Instead of supporting deep analysis and large shifts, the McKinsey 7-S model is great for analyzing how coherent your company is. If you know that you need to change your act, but you’re not sure what to do, this is the change management model for you.

By analyzing the following seven aspects of your company and how they affect each other, you will highlight the changes you need to make to create a united approach to business:

·         Strategy

·         Structure

·         Systems

·         Shared values

·         Style

·         Staff

·         Skills

The Method

Assess your strategy
Your company strategy needs to be formal enough to allow you to move forward with purpose and gain (or maintain) an advantage over your competitors, and flexible enough to adapt to changes without destroying your progress. As such, when assessing your strategy you need to answer questions such as:

• What are your objectives?
• What is your strategy to achieve them?
• How are you staying competitive?
• How can your strategy adapt to the current (and future) situation?

Record the answers to each question (and any others you can think of), then move on.

Look at your structure
Your structure should be fairly simple to note down since it’s more tangible than your strategy, but it’s nonetheless important to double check with your team(s). Unless your information is accurate for how your company is actually structured, you’re only neutering the effectiveness of your changes.

Ask yourself:

• How is your company structured (departments, teams, etc)?
• What is your hierarchy?
• How are your departments organized and managed?
• How are your teams organized and managed?
• How do your individual team members organize themselves?
• Who makes the decisions?
• How are they carried out/passed down?
• How does everyone communicate?
• How often does communication occur?

Analyze your systems
Any of our returning readers will know the importance of having processes and managing them effectively, and now is when the McKinsey model applies that same belief. Here you need to assess your business systems, including official processes, unofficial shortcuts, rules, and how everything is tracked.

In other words, ask yourself:

• What are the core systems in your business (HR, finance, document management, team management/meetings, etc)?
• How are these systems and/or processes stored and used?
• How are they updated (and are they up to date)?
• Are these systems accurate (are they being used word-for-word)?
• How do you track and assess the results of these processes?
• Who has access to these systems?

Record shared values
We’re back into abstract territory now, as the next step is to analyze your shared values. This will typically include both your official company values and your company’s (possibly also your individual teams’) culture.

While culture might seem irrelevant to managing change, if used correctly it can be a powerful tool indeed. Linking your values and culture to the changes you make will make them more agreeable to your work force, who will, in turn, adapt them more readily.

Take a look at:

• What are your core company values?
• What is your company culture?
• What are your teams’ cultures?
• Are they at odds with the company culture?
• Knowing this, how strong are your values?
• How could you strengthen them in practice?

Take note of your style
This stage is all about assessing the management and leadership style used in your business. While it might be tempting to present an idealized view of your own leadership, resist that urge and be frank with how both you and the rest of the company are managed/manage others.

The questions you need to be asking are:

• How are your departments and teams managed?
• How active is this management/leadership?
• Is this style effective, and to what extent?
• Do you inspire competition or collaboration?

List your staff
This section is exactly what you’d expect. Take a look at your staff list and assess whether you have the required positions filled, what gaps you have, and so on.

Take a look at your staff list, their job descriptions, common tasks, and skill set in general to answer:

• What positions do you have filled?
• What skills do they bring to your company?
• Are you lacking a particular skill set?
• Do you need to hire someone?
• If so, who will your next hire be?

Assess their skills
Finally, it’s time to look at the skills your staff currently have. This shouldn’t end at a basic description – you’ll need to gather some feedback around how your company is perceived, as this will give you an idea of what your customers think your skills are (which is arguably just as important).

Take a look at:

• Do your employees have the necessary skills to do their job to the desired quality?
• What skills are not present in your company?
• How vital are these missing skills?
• What are the strongest skills across your company/teams?
• How are you assessing these skills?
• What is your company perceived as doing well, and what skills does that reflect on?

Cross-examine the 7-S’ and find what changes you need to implement
Once you’ve analyzed all of the 7-S’ you should take the time to think about how each affects the others. As with many of these change management models, it’s worth meeting with at least the upper levels of your management to do this, as you’ll get a more accurate idea of these things in practice.

You need to be looking at whether your 7-S’ support each other, and planning incremental changes to make that happen if it isn’t already. For example, look at whether your structure supports your strategy, how they are both helped by your systems, and how all three reflect your shared values.

Once you have an idea of what needs to be brought in line, plan out incremental changes you can make which won’t disrupt your regular operations too much or alienate your employees. After they’ve been deployed (or even after every change you make), go through the 7-S model again to reassess and find out what you need to do next.