Simplicity
From complexity to simplicity: Creating the space and pace to win your race
FROM COMPLEXITY TO SIMPLICITY: CREATING THE SPACE AND PACE TO WIN YOUR RACE
Why Simplicity Matters
Organizational complexity has never been higher and continues to grow. Unchecked, bad complexity creates drag, wastes time and money, slows change, frustrates people, and derails organization performance. Ninety-four percent of executives polled in organizations with revenue of more than $5 billion say internal complexity is the biggest blocker of growth.1 Unsurprisingly, employees in the most complex organizations are three times more likely to have disengaged employees.2
Heidrick & Struggles’ Accelerating Performance research shows that simplicity is the ‘drive factor’ that all organizations struggle with and it is the poorest scoring ‘drive factor’ for low accelerating organizations. Those organizations that embrace simplicity in their Strategy, Operating model and Culture win. High accelerating organizations enjoy twice the compound average growth rate of low accelerating organizations.
At a time when more and more organizations are pursuing increased agility and digital business models, simplicity is critical. Organizations have never been more complex. And organizational complexity and agility don’t mix. Simplicity is the necessary step that most organizations trip up on, or miss altogether.
Regardless of your organization’s strategic priorities, removing complexity and designing in simplicity will accelerate your performance.
Our approach
High-performing organizations continuously kill complexity and drive simplicity in four areas: strategy, operating model, culture, and activity.
We work with Leaders to transform their organizations From Complexity To Simplicity by:
Decluttering unnecessary complexity and the low- value activity this creates
Purposefully designing simplicity into culture and especially leadership
Purposefully designing simplicity into culture and especially leadership
Building Simplicity Thinking as a core organizational capability
Our simplicity approach is grounded in Heidrick & Struggles’ groundbreaking META (Mobilize, Execute, and Transform with Agility) framework, which focuses on how leaders, teams, and organizations accelerate performance to outperform their peers. Complexity is consistently the highest- scoring drag factor for low- performing organizations.
The Heidrick Consulting Difference
Our firm’s heritage in executive search and human capital combines with cutting- edge research in organizational performance to make us a trusted global advisor on talent and culture. Our Simplicity methodology is built firmly on established tools and methodologies from our Culture Shaping, Leadership Assessment & Development, and Team and Organizational Acceleration practices.
References
1 Chris Zook and James Allen, “Reigniting growth,” Harvard Business Review, March 2016.
2 Yves Morieux, “Smart rules: Six ways to get people to solve your problems without you,” Harvard Business Review, September 2011.
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