The Six Phases of Organisation Design Leaders Cannot Afford to Skip

Too often, when a CEO or business leader says, “we need an org design,” what they really mean is “show me a new org chart.” The conversation jumps straight to structure, who reports to whom, without doing the real work.

This shortcut might feel efficient, but it is a false economy. Skipping steps is exactly why so many designs fail. They do not address root problems; instead, they create new ones, leaving the organisation stuck in cycles of restructuring.

Effective organisation design follows a disciplined process. There are six phases, and most leaders routinely skip at least two of them.

1. Diagnose (do not skip this)

Diagnosis is about understanding today before you design tomorrow. Where are the bottlenecks? What capabilities are missing? Where do decisions get stuck?

Good diagnostics blend hard data such as spans-and-layers analysis, cost benchmarking, and workflow mapping with lived experience such as employee voice, leadership interviews, and customer impact. Without this you risk solving the wrong problem.

Why leaders skip it: Diagnosis takes time and can surface uncomfortable truths. Without it, you are designing in the dark.

2. Define Criteria (agree the guardrails)

Design is about trade-offs. Centralisation versus local autonomy. Efficiency versus innovation. Specialist depth versus generalist breadth. Without agreed criteria, every debate turns political.

Clear principles such as customer focus, speed of decision-making, or global consistency act as guardrails. They give you a yardstick to evaluate options and stop decisions being made on gut feel or personal preference.

Why leaders skip it: It feels abstract. When tough choices come, criteria are the difference between clarity and chaos.

3. Design Options (not one “magic” chart)

There is no perfect structure. Every option comes with pros, cons, and risks. That is why leaders should see two or three design scenarios side by side.

Comparing options forces trade-off conversations up front. It surfaces hidden dependencies. It also avoids the trap of falling in love with one chart that has not been stress-tested.

Why leaders skip it: Leaders often want fast answers. Exploring options builds resilience and credibility.

4. Detail and Plan (roles, spans, job architecture)

Design is not just macro structure. Once an option is chosen, the detail matters. Clarify roles and accountabilities. Define spans of control. Align job architecture, titles, and levels.

This step connects strategy to the individual employee experience. Get it wrong and you create confusion and disengagement. Get it right and you give people clarity and confidence.

Why leaders skip it: Leaders underestimate the complexity of translating structure into roles. HR and OD teams know this is where moving boxes becomes real change.

5. Implement (consult, transition, embed)

Implementation is more than announcing a new chart. It is consultation, transition planning, communications, training, and cultural reinforcement. It is about managing people fairly, legally, and empathetically through change.

This is where leadership visibility matters most. A well-designed structure will still fail if leaders do not explain the why, support managers, and embed new ways of working.

Why leaders skip it: The pressure to move fast often sidelines the hard but essential people work.

6. Sustain (manage debt, keep evolving)

This is the most overlooked phase. Organisations do not stay static. If you do not intentionally sustain design, it degrades over time. Unchecked, this creates organisational debt such as layers added without purpose, duplicated roles, and decision creep.

Sustainment means ongoing governance, regular health checks, and the courage to prune or adapt. High-maturity organisations treat org design as continuous, not episodic.

Why leaders skip it: Once the dust settles, attention shifts elsewhere. The cost of neglect compounds quickly.

Final Word

The biggest mistake leaders make in organisation design is jumping straight to “show me the org chart.” That shortcut skips the two most critical phases, diagnosis and sustainment.

If you want design to deliver clarity, speed, and adaptability, not silos and bureaucracy, then follow the full process. Do the deep work, not just the box-shuffling.

The organisations that thrive in the next decade will be those that design intentionally, revisit regularly, and treat organisation design as an ongoing capability rather than a one-off event.