Corporate Explorer Fieldbook

CHAPTER 15Explore Unit: How to Build a Team for Exploration

Christine Griffin, Erich Kruschitz, and Andrew Binns

RHYTHM OF EXPLORE

Ambidextrous organizations, like the one at AGC described in Chapter 14, separate the work of Corporate Explorers from the rest of the business. This gives the Explorer autonomy to operate outside existing corporate rules, while remaining close enough to the core business to leverage corporate assets to scale a fledgling business.

However, separation alone is not enough. The explore unit is also managing a business with a different operating rhythm. The existing business is seeking to optimize performance within a set of known variables. In contrast, a Corporate Explorer's task is to de‐risk the company's investments in future growth opportunities. It requires a different organizational approach to manage the exploratory operating rhythm.

There are five elements to designing an organizational approach for an exploratory unit:

1. Purpose. What is the explore unit expected to achieve; what is its ambition?
2. Resource allocation. How are exploratory units funded?
3. Decision making. How will the organization make decisions about capital and resource allocation?
4. Team. How do you structure the unit and recruit a winning team?
5. Operating model. What does the team do; how does it structure its work?

This chapter offers guidance on how to answer these questions and provides the example of SanusX, an explore unit set up by the European insurance company, UNIQA. ...