Something isn't fitting anymore.
Understanding changes what becomes possible.
I'm Curious01 / Organizational Design
Organizations are more than boxes, lines, processes, titles or collections of people.
Organizations exist to bring together the capabilities required to create stakeholder value.
People bring those capabilities to life.
When that connection weakens, something no longer fits.
That is where we
Design.
Create what is needed.
Redesign.
Change what no longer fits.
Undesign.
Remove what no longer contributes.
Undesign: Deliberately remove anything that no longer serves to create value.
02 / Organizational Enablement
Design calls for action.
A blueprint can look complete on paper. Reality tells us what fits.
So we bring the design to life, work with it, learn from the friction and keep adjusting as reality responds.
- What fits stays.
- What needs to change is redesigned.
- What no longer serves value is undesigned.
Until the organization can carry it forward without us.
That is enablement.
Challenges we love working on
Every ambition asks something of the organization.
Sometimes the organization is already capable of delivering it. Sometimes something no longer fits. And sometimes an entirely new capability needs to be built.
Strategy isn't becoming reality.
What is the organization unable to do?
We've outgrown the way we work.
What worked yesterday may be limiting tomorrow.
Everything works. Just not together.
Sometimes the problem lives between the boxes.
We need to become capable of something new.
What does your ambition require from the organization?
- “We need to enable AI.”
- “We want to become more customer-centric.”
- “Our culture needs to change.”
- “Decision-making is too slow.”
- “We need to become more agile.”
- “Our strategy isn't reaching the front line.”
Organizations often come to us with an idea of what needs to change.
A structure. An operating model. A role. A culture. A leadership programme.
Sometimes they arrive even more certain:
“We know what needs to change.”
Maybe.
They may be right.
We just don't assume it.
A few questions we've followed
Sometimes where you start isn't where you end up.
They came with
The question became
Can two very different business models operate through the same organization?
What began as a request to design a team became a much broader organizational design question.
Read moreHas the organization outgrown the way it is governed?
Growth had created a management problem. Adding a function was not necessarily the same thing as solving it.
Read moreWhat does each business need to become capable of — and what must HR become capable of enabling?
The markets were not all the same. One HR model applied identically everywhere would have been answering a question nobody had asked.
Read moreIs the Sales Force designed for the different ways the business now needs to grow?
Growth was no longer being created in one way. The Sales Force was still organized as though it were.
Read moreAbout ALIGN
Boutique by design. Collaborative by nature.
ALIGN was founded in 2012 by Altuğ Örnek. Today, ALIGN remains deliberately boutique.
When a challenge requires expertise beyond our own, we don't pretend to have every capability under one roof. We collaborate with independent specialists, practitioners and businesses who bring the perspective and experience the work requires.
Sometimes we work together for a project. Sometimes the collaboration lasts for years. And sometimes, when the work is done, so is the collaboration.
- The challenge determines the expertise.
- The work determines the collaboration.
Altuğ Örnek
Founder, ALIGN
Organizational designer, consultant and facilitator.
For more than three decades, Altuğ has worked across strategy, business models, organizational design, culture, leadership, sales and organizational capability — helping organizations understand what needs to change, design what should come next, and build the capability to make it real.
His work has taken him from founder-led businesses to complex global organizations, and from boardroom questions to the capabilities required to make change work on the front line.
Mostly, he likes questions that don't have obvious answers.
Meet AltuğInterested in collaborating with us?
We are always curious about people who see things differently, bring deep expertise, and enjoy working on questions without obvious answers.
What is your organization trying to make possible?
You don't need to know exactly what needs to change.
A good question is enough to start.