Excerpts A Troubled President The Numbers Do Not Add Up Sleepless Nights Torn in Half! The Military Understands Already Beyond the Value Chain Aspirations and Opportunities Emboldening Customers and Strengthening Their Capabilities Boxes and Lines Distrust Bigger than the Boxes Rethinking the Model

Excerpts #4 of Chapter 3 Excerpts: Next | Previous Rethinking the Model "Thanks," interjects Frank. "You've helped me to reinterpret our model. It makes sense. We're going to need some hierarchy, but I didn't know how to solve the challenge with the old way of thinking. I suspect that even Eastman Chemical, with their flat pizza organization, still very much has a hierarchy. What I sense is that the leading management group knows how to function as a team, and this has inspired the teaming process within the organization." Carol, who started the discussion about the three-box model, looks excited. "You've understood what I was thinking last evening, only you've taken it further than I did. Now I just realized that there is also a connection to our discussion of 'either/or' and 'both/and' thinking. Notice that we can still have the hierarchy, but redefine its functioning in a more natural way. Alan, is it possible to rethink our reward strategy from this new perspective?" "Well . . . er . . . perhaps . . . ," Alan fumbles for words. "Guess I'm a little dense--it takes a while for all this stuff to sink in. What we need isn't a reward system that keeps people captive to their boxes, but one that encourages and rewards collaboration. You know, I'm beginning to sense the artificiality of our traditional approach to rewards. It's been a very manipulative system, built on the idea that people do what is measured. That's true, but there is more to the truth." Alan pauses, but no one interrupts. "Overlapping circles, people challenged to find and build off one another's talents, capabilities, and visions . . . I'm beginning to suspect that if we could create such a culture, the very act of valuing one another is a real reward. After all, we all want to be taken seriously by our colleagues. Yet how ironic--our existing model does just the opposite: it causes people to undermine, undercut, and demean one another's talents. It hasn't been a reward system, but a punishment system, masquerading in the name of a reward system. Ouch, it hurts when I think of it. No wonder I was so confused when we started this discussion; there was just so much I didn't see or understand." Alan sees some smiles from his colleagues, accepting smiles. He begins to feel a part of this group in a way he never has, and it's nice. Gregory, who is often the last to see a connection, turns to Marjorie. "Did you notice the similarity between the three overlapping circles you just drew and the four overlapping circles we were discussing yesterday? As an engineer myself, they remind me of what we call Venn diagrams, mathematical sets that show key relationships. What strikes me is that it's the relationship that's important, not the separation and the white space between the boxes. Come to think of it, this is why I liked the way you redrew the horizontal value chain as four overlapping circles in our discussion yesterday." Excerpts: Next | Previous