability.

Takeaway: Resist the temptation to see design as a one-off reorganisation. Treat it as an ongoing capability.

2. Grounding Org Design in How Work Really Gets Done

At its core, org design is about alignment: strategy, structure, systems, people, and culture working in sync. The test isn’t “does the chart look tidy?” - it’s “does this design make it easier for us to deliver value?”

That means looking beyond hierarchy. Where are the natural work connections? Which teams rely on each other daily? Are decision rights clear, or do issues bounce endlessly between silos?

Diagnostics are essential here. Tools like spans-and-layers analysis, role mapping, and workflow diagnostics reveal where bottlenecks and overlaps exist. Equally important is listening: employee surveys, focus groups, and appreciative inquiry surface how work feels across levels.

Takeaway: Ground design decisions in real work patterns, not just theoretical models.

3. Getting It Right = Clarity, Speed, Adaptability

Done well, org design delivers three things:

• Clarity: People know what’s expected, where decisions get made, and how success is measured.

• Speed: Work flows without unnecessary handoffs. Priorities are clear.

• Adaptability: The organisation can flex to new opportunities or shocks without breaking.

Done badly, it produces the opposite: silos, bureaucracy, endless committees. And perhaps worst of all, talented people disengage because the system makes it harder, not easier, to do great work.

A common trap is to design for today’s leaders rather than tomorrow’s needs. Decisions are made to fit personalities, not strategy. The result is a design that starts to fail the moment the context shifts.

Takeaway: Anchor design in principles, not personalities. Otherwise, the organisation evolves by accident, not intention.

4. Practical Tips for Leaders and HR Partners

• Start with capabilities, not charts. Ask what the business must be brilliant at in three years, then design back from there.

• Use design principles. Agree criteria (customer focus, efficiency, speed of decision-making, scalability) and test every option against them.

• Diagnose before you design. Map pain points, duplication, and decision bottlenecks before sketching solutions.

• Design laterally, not just vertically. Clarify how units collaborate and share accountability, not just who reports to whom.

• Invest in the OD capability. Organisation design isn’t a project; it’s a discipline HR needs to embed alongside talent, reward, and workforce planning.

Final Word

Organisation design is one of the most powerful levers leaders have. But only if they treat it as deep work, not box-shuffling. The best organisations don’t stumble into effective design—they create it intentionally.

HR leaders and executives who understand this will move beyond restructuring cycles and build organisations that are clear, fast, and adaptable. Those who don’t will find their organisations evolving by accident—and paying the price in silos, complexity, and lost opportunity.