Arlington, VA

CNA is launching a new tool to support military and government leaders in making informed management decisions. StaffLab™ leverages CNA’s decades of wargame experience and cross-sector expertise to create a practical tool that will give leaders more insight into major organizational decisions.

StaffLab™ emerges from CNA’s extensive experience supporting military commands and government agencies through a variety of decisions and changes, including years of observing the challenges inherent in executing organizational changes with minimal insight into how those changes are likely to play out in real life.

“We know that upwards of 80% of reorganizations do not achieve their goals,” said StaffLab director Margaux Hoar, citing the results of a past McKinsey survey. “Good leaders have to make tough decisions – our approach helps them make smart ones.”

“StaffLab leverages capabilities across CNA — including our decades of wargaming experience and organizational design expertise— to create something uniquely beneficial to leaders faced with making major organizational changes,” she added.

More often than not, leaders are expected to reform their organizations – changes in staff structure, responsibilities, reporting lines, and more – without a clear sense of how these changes will actually play out in real life. StaffLab fills the gap between idea and implementation by allowing managers to test those changes in a low-stakes environment. This laboratory-like environment includes assessments of appropriate staff size, skill sets, and structures via statistical and network-based analyses. It also yields real-time experiential learning for participants, further helping them gain confidence in the decisions they have to make that dramatically affect their organizations and employees.

To learn more about StaffLab: