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In the first team meeting with people from multiple divisions,
the consultants presented a visual tetrahedron model. Similar
models had been used for applications ranging from organizational
change, business planning, corporate mission development
and product design. The four corners of this model represented
desired future state, cultural enabers/impediments, structure,
and strategy. Using this tetrahedron model shown in Figure
1 (which will be described later in the chapter), the group
was able to identify the sequence of questions and tasks
they should address as a team. The information generated
by this process gave the consultants a sense of the preferred
future for the new business as well as the technology that
was being developed and introduced. Additionally, the questions
the team addressed (in a facilitated dialogue format) helped
them to identify cultural enablers, impediments, strategy,
structures, technology architecture and potential “show
stoppers.”
The
actual questions were:
-
What
constitutes business success? What is the highest vision
that you can have in terms of shared vision for this
business? Where can you demonstrate sustained leadership?
-
What
are the cultural enablers and impediments that would
accelerate or impede our progress
towards the shared vision?
-
What
are the core incompetencies (this concept will be addressed
below) integral to this culture that should have our
attention? How do we overcome those incompetencies to
make this business successful?
-
What
is the structure that would make sense for this business?
What do we need to keep in mind while generating appropriate
governance structures?
-
What
is the strategy that would take into account the business
model of Company X? How do we leverage the external
partners in buying into our technology and create win-win?
The
answers to the above questions were elicited from the group
in a facilitated dialogue. Consultants facilitated three
dialogue sessions; and the conversations were reported to
be very useful for the team. They understood what worked
in Company X, what didn't, how they could go about changing
the rewards and recognition for different roles (like sales
person vs. customer service engineer vs. product development
engineer) and finally the ways in which they could streamline
their business processes to come up with a successful new
kind of business.
Each
of the questions considered in the dialogue sessions led
to detailed and meaningful responses from the team members.
For example, a question on the company's vision led to “"successful
adoption of Company X technology as the industry standard"”
as the definition of business success. They defined the
desired outcomes, market opportunities, and what they could
do to become the industry leader. The ideas around governance,
sharing the vision with people on the front line and enrolling
them in it, the execution style that would increase the
return on investment in the current market place with their
competitors and partners etc. were raised and addressed
to the best of their abilities. This question was similar
to what is asked in preferred futuring approach used by
Ron Lippitt.
Similarly,
conversations around culture led to identifying enablers,
impediments, root causes, and how they could establish appropriate
policies, procedures, and rewards and recognition systems
to make their new business successful. There were also discussions
about how decisions were made, the execution style of senior
managers, sales people, customer support representatives,
partners etc. They examined when to hold on to a point of
view and when to let go as well as how much will power they
would need to push appropriate people to make timely decisions,
release budgets etc.
Questions
about the organizational structure led to discussions of
product architecture, solution architecture, customer support
structures, channel-related issues, how people could be
motivated or de-motivated, and how, who and when decisions
were made etc.
Finally,
strategy-related questions led to a smaller group of people
getting together to develop a better understanding of their
ecosystem needs. They examined the market realities, customer
needs, partner interests, technology advantages, product
readiness and overall strategic design that could help them
to succeed in their business and emerge as a leader. This
process led to creating a strategy part of the business
model with four cornerstones: Customer, Technology, Partners
and the Company X. (See Figure 2.)
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