When you own a business, you often need to wear multiple hats. You are the accountant, the salesperson, the marketer and much more simultaneously. In many cases you also need to develop role-specific skills for each of these roles as well. As an owner or leader of any company, you will surely have specific areas that need your attention — from accounting to marketing and everything in between. If there is one thing all businesses require more than anything else, it is internal tools that are specialized to help them manage daily operations and continue growing as a company. This article provides information on organizational development — also known as OD. It explains why this field of study is so important for business owners and what specialists can offer your organization.
Why is organizational development so important?
As a business owner, you may specialize in one or more aspects of the business such as sales, marketing, operations and more. To be successful, each of these areas requires specialized tools to make their work efficient. If you do not have the right tools in place, your team may struggle with efficiency and this will negatively impact your team’s productivity and morale. Without these specialized tools, your company will struggle to meet its goals, which will impact its overall growth. Organizational development is the study of how to create and effectively use specialized tools that meet the needs of each specific department. Organizational development specialists are skilled in the process of identifying and defining the specialized tools that an organization needs to be successful. These specialists can help you identify and then develop the specialized tools that are currently missing in your organization.
3 tools every business needs
- Clearly defined goals: You must first identify the goals of your organization and create a plan to achieve them. Goals provide a baseline for everything your company does. While profits are important, there are other factors that influence the success of your organization such as employee satisfaction, customer retention and more.
- Written policies and procedures: Successful organizations have policies and procedures in place to help guide day-to-day activities, decision-making and other aspects of the business. Having these written down and accessible for all employees makes the work of your organization more consistent and efficient.
- Functional organizational structure: Every company has an organizational structure that dictates how tasks are assigned and managed. Creating a functional organizational structure in your company — one that meets the needs of your business — will help keep your team on track and motivated.
Identifying the tools you need to develop
When identifying the specialized tools you need to develop, start by first asking yourself the following questions:
- What are the biggest pain points in my organization right now?
- What needs improvement?
- What are the needs of each department in my business?
- What are the needs of each role in each department?
- What resources are currently missing in my organization?
After answering these questions, you will likely be able to identify the tools that need to be developed in your organization.
Developing the tools you need
After you have identified the tools that need to be developed, it is time to take action and develop them. In some cases, this may mean that you have to invest in new technology or create new processes. In other cases, you may just need to invest time in training your employees so that they are able to develop the tools internally. In any case, the best way to develop the tools your organization needs is to first identify what you need. Next, create a plan to implement those tools in your organization. Finally, execute the plan you have created and monitor the progress of the implementation.
Conclusion
Organizational development is all about creating and using the specialized tools that an organization needs to succeed. In order to be successful, all organizations require some type of specialized tools. These tools can be anything from written policies and procedures to functional organizational structures. As a business owner, it is important to recognize the specialized tools that may be missing in your organization and then take steps to develop them.