Resources
- Leadership Framework [.ppt]
The Leadership Framework for Service Excellence
One good shift deserves another
For a large segment of the global business community the source of value has shifted from tangible assets (physical goods or products) to intangible assets (services, information, relationships, loyalty, influence). Traditional business structures and practices, largely based on a manufacturing metaphor, have not yet responded to this shift in the source of value. The linear manufacturing model where research and development is done in a R&D lab and products are built on a production line has proved its worth in the creation tangible things. The manufacturing approach proves to be woefully inadequate for a services business. The traditional approach lacks the flexibility and customer presence that we need in a services business to dynamically create capability and capacity that is relevant to complex and rapidly changing customer needs. In fact, state of the art manufacturing models have even moved away from the traditional static, linear production models.
Service and support and ultimately all or our customer interaction models have to become more adaptable. Hence the need for the Adaptive Organization, this is an area the Consortium has been working on for a number of years.
The Adaptive Organization proposes a profound shift in thinking about organizational structures and practices.
If we buy into the idea of the "organization as a network" than we must rethink the leadership model; the traditional, manufacturing based linear, management practices that have evolved over the past 100 years in creating physical things are not relevant in a network structure that needs to create intangible things (knowledge, influence, an experience, loyalty). In fact they are disruptive to the goals of the services organization.
A few provocative assertions (mildly overstated to make a point):
- Any conversation about the design of services without the customers present is a waste of time
- Most companies are not worthy of the talent they employee
- Rigid job descriptions and organizational hierarchies guarantees the we will get the lowest common denominator of people's capacity to contribute
- Management evaluation of employees' contribution is a ridiculous notion
- Use of the bell curve for distribution of compensation is not pay for performance it is pay for mediocrity
- Stack ranking of employees is demoralizing and disrupts collaboration
- Control and homogeneity are antibodies for innovation
Organizational structures and management practices stem from our beliefs. Our beliefs are a powerful force in how we perceive the world, and how we see the world drives our attitudes, actions and ultimately our results. If we really want different results we have to work our way back from results and actions to the underlying beliefs.
The leadership framework for service excellence seeks to expose the beliefs that rationalize the traditional business structures and practices and question the validity of those beliefs in the current global, value based economy.
A new leadership framework - A shift that needs to happen in response to a shift that has already happened.
So what's different?
| Traditional model | New model |
|---|---|
| Our productivity | The customer's productivity |
| Control | Alignment |
| Mission statement | Vision |
| Objectives | Purpose |
| Rules | Values |
| Internal • Capacity • Capability |
Network for • Capacity • Capability |
| Kill your competition | Co-opetiton |
| Business stops frequently to reorganize (static) | Business never to reorganize because it never stops reorganizing (adaptive) |