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July 2006 eNews

Do we get things done because of our organization’s structure… or in spite of it?

Dear Friends:

Last month I wrote to you about how summer is often a time for contemplating future direction, both for ourselves and our organizations. To help think about where our organizations are going, I introduced Marvin Weisbord’s “Six-Box Organizational Model” of doing assessments. To review, those boxes are:

I then mentioned that one of the issues which will often arise in conducting an assessment is the design of the organization. Is your organization designed for optimal effectiveness? Or, are structures the way they are because “things have just always been done that way” and “that is the way they have to be”? Do your policies and procedures and meetings propel progress? Or, do they impede it?

A helpful way to focus on the structures in which we operate is by using Jay Galbraith’s “Star Model.”

In Galbraith’s model, strategy refers to an organization’s direction, whether stated explicitly or not. And that might be where the first and fundamental issue of an assessment is revealed. It may be that what we say we “are about” and how we actually spend our time are not the same. 

Structure pertains to where power and authority lie. I suspect many of us have dealt with issues of inconsistency in this realm. We may have felt that we have authority in theory yet no real power in actuality to effect the change we desire. Or, in contrast, we know it would be healthier to distribute more power to our board (or the program managers or… others) but they seem unwilling to step up to meet the responsibility.

To borrow Galbraith’s description, “if structure is thought of as the anatomy of an organization, processes are its physiology or functioning.” Processes are, in other words, the way by which we accomplish things. Yet, sometimes, we go through a process, only to come to its end without actually accomplishing anything. To state the obvious, that frustration may be a sign of a flawed process. However, it may also indicate a structural problem such as power and authority residing in two entirely different places.

In the non-profit world, it is tempting to think that rewards don’t figure into organizational life. We might wish to believe that people volunteer or serve on staff solely out of their commitment to the mission. But making such an assumption would be a significant mistake. Salaries and benefits are one type of reward, of course, but there are many others as well – such as appreciation, camaraderie, public recognition, and education, just to name a few. The reward system of any organization serves to align the personal goals of those involved with the larger group’s goals. It is prudent to examine whether your system does just that. Or, does it just burn people out?

Finally, there are people. Whether on staff or on the board or in the volunteer corps, people who are properly selected, trained, and supported represent the vitality of any organization and most of us recognize this truth. Yet, how we deal with people doesn’t always square with that recognition. To find and keep the people we most need, it is critically important that our people policies reflect this essential truth.

In the most effective organizations, the points of the star are all connected and bring about a brightness that really is a beacon. However, for example, if we work in an organization whose aim it is to help people realize their greatest potential yet which does little to motivate its own people, then the most ideal structure and processes still cannot compensate for the frustrations which will inevitably cloud over our star’s brilliance.

Weisbord’s six boxes and Galbraith’s five-point start clearly overlap in the concepts they use and yet are different in key respects. Thus they could be seen as conflicting or, if used in combination, at least confusing. However, the two can be used in such a way that they are complementary. The six boxes are an extraordinarily helpful way to sort the information collected when doing an assessment and to identify important issues. The star can then serve to guide re-design efforts which restore the vital brilliance of an organization. And that (as promised last month) is how I see these two theories being coordinated to help us be effective in the work we are called to do.

Peace,

David

od180

Suggested Reading

If you would like to carry to your favorite vacation spot a short book that is useful and also entertaining, my reading recommendation this month is Lincoln on Leadership – Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald Phillips. While Lincoln was familiar with neither the five-pointed star nor the six boxes, he clearly had an innate sense for diagnosing the critical organizational issue and then aligning all the elements of the organization’s life in order to address that issue effectively.