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It’s a classic principle in business design: structure should follow strategy. Yet, in working with leadership teams across Thailand, I often see the reverse. Companies start with structure, updating organisation charts, renaming titles, adding more boxes and lines, before they have fully clarified their strategy.
The result is predictable: confusion, duplication, and slow execution. People are unclear about who leads what, decisions are delayed, and energy drains into navigating hierarchy instead of driving results.
A Lesson from the Field
I recently worked with a fast-growing Thai business that came to us asking for a “restructure”. They were expanding into new markets and starting to feel internal friction, slower decisions, overlapping responsibilities, and rising tension between departments.
Their first instinct was to redraw the organisation chart. But after spending time with their leadership team, it became clear: they didn’t have a structure problem, they had a clarity problem.
The strategy hadn’t truly shifted, but the business had. Without a clear understanding of the organisation’s priorities and decision-making flow, no diagram of boxes could fix the underlying issue.
Start With the ‘Why’, Not the ‘Who’
Effective organisational design doesn’t begin with people or positions. It begins with clarity of purpose. Where are we going? What are the non-negotiable priorities for the next 12 to 24 months? What must we excel at to win?
Only once those answers are clear does it make sense to ask:
“How should we organise ourselves to deliver?”
Too many companies jump straight to rearranging people based on preference, tenure, or politics, when the real power lies in aligning structure to future value, not past comfort.
Structure Is a Strategic Tool, not a Diagram
An organisation chart is not a strategy. It is a reflection of how value flows through your business. In high-performing organisations, structure is treated as a living, evolving tool, one that is reviewed and adjusted as the market, strategy, and leadership context change.
The companies that succeed don’t move boxes for the sake of optics. They continuously align their structure to empower outcomes, eliminate confusion, and unlock accountability. And they do it proactively, not once a decade in reaction to a crisis.
A Final Thought
Your organisation is a mirror of your ambition. If you’ve recently brought in new leaders, expanded into new markets, or refreshed your strategy, your structure must evolve to support it.
So, before you move the boxes, ask yourself: Is your current structure helping you execute your strategy, or quietly holding you back?
