From Structure to Flow
Why restructuring has stopped working
Two-thirds of leaders think their own organization is too complex. Almost none of them are fixing it by moving boxes around on a chart.
Simplicity keeps losing to restructuring — and the numbers explain why
of organizations reallocate resources enterprise-wide, even when the case is clear
clarity on strategic priorities, C-suite versus middle management
of operating-model redesigns achieve sustained performance improvement
“Simplicity is not what's left after you design well. It's what's left after someone with authority decides who doesn't get minutes — and lives with being disliked for it.”
Two organizations that cut — and the will it took
The paper argues that staying complex is rarely a design failure — it's a courage failure. Two case studies show what changes when someone with authority is willing to make the cut and own the fallout.
Bayer's Dynamic Shared Ownership
A 160-year-old company that demolished its approval chain — management layers cut from 12–13 down to 5–7, 95% of decisions pushed to the team doing the work, and what that actually cost.
FK Bodø/Glimt
How a club from a fishing town north of the Arctic Circle beat Manchester City, Atlético and Inter — with seven shots to Inter's thirty. A study in out-simplifying, not out-recruiting.
- 01Where does a routine decision pass through more hands than it needs to — and would anyone notice if you removed two of them?
- 02If you asked a manager two levels below you to name this year's single most important priority, would they give you the same answer you would?
- 03Last time you redesigned something, did you touch the org chart, or how work moves through it? If it was the chart, ask why.
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