Strategies for Organization Design

10Teaming

“We learned that individual expertise did not distinguish people as high performers. What distinguished high performers were large and more diversified personal networks.”

—Robert L. Cross, The Hidden Power of Social Networks (2004)

I was working on a challenging project with a complex global client operating in more than 100 countries with about 40 regional chief executive officers (CEOs). Each of these CEOs ran their region as a separate business with financial independence. In order to reduce costs and protect the global brand, the organization was attempting to implement a global set of standards, anchored on a standard technology. Each of the regional leaders had a slightly different client base and operating model, and each had slightly different perspectives on the importance of the global initiative. There were also legacy differences between the regional leaders (e.g., France and the United States) that made some of the interpersonal relations challenging.

As part of the program, our team highlighted all the key decisions that had to be made and where a consistent approach to process or technology had to be agreed upon. We then attempted to bring the leaders together to align on these big decisions but found we could not get out of the gate without the conversation devolving into a focus on differences. What was even more challenging was that no one actually had to agree—they could continue operating in silos without much in the way of negative repercussions. ...