Balancing everyday operational demands with strategic growth objectives is a persistent challenge for business leaders in all sizes of organizations. You might experience the pull between driving new business, delivering consistent quality, and ensuring your internal teams collaborate efficiently. Whenever you suspect that your current structure no longer supports your strategic goals—or if you spend more time on firefighting than innovation—consider rethinking how you organize roles and responsibilities.
After revisiting (or at least confirming or validating) your strategic direction, allow yourself to start with a blank canvas and truly reinvent how your organization runs.
In this article, I share my thoughts about synthesizing ideas from five theorists’ models of human behavior—DISC (originally developed by Dr. William Moulton Marston on behavioral preferences), Driving Forces (originating from the research of Dr. Gordon Allport and Dr. Eduard Spranger on motivators and later expanded into modern assessment models), Axiology (based on the work of Dr. Robert S. Hartman, defining Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Systemic thinking styles), and PSIU (from Lex Sisney’s Organizational Physics, which discusses organizational roles)—and applying them to specific managerial functions.
While these concepts may initially appear theoretical, they can offer practical, proven paths to a more agile, strategically aligned organization.
1. Align Your Structural Roles With Your Strategy
Your business strategy should guide every structural decision, not vice versa. Are you planning to grow or scale by introducing new products or services? Is one major goal to strengthen customer relationships while targeting emerging market niches?
By clarifying your strategic intent, company goals, and objectives, you can determine the proper emphasis for each role. Notice that I am referring to functional roles here rather than titles. Functional roles are where the organization’s work gets done. Don’t fall in love with titles.
- Producer-oriented roles (P) focus on efficiency, getting results quickly, and driving revenue.
- Stabilizer-oriented roles (S) create consistency, ensure quality control, and stabilize processes.
- Innovator-oriented roles (I) experiment with new ideas, explore fresh markets, and encourage continuous improvement.
- Unifier-oriented roles (U) cultivate positive team dynamics, manage stakeholder relationships, and build a strong internal culture.
For instance, if your primary differentiator is high-speed, cutting-edge product development, the right individuals must occupy all key Innovator roles in your organizational chart. On the other hand, if exceptional customer service is your hallmark, ensuring that those mission-critical roles are filled by Unifiers and Stabilizers—people who excel at building trust and delivering consistent experiences—will significantly impact your organization’s foundation.
2. Recognize Behavioral and Motivational Drivers
While the PSIU framework establishes a foundation, using tools such as DISC and Driving Forces can enhance the experience. They provide insights into how your team members prefer to communicate, tackle problems, and stay motivated.
For instance:
- High Dominance (D) in DISC often aligns with Producer-focused roles, such as sales or operations leadership. These individuals tend to prefer making quick decisions and taking decisive action.
- High Influence (I) might indicate a strong Unifier or Innovator who rallies the team or dreams up fresh approaches.
- High Steadiness (S) frequently excels in Stabilizer roles, protecting consistency and ensuring internal and external customers receive dependable service.
- High Conscientiousness (C) is best suited for areas where accuracy, process, and detail are paramount—think compliance, quality assurance, or data analysis.
Beyond observing behavioral preferences, you’ll also want to consider what drives each individual. Some prefer collaborative environments, prioritizing people-first approaches, while others thrive on building systems or refining processes. Mapping these natural behavioral preferences to your structure keeps people engaged.
Beyond behavior, Axiology helps determine how people prioritize decision-making:
- Systemic Thinkers (structured, big-picture planners) thrive in Stabilizer and Producer roles.
- Extrinsic Thinkers (action-oriented, results-driven) excel in Producer and Innovator roles.
- Intrinsic Thinkers (relationship-focused, people-driven) make strong Unifiers and customer-centric leaders.
If you assign a systemic thinker to a high-pressure sales role, they may struggle with rapid decision-making. Conversely, placing an extrinsic thinker in a rigid compliance role might lead to frustration. Aligning roles with behavioral tendencies and cognitive preferences should help reduce costly turnover and enable people to excel in their preferred behavioral zone.
3. Pair Strengths and Roles Across Key Functions
You can apply these principles in every functional area of your business—even if you only have a few employees:
- Sales and Customer Relationships: Identify tendencies toward Producer or Unifier roles. Producers strive to meet deadlines and drive growth, while Unifiers naturally manage interpersonal relationships and foster loyalty among clients and team members.
- Operations and Production: You likely need Stabilizers who craft reliable, repeatable processes. If your operations require strict adherence to standards (like a restaurant, manufacturing company, or accounting or engineering firm), seek individuals wired to be highly conscientious and steady.
- Innovation and Product Development: Innovators thrive on fresh ideas, so give them the space and resources to brainstorm and test. Your organization’s Stabilizers will help ensure viability and feasibility. Even a small business can benefit from designating an individual or a small team to explore new offerings or ways to stand out in the marketplace.
- Finance, HR, and Compliance: Stabilizers can excel at financial processes and risk management because they spot trouble early. Unifier strengths, meanwhile, help maintain cultural cohesion and ensure HR invests in the right talent.
As you assess the roles within your small, medium, or large enterprise, strive to determine how these four “buckets” best align with your strategic needs. Rather than relying on titles, define roles by function. A “Director of Operations” might need a strong Producer mindset in one company but a Stabilizer approach in another. The key is mapping responsibilities to the right blend of PSIU, DISC, and Axiology attributes, and each department or function should have a clear mission staffed by individuals whose natural strengths match the role’s demands.
4. Facilitate Collaboration and Cohesion
Even if you effectively organize each role, you still need a well-thought-out strategy for collaboration. Producers often seek immediate results and can become impatient with lengthy brainstorming sessions, while Innovators, who enjoy challenging existing norms, may feel frustrated when their ideas encounter immediate opposition. Unifiers typically desire harmony and focus on relationships but might struggle with discussions that depend too heavily on taking a deep dive into data. Stabilizers and Unifiers perform best when following clear guidelines but may resist change if asked to adapt quickly. In high-stakes environments, conflict can arise when one emphasizes harmony while the other insists on immediate performance.
Train and then encourage people to see these differences and capitalize on them as complementary, not adversarial. Discuss each person’s natural style and emphasize the importance of every perspective. This approach fosters mutual respect and reduces the risk of building taller and wider silos as the business grows.
5. Treat the Structure as a Living System
Far too many businesses create an org chart, hang it on the wall (or bury it in a digital folder), and never update it. As your business evolves—by entering a new market, launching an innovative product, pivoting to a different customer segment, or transitioning into a new phase of business maturity—it’s essential to revisit your structure.
Ask:
- Is my team still in alignment with the core strategic priorities?
- Do our roles and responsibilities align with our current reality and future goals?
- Am I underusing certain team members with strengths in areas we urgently need?
Adjusting roles doesn’t always require hiring new staff. Sometimes, you may identify an internal candidate who excels at generating big ideas (Innovator) but currently holds a back-office position. Alternatively, you might find that the person managing your operations is more of a Producer than a Stabilizer, and they would likely achieve better results in a role that demands fast-paced action and decisive leadership.
6. Stay Focused on Customer Impact
Any structural change should have a positive impact on both your internal and external customers. A well-designed organization responds faster to inquiries, delivers consistent quality, and proactively solves internal and external customer problems. Don’t optimize for efficiency alone—optimize for the customer experience your business wants to deliver. Consider how shifts in internal alignment might boost the overall experience you provide to all your stakeholders.
Conclusion
Rethinking your organization’s structure may initially seem daunting, but the benefits are significant. By aligning roles with your strategy and using frameworks like PSIU, DISC, and Driving Forces, you minimize friction, enhance strengths, and foster an environment where your team can thrive. The aim isn’t to randomly shuffle titles but to establish a structure that allows your organization to realize its strategic vision while delighting both your internal and external customers every step of the way.
By structuring your business this way, you establish a foundation that can scale, adapt, and better meet the changing demands of your market. As you grow, revisit your setup, analyze new opportunities, and reshape roles that no longer align. With an integrated framework and a commitment to leveraging people’s strengths, your organizational structure becomes a competitive advantage, not just a chart on your office wall.
