What I Learned Designing an Organizational Development Function From the Ground Up
- Randall Sellar
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
In the past few months, I worked with a large organization on one of the most rewarding projects of my career.
This project focused on shaping the future of the organization’s Organizational Development function, covering everything from strategy and the operating model to service delivery and implementation planning.
I can’t share the specifics of the organization or the project, but I can offer something even more useful:
What this experience taught me about Organizational Development and where I think the field is going.
When I began working in Organizational Development, I believed our main job was to help organizations improve their people practices.
Now, I see things differently.
Our role isn’t just about creating better HR programs.
Our real job is to help organizations put their strategies into action.
This perspective guided every decision we made during the project.
It also reinforced five key lessons I’ll carry into future projects.
1. Start With the Business Strategy, not the Organizational Chart
A common mistake organizations make when redesigning an internal function is starting with the structure.
They ask:
What should the team look like?
Before asking:
What business outcomes are we trying to enable?
Structure shouldn’t be where you start.
You should start with strategy.
Once you know what business problems the function is meant to solve, designing the structure becomes much easier.
The operating model also becomes clearer.
It’s easier to see what capabilities are needed. Every decision serves a shared purpose.
The best organizational design work always starts with business strategy, not with organizational charts.
2. Organizational Development Isn’t About Delivering Programs
This was probably the most important lesson I learned.
Too often, people see Organizational Development as just the programs it delivers.
Leadership development.
Team effectiveness.
Culture initiatives.
Learning programs.
Change management.
These are valuable services.
But these aren’t the main purpose of Organizational Development.
The real purpose is to help the organization solve business problems.
Sometimes that requires leadership development.
Sometimes it requires organizational design.
Sometimes it requires facilitating difficult conversations.
The services might change over time. But the business outcome should stay the same.
When Organizational Development serves as an internal consulting partner rather than merely offering programs, its value increases dramatically.
3. Great Operating Models Create Focus
Almost every internal consulting team faces the challenge of high demand.
Everything feels urgent.
Every request feels important.
Over time, the team can become reactive rather than strategic.
One of the most valuable parts of this project was purposefully designing the flow of work through the function.
How requests enter.
How they’re assessed.
How priorities are established.
How capacity is managed.
How leaders engage with the team.
These decisions often matter more than who reports to whom on the organizational chart.
Without a clear operating model, even the best teams struggle to make a lasting impact.
4. Capability Building Is a Strategic Investment
In recent weeks, I’ve written a lot about organizational capabilities.
This project reminded me why that’s so important.
Organizations rarely reach new goals with only their current capabilities.
They need to intentionally build the knowledge, leadership, and ways of working needed for future success.
This doesn’t happen through one-off training programs.
It happens when organizations deliberately invest in their people.
Building capabilities isn’t just an HR responsibility.
It’s one of the most important strategic investments an organization can make.
5. Design Doesn’t Create Change. Implementation Does.
It’s easy to become excited about a future-state design.
New structures.
New services.
New operating models.
But none of those things create value until people begin working differently.
Implementation isn’t the final phase of organizational design.
It’s part of the design itself.
The strongest designs anticipate adoption.
They prepare leaders.
They define governance.
They establish milestones.
And they recognize that changing how an organization works requires just as much attention as designing how it should work.
A Final Reflection
Completing this engagement reminded me why I chose Organizational Development in the first place.
Not because I enjoy organizational charts.
Not because I enjoy process design.
But because Organizational Development sits at the intersection of people and strategy.
Done well, it helps organizations become more capable.
It helps leaders make better decisions.
It helps people do their best work.
And ultimately, it helps organizations achieve outcomes they couldn’t achieve otherwise.
As I reflected on this project, one question kept coming back to me.
If your organization were designing its Organizational Development function from scratch today?
Would it build the one it has now?
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