You would be surprised how many organisations get this wrong. Intuitively they know that change (i.e. programs and projects) is different to business as usual (BaU) but quite often the two get blurred.
Let’s recap – most organisations have two main areas of activity
- They run the business. This is known as Business as Usual (BaU) and comprises their day-to-day operations
- They change the business. This is known as Change and is enabled through the development of programs and projects.
All of the organisation’s activities should broadly fall into one of these two areas.
Now organisations are designed around the BaU activity and the organisation chart reflects this. Organisations are NOT designed to deliver change – and the organisation structure is not designed to deliver change. Change is delivered through programs and projects and these require a different type of structure to be effective – a program or project governance structure.
The difference is shown in the figure called “The Governance Triangle”.
