Organization makes the difference
In an increasingly complex world, organization is the key which enables businesses to act with speed and adaptability.
Yet Bain research indicates that only 15% of companies have an organization that helps them to outperform. For these few, the organization itself is becoming a source of competitive advantage.
Making good decisions and making them happen
What sets apart the high performers is the quality of their decision-making. They make the most important decisions well, and then they make them happen, quickly and consistently.
The difference is striking: More than 90% of high-performance organizations we surveyed believe that significant decisions get made well in their organizations, resulting in prompt, effective action. By contrast, nearly half of those who rated their organizations less effective believe that they often fail at making and executing decisions, and only about 10% truly succeed.
High-performance organizations build a system, not just a structure
The high performers are not overly focused on the org chart-who reports to whom-but put their energy into building an integrated system that supports a decision-driven organization. They seek to outperform competitors on five vital dimensions:
- Provide compelling direction and leadership
- Define clear decision roles-and hold the people in them accountable.
- Develop and deploy talented people
- Excel at front line execution
- Tap into the "extra 10 percent" with a high-performance culture
An effective organizational change process is almost as important as making the right changes
Significant organizational change is distracting and can be threatening to almost everyone. Starting a change process without following through can be highly damaging. The key is to ensure the process is led not simply managed - top management must take an active and visible role.
Organizational effectiveness is central to Bain's mission of helping clients make their businesses more valuable
We have completed over 1,500 organizational assignments in the last five years, spanning all major industries and geographies. Our work includes comprehensive organizational transformation; organizational realignment to meet the needs of a new strategy or direction; post merger integration; and specific assignments focused on helping improve particular aspects of the organizational system - for example, Board and leadership team effectiveness; clarifying decision roles and processes; leadership supply and management development; measures and incentives; G&A efficiency; frontline effectiveness; building and sustaining a high performance culture; and implementing effective change.
The Bain high-performance organization scorecard
One difficulty in building a decision-driven organization is to know where to focus. To help address this issue, Bain has developed a simple scorecard that measures organizational effectiveness, enabling companies to benchmark their own performance against more than 360 businesses in our database.
To find out more about Bain's work in this capability area, please contact the practice.
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Who has the D? How clear decision roles enhance organizational performance 
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