Essential Skills for Organization Design Success:

• Strategic thinking: Able to see the big picture and not lose sight of macro goals.
• Analytical thinking: Can get to the heart of issues; understand complex relationships among different parts of the organization.
• Pragmatism: Not a job for idealists; able to recognize and manage inevitable tradeoffs between benefits and costs, between what is desirable versus what is possible.
• Creativity: Able to see multiple paths to the goal.
• Deep functional expertise: Can understand the practical implications of changes to the design.
• Experimental mindset: Recognizes that this is an iterative process; challenges conventional wisdom, own and others' biases.
• Networking, political skills: Organization redesign usually creates winners and losers; designer needs to build coalitions and manage inevitable opposition.
• Interpersonal skills: "Ear to the ground," able to read the emotional temperature of individuals and groups, listens well. communicates clearly and authentically with diverse audiences.

It is rare for one person to have all of these skills. Organization Design therefore usually requires a trusted team with complementary skills.

Desirable Conditions for Organization Design Success:

• Clear and compelling strategy: What are we trying to achieve and why is change necessary?
• Organizational culture: Flexibility, openness to change, willingness to share information, ability to accept mistakes and learn from them, ability to disagree openly but resolve disagreements amicably.
• Engagement: Involvement of the people affected.
• Realistic expectations: Not a silver bullet, takes time and resources, transition to new design will often be disruptive.
• Adequate resources: Design takes money and people's time; transition may temporarily affect revenues or costs.