Organizational change is like testing top students with difficult problems.

Normally, an economic downturn should be a concentrated period for enterprises to carry out organizational transformation. The harsh operating pressure will inevitably force enterprises to reduce their burdens and move forward.

During the economic boom period, enterprises often use slogans like organizational innovation to package some so - called "little tricks" they think feasible and conduct extensive external publicity to highlight their uniqueness. However, after the boom fades, they will no longer invest heavily for the sake of face. All organizational adjustment actions are aimed at making themselves lighter, faster, and stronger, ultimately pointing to the data goal of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

This year, the market lead data of Musheng Consulting fully illustrates this problem. If last year was the year when the demand for human - efficiency management consulting was the highest (since this concept became popular), this year is the year when the demand for organizational transformation consulting has become popular again. In particular, the authenticity of these market lead data is higher than before. For the enterprises coming to communicate, in most cases, the top leaders have a strong determination and have been planning for organizational transformation for a long time. They have searched far and wide for good solutions and finally set their sights on our "platform - based organization". They already have a basic understanding of this concept and have also tried similar transformations themselves, so the communication is particularly efficient.

If we compare the Chinese business community to a class and organizational design to a course, in primary school, it's hard to tell the differences between students. As they move on to junior and senior high school, the problems become more difficult, and the differences become more obvious. Moreover, they will eventually have to face the college entrance examination, a touchstone where all differences will be exposed.

Musheng Consulting conducts surveys on the theme of organizational transformation every year. From a large amount of data, we can find several new trends in organizational transformation. This year's data trends especially make us sigh - Difficult problems distinguish excellent students.

On the one hand, difficult problems may cause the performance of a large number of poor students to decline significantly.

We found that many enterprises have regressed significantly towards the pyramid - shaped organization, both in the construction of the three - platform architecture and the introduction of market - based incentives. Those innovative attempts in the past have quietly returned to the starting point. The enthusiasm for the data middle - platform, the organizational middle - platform, the betting and co - investment, and the project partnership distribution has waned... Not only do they stop doing these things, but some enterprises are even too lazy to shout the slogans. In the economic downturn, enterprises have returned to pragmatism. When organizational innovation fails to bring about cost reduction and efficiency improvement, no one will pay for it.

As a result, these enterprises don't perform well in the course of organizational transformation. So, when we contact the bosses and executives of some enterprises, they usually say, "We also tried it before..." In fact, when a person faces an unfamiliar thing, to cover up their uneasiness, they usually say, "I also tried it before..." or "I have a friend who is also doing it..." In a nutshell, when such people talk about "the good old days", they have already admitted defeat in this field.

To put it bluntly, their organizational transformation actions were not smooth and instead caused more problems. So, they had to choose to "restore the status quo". Sometimes, for the sake of face, they couldn't cancel the transformation and could only insist on formal innovation while returning to the traditional essence. This kind of awkwardness is really uncomfortable. For example, in order to adhere to project - based incentives, many enterprises pay fixed salaries according to the levels and working hours of project participants, which makes the salary structure more complex and increases the management cost.

On the other hand, difficult problems enable a small number of excellent students to stand out quickly.

We found that these enterprises have made progress in the three - platform architecture and market - based incentives. They not only operate more meticulously in each segmented field, but also the organizational transformation measures in various fields have formed a linkage relationship. All these are reflected in a number of high - level data. As long as a person knows a little about organizational data, they can tell at a glance that these enterprises are outstanding. To put it more directly, they are beginning to experience the benefits of employees and the enterprise creating together, sharing risks, and sharing benefits. Such enterprises will not publicize themselves widely but will work hard to strive for an early generational gap in organizational capabilities with their competitors.

Poor students pretend to know everything and like to act "experienced", showing a sense of having seen it all. In contrast, excellent students ask questions when they don't understand. From bosses to executives, they learn modestly and greedily and practice whole - heartedly. They make mistakes, admit them, and then make progress. The outcome is already clear between these two types of enterprises.

So, the classic saying can be applied again - for determined innovators, at first, others "look down on" them, then they "can't understand" them, and finally, they "can't see" them.

We have accompanied too many enterprises through organizational transformation. This is a difficult journey. Only when reaching the turning point can one see the light. In this direction of transformation, it's a competition of perseverance. And behind perseverance, it's a competition of the understanding of the organization. Because shallow understanding cannot withstand the impact and temptation of the environment (taking shortcuts); only firm understanding can make people persevere in doing those "difficult but right things".

The pitfalls and pains of organizational transformation are vivid in our minds. How to build understanding and take action? How to take advantage of competitors' confusion and sprint forward to widen the gap during the economic downturn? The 4th China Enterprise Platform - Based Organization (PFO®) Forum will give you the best solution.

Real smart people learn lessons from others' blood and tears instead of getting themselves hurt.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Musheng Office" (ID: hrm - yun), written by the Musheng Consulting Research Institute and published by 36Kr with authorization.