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In the ‘Mastering Organizational Complexity and Change’ process many people find the charts below to be helpful.

You can find the full articles for each of them:

Systems-drive-behavior.  Focusing on the system and how the work is done as opposed to personality traits of the people is how to make work and society better.

Examining and learning how to develop organizational systems that attract trust; peoples ability to work with complexity; teams to function and be productive keeping people engaged and wanting to continue to do great work and stay on that team; plus allowing and placing managers in the position of truly adding value to employees, teams, and the organizations…is what will drive continued success for years to come.

I hope you enjoy these charts below are able to determine ways to transfer the ideas and concepts to your organization, team and managerial-leadership.

Trust Attracting vs. Trust Repelling Workplaces

  • Trust defined as – The ability to rely upon others to be truthful and to do as they say, and to follow established rules, procedures and custom and practice. (Elliott Jaques)
Trust Attracting Organizations

Process heavily influenced by trust and acceptance

Trust Repelling  Organizations

Process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear.

· Equal and felt fairness between personal capability to complete great work, current work and compensation.

· Recognition is given appropriately

· Correct distance in knowledge, responsibility, competency between manager and employee.

· Managers are seen as competent and are held accountable for the output of employees.

· Managers are involved in adding value and increasing the ability to make decisions and use judgment of employees.

· Clearly defined accountabilities and structures of how work gets done, who has authority to do what, and what processes should be used for the completion of work.

· Openness of information, and what is happening within the organization.

· Unequal gap between personal capability to complete great work, current work and compensation.

· Excessive bureaucracy and top heavy management structure (too many levels within the organization)

· Absent or non-existent relationship of managers and employees.

· Employees often have no clear understanding of who their manager is.

· Employees often lack clear understanding of what their manager is accountable for.

· Lack of honest sharing of information.

· Instability in what is expected for great work and the path to achieve great work.

· Excessive “Reverse Peter Principal” abuse. Tasks delegated too low in the hierarchy; creating a scape-goat mentality of accountability.

Too Close? Too Far? Just Right? Matching the Manager-Employee Capacity

Too Close in Capacity Too Far in Capacity
· Employee feels their capacity is too close; equal to; or above that of the manager.

· Manager feels employee is too close; or equal to their capacity as a manager.

· Manager feels anxious because he cannot effectively assess the work being done.

· Employee knows nearly as much about the work as the manager does.

· Insufficient scope/context of work being delegated.

· Employee feels manager does not know any more about the work than he does.

· When trouble occurs manager is unable to offer value and ideas that are useful.

· Manager micro-manages

· Employee becomes frustrated because he feels restrained by management.

· Employee will often go to managers-manager for advice and input.

· Manager feels anxious because employee is just as much, or more capable of the manager’s work.

· Employee feels constrained and unable to do their best work.

· Employee seems ineffective.

· Employee involves manager in too many details of the work.

· Manager feels she needs to descend, go into too many details of the work that should be completed by the employee.

· Manager is unable to delegate full-scale responsibilities.

· Manager is too occupied with employees work and becomes overburdened with tasks that should be delegated but could not, and now she has to complete them herself.

· Employee feels manager is too far removed.

· Employee feels anxious and uncomfortable about the work delegated by manager.

· Employee feels like they are taking too great a risk and begin to try to restrain their manager.

· Employee does not feel as helpful as they would like to be.

· Employee is anxious about going to manager for assistance because they feel she will become impatient with their lack of understanding.

· Manager feels constrained and pulled down by employee.

· Employee feels anxious because manager is too distant from them.

Are you a “Big Enough” Manager?

Manager “Too Small” in Competence Manager “Big Enough” in Competence
· Cannot set adequate context of the work.

· Gets involved in too much of the details of how the work gets done.

· Breathes down the subordinates neck.

· Appears to be more comfortable doing the work that the subordinates should be doing.

· Adds NO value to the work of subordinates.

· Inclined to take credit for what goes well.

· Blames subordinates for what goes wrong.

· Sets adequate context of the work.

· Shares how the Managers work, and the delegated tasks “fit” together into the larger Goals of the organization, department, teams.

· Allows a level of autonomy for completion of delegated tasks.

· Knows the time-span of the subordinates work, and lets them get on with their work.

· Offers coaching (when needed)

· Is self-assured enough to do their own work, while leaving subordinates to do theirs.

· Adds value to the work and decisions of others.

· Acknowledges the accomplishments of the team and gives credit, where credit is due.

· Accepts the accountability that it is the manager who is ultimately accountable for the output of the team. If things go wrong, it is the manager’s fault.

Consequences of Too Many Levels of Organization

Consequences of Too Many Levels of Organization
· Employees skipping the chain-of-command.  By-passing their assigned direct manager because of excessively long lines of management.

· Uncertainty as to where your manager actually sits on the org chart. Do you really report to your direct manager, or the one above them? Or even the one above them?

· Managers uncertainty as to where their subordinates actually sit on the org chart? Are you accountable for the output of the staff directly below you, or the ones below them as well?

· Excessive paper / email / voice mail passing up and down too many levels – red tape worms.

· Tight Coupling of Manager to employee

· Feeling that subordinates and management are too close in authority, accountability and work; as shown on the org chart.

· Feeling of organizational clutter;

· Managers “looking over the shoulders / breathing down the necks” of subordinates;

· Too many levels involved in any problem and process;

· Too much interference in just getting work done;

· Not being allowed to do the work at hand;

What do you think?

Looking at the charts and systems-to-drive organizational, team and personal success what would you add? What would supply you with greater value and clarity? How thoughtful are you that ‘the people are fine…we need to examine what about our system turns motivated individuals to de-motivated employees?’

People join companies, and leave managers…Be the reason people stay with your company

Contact Mike today to develop, recruit or train managers that are “Big Enough” to add value to your Organization, and work with each other to move the company and people to achieve their potential.

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