People & Structure: The Turning Force of the Waterwheel

In Pendleton’s Waterwheel, clarity of vision is the source, but a source alone doesn’t create movement. The wheel only turns when people, roles and structures are aligned to carry that vision forward. This is the force that converts direction into momentum.

In every organisation I work with SME, corporate or property-led, the biggest breakthroughs rarely come from new strategies. They come when people know what part they play in delivering them.

Alignment creates motion

Even the strongest strategy falters when execution is fragmented. The core drivers of movement are:

1. Leadership clarity

If leaders aren’t aligned, teams can’t be. Mixed signals create drag.

2. Role definition without rigidity

People don’t need job titles to change, they need to understand ownership and contribution.

3. Culture that enables decisions

Momentum dies when every decision has to escalate.

4. Collaboration over silos

Departments don’t stall strategy, disconnection does.

It’s not about hiring more or restructuring aggressively. It’s about making sure the existing organisation is shaped to turn the wheel, not watch it.

The silent blockers

When this section of the wheel is weak, the symptoms show up fast:

• Strategy becomes “someone else’s job”

• Teams work in parallel, not together

• Decisions get delayed or diluted

• Projects drag because no one owns the movement

• Good people operate below potential

It’s not dysfunction, it’s misalignment.

Structure isn’t static

One of the biggest misconceptions is that operational alignment means reorganisation. Most of the time, it doesn’t.

Small shifts unlock big movement:

• Clarifying priorities at leadership level

• Creating direct accountability rather than layered approval

• Bringing cross-functional groups together around a shared outcome

• Simplifying who decides what, and when

The waterwheel doesn’t need a rebuild, it needs a clean turning mechanism.

How I work with this in practice

With clients, I don’t start by charting reporting lines. I look at flow:

• Who moves work forward?

• Where do decisions stick?

• Which conversations never happen early enough?

• Who believes they’re responsible vs. who actually is?

Once that’s visible, alignment becomes a leadership decision, not a resource issue.

The takeaway

Vision alone doesn’t create momentum. People and structure give it something to turn through.

In the Waterwheel model, this is the section that determines whether strategy becomes movement or remains theory.