Robust Organizations Tool

Choose your industry

Before we start, which industry is your organization in?

Capital Goods

Automotive

Communication & Technology

Consumer Goods & Retail

Energy & Utilities

Entertainment, Media & Sports

Financial Services

Industrial Products & Services

Infrastructure & Public Sector

Logistics & Transportation

Life Science

Other

To what extent are both purpose and strategy integrated into your organization?

Both our purpose and our strategy are communicated, known and actively integrated into our daily work.

Our strategy is communicated, known and integrated practically in our daily work.

We have communicated both, although we are struggling to integrate them in our daily work.

We only have a strategy, which we have communicated. However, it is not always integrated in our daily work.

Do you regularly challenge your strategy process, and can you also adapt it in practice - for example, by shifting resources?

On a scale of 1 (tend to stick with the existing strategy and are slow to adapt it) to 4 (regularly challenge it and are able to quickly adapt it).

4 - We challenge it continuously and are able to adapt it quickly.

3 - We challenge our strategy process continuously but we are slow to adapt it.

2 - We persist with our strategy process but we are capable of adapting it swiftly.

1 - We persist with our strategy process and are slow to adapt it.

How do you measure your culture and ensure that you have shared and acknowledged values?

We conduct surveys or similar, analyze the responses and develop action plans based upon them.

We conduct surveys or similar but do not analyze them in detail or build any action plan upon them.

We measure culture individually via team leads using individual initiatives, without standardized survey or initiative.

We do not measure culture directly nor do we create specific culture-related initiatives.

We believe that a robust organization's leadership is based on bold decision-making, vision, ideas, empowerment and embracing new perspectives.

To what extent do these aspects reflect your approach?

We agree with this statement and support this leadership style through specific initiatives (training, incentive systems).

We agree with this statement, but we have not implemented specific initiatives.

We partly agree with this statement, but we also consider other aspects of leadership to be relevant.

Do your incentive and working mechanisms support your culture and values, for example, by creating new ideas, challenging the status quo and through cooperation?

Our incentive systems are based on a broad mixture of hard and soft evaluation aspects, such as revenue and growth. We also promote collaboration and innovation.

Our incentive systems are mainly based on hard evaluation aspects, such as revenue and growth, as well as some soft aspects such as collaboration.

Our incentive systems are mostly based on hard evaluation criteria such as revenue, growth, etc.

Our incentive systems differ across different teams, or we do not have specific incentive systems.

What principle do you follow when allocating human resources to ensure the development of talented individuals within the organization? Do you follow strict reporting lines, or do you deploy individuals beyond solid reporting lines (for example, via project work with coordination mechanisms based on dotted-line reporting)?

We allocate human resources beyond solid lines, based on the best skill-task fit, to ensure that the company's objectives are met and that resources can be shifted quickly.

We mostly allocate resources according to skill-task fit within their solid-line reporting relationships, sometimes going beyond solid lines.

We allocate resources within their solid-line reporting relationships to ensure operational efficiency in the business lines.

Do you see yourselves as successful at identifying potential and attracting and retaining talent?

We are successful in all three areas.

We are successful in two out of the three areas.

We are successful in one area.

We are struggling across all areas.

How would you rate your decision-making and structure in terms of enabling a rapid shift of priorities?

We have an integrated, decentralized system of decision-making and structure that is fast and responsive, with rapid escalation across different levels.

We have limited decentralized decision-making and a responsive structure requiring a few iterations across different levels of the company.

We have very limited decentralized decision-making and a slow and bureaucratic structure, with several iterations across various levels of the company and/or a very hierarchical process.

A robust organization relies on standardized support (e.g. Finance, HR) and strong business functions (e.g. Supply Chain, IT, R&D). It also has clear rules to ensure the necessary flexibility for pursuing business priorities.

How does your organization do with respect to these two principles, on a scale of 1 (decentralized, no clear set of rules) to 4 (centralized, shared services, clear set of rules)?

4 - Business and support processes are integrated, consistent and joined up. Cross-business functions are standardized and coordinated centrally. There are clear rules for adapting business functions in line with strategic priorities.

3 - Most business and support functions follow an end-to-end logic but we have either an inconsistent overarching view and/or non-standardized and centrally coordinated support functions. There are clear rules to adapt business functions to strategic priorities.

2 - We have implemented a limited end-to-end logic across functions and we have a limited central coordination and overarching view of processes. There is no clear rules to adapt business functions.

1 - Units are decentralized and almost independent with no clear rules to ensure flexibility.

We believe that assessing changes, opportunities and potential risks in your environment is a substantial part of robustness. How comprehensive is your risk management framework (risk identification, analysis, communication and monitoring)?

We have a comprehensive risk management framework with a proven track record.

We have a mostly comprehensive risk management framework, with a few potential areas for improvement.

Our risk management framework is not really comprehensive, with several areas for improvement.

Looking at your financial possibilities, which of the following best describes your liquidity planning capabilities?

Proactive – We consider liquidity planning very important. We have a continuous monitoring cycle and the ability to plan for different business scenarios.

Active and reactive – We have a monitoring system in place and a regular planning process but limited capabilities for scenario analysis in advance of specific needs.

Reactive – We only run dedicated liquidity management processes in the event of specific need; no structured approaches.

We do not have a dedicated approach – Liquidity is just part of our planning process and finance management.

If an excellent opportunity were to open up, how fast and flexibly could you shift financial resources, both internally and externally?

We could shift financial resources extremely quickly and flexibly.

We could shift financial resources quickly, with a certain level of alignment needed.

We could only partially shift financial resources, with a delay in alignment.

We could shift financial resources with lengthy delay and/or difficulty.

Protecting the business and securing the future of your organization requires alignment between the short and long-term strategy and the investment portfolio. What is the situation with regard to your capital allocation and investment portfolio?

We engage in careful capital allocation and investment portfolio management, focusing on our strategic priorities and balancing our short and long-term targets.

We have a focused investment portfolio but some degree of misalignment between capital allocation and strategic priorities.

There is a significant misalignment between capital allocation and strategic priorities; our investment portfolio is influenced by previous and/or other goals.

Ecosystems can be of great use, not only for sensing changes and trends but also for building up strategic partnerships.

To what extent do you leverage your ecosystem?

We actively scan our ecosystem for trends and changes, and also leverage strategic partnerships for knowhow, resources and value-creation options.

We actively scan the ecosystem for trends and changes but only partially leverage strategic partnerships.

We mostly observe and scan our ecosystem.

We neither scan our ecosystem nor build strategic partnerships.

We believe that customer-centricity is not a methodology but a mindset.

At what level do you listen to your customers and integrate their feedback into your products and development activities?

Very high – Our customers are directly involved (via workshops, focus groups, surveys) in everything from generating ideas to market definition.

High – Our customers are involved in some key stages of development (e.g. MVP testing, final testing).

Low – Our customers are seldom involved in development and only to address critical blocking points.

Very low – We never involve customers in the development of new products and services.

Pandemics, geopolitical restrictions and other regulations have revealed vulnerabilities in value and supply chains.

How flexible (or inflexible) are your value and supply chain partnerships?

Our value chain and partnerships are extremely flexible, with great diversification and extensive countermeasures.

Our value chain and partnerships are mostly flexible, with a few critical points.

We are dependent on individual partners, with countermeasures in place.

We are fully dependent on individual partners.

How would you describe your processes for aligning digital and IT responsibilities with business needs?

We have a clear, standardized model for aligning digital and IT responsibilities with business needs, with set processes for requesting digital and IT requirements, prioritizing them and delivering them effectively.

Our business units usually have individual requirements within the organization. In some cases, they have processes for this but they often arrange things individually (no standard process or governance).

We do not have any kind of alignment process or governance model for this.

We believe that the future of IT systems lies in modular and integrated setups that ensure scalability and flexibility. How would you rate your readiness in this respect?

Our IT systems are highly scalable and modular. We use a public cloud provider or similar private cloud system.

Our IT systems are mostly scalable and integrated, e.g. virtual systems or extendable modular system capabilities.

We have scalable and integrated elements for a few core business systems (e.g. ERP) but also undocumented single or standalone solutions.

We are heavily dependent on monolithic systems, with a few undocumented systems as well.

In terms of your technological capability, do you have the skills (or access to the skills) to swiftly respond to ideas and business needs with digital technology and IT systems?

Yes, we can quickly respond to ideas business needs with digital technology and IT systems.

We can often respond to business needs with digital technology and IT systems.

We need time to respond to business requirements.

We are often very slow in responding to ideas and business needs.

Mechanisms for using and sharing data, information and knowledge can be a key enabler for organizations. How good are you at this?

We are very good at sharing data, information and knowledge right across the organization.

We mostly share data, information and knowledge within business units and/or teams.

We are limited in sharing data, information and knowledge both across the organizations and within teams.

To what extent do you agree with the following statement? "Flexibility and slack carry more weight than efficiency these days"

Fully agree

Partly agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Partly disagree

If you had to prioritize either new growth (including new opportunities) or strengthening the current core of your business, which would you choose?

New growth and opportunities

Both equally

Existing business

To what extent do you feel like your company is facing a wide variety of challenges owing to different degrees of maturity (organizational, cultural, technological, and on on) within the organization?

To a large extent

To some extent

Partly

Not at all