Organisational Design that actually lands: our free playbook

Change isn’t just boxes and lines. It’s purpose, people, and the way work really gets done. We’ve pulled together the practical steps we use in the wild into a free resource you can pick up today: the Organisational Design — Strategic Foundations Playbook.

Why we made this (and why it’s free)

We built this because too many org design efforts jump straight to the org chart and miss the bigger picture. The playbook gives you a clear path from why to how—in language a whole team can use, not just specialists. It’s part of way.open, our place for sharing tools that are human-first, systems-smart, and based on real projects—not jargon.

What’s inside (the short version)

The playbook walks you through four simple, powerful steps you can run as a team or with us alongside you:

1. Start with clarity — get to the real “why” before touching structure.

2. Zoom out before you zoom in — map the operating model, not just the org chart.

3. Design with purpose — choose the structure that matches your intent and make trade-offs explicit.

4. Make it real, together — align roles, culture, and leadership; build belief and momentum.

You’ll also find checkpoints, common traps to avoid, and must-do moves so you don’t lose time to predictable mistakes.

How to use it

Three ways, depending on what you need right now:

• Self-serve — run the steps with your team; the pack’s designed to be used as-is.

• Facilitated — we guide a series of short workshops to align, decide, and move.

• Embedded — we join your delivery team to design and implement the changes.

Who it’s for

Leaders, teams, and advisors working on complex organisational change, especially if you want to keep the human side visible while you improve how the system runs.

A few things we’ve learned (so you don’t have to)

• Don’t start if your objectives are unclear - it will unravel later.

• Don’t expect structure alone to fix culture - design both together.

• Don’t promise “one-and-done” change - org design is a journey.

• Be clear where input is real and where things are non-negotiable - honesty beats false hope.

Take it, use it, tell us what you changed

way.open exists so good ideas spread. Use the playbook, adapt it, and let us know what you improved. We’ll keep the best bits flowing back to the community.

Ready? Download the Organisational Design — Strategic Foundations Playbook Below

Organisational Design Strategic Foundations Playbook - Final Version.pdf

Download PDF • 2.13MB

Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit “© Way Collective — CC BY 4.0”).

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