Adapt uses a four zone map to make sense of an organisation. (This is our version of the traditionally hierarchical organisation chart.) The Platform replicates this four zone structure. Your people should be able to see how your business is structured and the accountabilities of the leadership team.
The four zones remind us to consider the whole system. The foundations of Organisation Design, Healthy Culture and Financial Security support the Economic Engine which serves our customer.
You can listen to Bill Withers, founder of adapt, explain the four zones in this audio.
Healthy Culture
An organisation’s culture is the shared assumptions, values and beliefs that determine how people behave. Any group of people who come together regularly will develop a culture – some will be positive and constructive and some will be less so. Intentionally building a healthy culture is at the core of the adapt Way. A healthy culture is critical to a businesses ability to be effective and adaptive for long-term sustainability.
Economic Engine
Your economic engine is at the heart of your business. If it isn’t robust and viable – it is likely there will be no business at all! The way you engage, deliver and support your customers is so important and can be the differentiating factor between you and other organisations offering the same product or service in the market.
Organisation Design
Organisation design is how people and work are organised so that the work that needs doing now to implement the organisation’s strategy is prioritised. It provides clarity around accountability and supports the focus required to achieve results. Many organisations have evolved around some people, like you as an owner or leaders. While they do a lot of work, there is often limited role clarity which makes solving people risks and handover to others difficult. Organisation design ensures information, knowledge and workflow are captured and easily viewed across the system.
Financial Security
In a resilient organisation, it is important there is a high level of business literacy. It isn’t just the responsibility of the ‘finance department’ or an external accountant to manage, it is the responsibility of all leaders to have access to, and be able to recall, the critical numbers, and that these are transparent to the entire organisation. Do you have sound financial management? Do you have robust cash-flow and P&L forecasting? Is there a healthy capital position/security? Are financial indicators understood and communicated to all?
Culture Overview