Andrew Lynch
Andrew Lynch is currently a student in the Masters-track OD program at Case Western Reserve University. He has contributed a blog related to the results of his research for his final “mastery project” of the program. He is grateful for the mentorship and guidance he received from Ron Fry, who was the faculty advisor for his project.
Using AI Tools and Methods to Successfully Transition a Company to a Divisional OrganizationApprec Structure
Much has been written about the “Five (5) Ws” – the who, what, where, when, and why – in regards to companies transitioning to a divisional org structure. The how is significantly under-addressed, however. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) tools and methods were leveraged to create one potential “playbook” for how to lead a company through this process.
What did I do?
Whereas many corporate org structure transitions follow more abrupt executive mandates, I was recently fortunate to be able to help lead my company’s structural transition through a ~6 month, multi-phase, co-creation endeavor.
A full and detailed description of the overall approach would warrant a full article, but for the abbreviated purpose of this blog post, here were some key interventional tools that were used to very positive effect:
What was the impact?
An early pre-launch survey to the entire org exceeded 65% favorability and 27% neutrality for moving to divisions based on the planning and build-out work of the project team, suggesting strong likelihood for org-wide support and success after “go live”.
Note that a post-launch survey and project post-mortem activity is planned for mid-2025 (a few months after this blog post was submitted), where we hope to learn even more about the overall impact of the project.
What did I learn?
I had three key learnings on this project:
Communicate, communicate, communicate. Early, often, across all levels, and via different means (regular status updates, town halls, 1-on-1s, anonymous surveys, etc.).
SOAR Summits sometimes require detours of complementary work. Beyond “SOARing” at 30,000 feet, consider if you also need to spend time at 10,000 feet (e.g. process flows) and/or 1,000 feet (e.g. task-level assignments). Those extra insights might be key for untangling things, and/or for putting certain personality types at ease!
How will I apply this learning moving forward?
As a current student in a Masters-track OD program, I was thrilled to leverage AI tools and methods to help my company out with an ambitious project like this. I look forward to continuing to use AI for a whole host of change management needs that my company will have in the future!