I’ve found that many of the tools from the LEAN / Six Sigma toolkit also help clients understand and address some of the more difficult and subjective aspects of organizational change and effectiveness. Creating and using “models” can accelerate understanding and transformation.

One simple and versatile tool has been the SIPOC approach to modeling systems. SIPOC Stands for Supplier, Input, Process, Output and Customer. We use variations of this tool to help clients improve meeting effectiveness, to “block out” major change initiatives and to plan and refine restructuring activities.

In this entry I’ll show why this tool has proven to be an excellent, deliberate and “scientific” approach to model, characterize and improve leadership team functioning. This approach provokes thought, organizes action and takes what is often perceived as a “soft” and “touchy-feely” space and translates it into a more of a science. This translation from art to science is greatly appreciated by many leaders.

I will dedicate a few entries to laying out how SIPOC can be applied to improving leadership team functioning. Through these next several entries, I’ll focus on the IPO parts of the sIPOc modeling approach. If you can't wait for my entries and are intrigued or want to understand this approach more quickly, please contact me.

The graphic below is a notional example of the leadership teaming process with some "place-holder" examples of Inputs, Processes and Outputs. In subsequent entries I’ll highlight, differentiate and clarify each part of the IPO. Over the years we have developed specific tools, processes and interventions that help clients improve every aspect of this model.



Below are some of the leadership team effectiveness issues that this process can help raise, make accessible, organize and address. The best way to tackle this is to work the model backwards, from customers to suppliers.
• Who are the CUSTOMERs / CONSUMERs of our collective leadership? Who depends on our collective effectiveness?
• What OUTPUTs or deliverables are important to these customers / consumers? How would they rank the importance of these deliverables? How would they rate our performance on these deliverables? Do we have critical to customer measures or indicators in place that let us know how well we are performing in these important areas?
• How effective is our teaming PROCESS? Where do we need to improve our process to make the most of our inputs and fulfill our outputs / deliverable effectively.
• What Inputs do we require to perform effectively as a team? Is there a relationship between the quality / clarity of our inputs and our ability to deliver our outputs?

If you are comfortable and think it might be useful, you can use this model to generate discussion and highlight opportunities for improving team functioning. Ask your team; In what elements of this model (pick two or three) are we particularly strong? Ask them to identify some examples or be able to substantiate their selections. Talk it through and discuss. See how universal and shared these perception are. Ask the team and generate discussion around; What must be maintained or continued or in order to maintain these strengths?

Then ask your team; In what elements of this model (pick two or three) are we struggling and need to improve or address? Ask them to identify some examples or be able to substantiate their selections. Talk it through and discuss. See how universal and shared these perception are. Ask the team and generate discussion around the priority and or relationship of these areas and see if and what ideas for improvement emerge.

If your leadership team is facing significant change or transformation it can be useful to develop an "as-is" IPO and then a "to-be" IPO that clarifies what will and must change. Any change or transformation will shift the output requirements of the team. If the outputs change, then so too must either the inputs and or the processing of the team.

When working with leadership teams, we facilitate a dialogue around this approach prior to any sensing or diagnostic work. This facilitated team discussion helps all of us clarify issues and define the issues and outcomes that must be realized through teambuilding.

Living in Michigan, I don’t get goose bumps when it’s cold out anymore. I do get bumps when I hear really good music and when I get to thinking, talking and consulting in Team Based Management- sick, but true. The reason for the bumps is that I cannot think of any other single change that has the transformative potential of TBM. I've witnessed TBM transform businesses and perhaps more importantly, contributors at all levels.

Why is TBM so powerful?

• Based on Sound Beliefs & Values. A central principle of TBM is to aggressively tap into and cultivate the talents and skills of contributors at the point of execution. TBM means believing; 1) That the people who do the work are the experts. 2) That by putting into action the values of participation, inclusiveness, collaboration and involvement, people in teams will take ownership of jobs / goals and feel more fulfillment at work. 3) Ownership of jobs and goals leads to significant improvements in performance.

• Power of Adaptive Systems. The capability to rapidly learn and make connections is what makes teams such powerful adaptive systems. This is one reason why TBM has a difficult time thriving as a pilot project or when implemented in a limited way. The “host” organization of the pilot / limited implementation simply cannot keep up; the teams peter out, run out of runway or end in a flop of frustration. To take advantage of the adaptive power of TBM, teaming must be across-the-board and up-and-down. The quality of teaming is critical at every level, especially at the top.

• Enduring Value. TBM creates many natural opportunities for real-time, work focused learning and development. While the value of learning and development can be hard to quantify, there is value there and it’s hard to argue against the importance. Also, most organizations naturally recognize the value of teamwork in response to crisis; self inflicted or externally caused. How is it so easy and natural to tap into the value of teamwork during a crisis? For many, it feels better not to be alone in a crisis and teamwork creates opportunities for dynamic and diverse support. A crisis often demands a comprehensive view and a well functioning team can ward off myopia and bring much needed perspective. A crisis often requires quick action and not only can teams learn and make connections at a rapid rate, but “many hands make light work”.

“Crisis-response” teamwork has only temporary value. Imagine the value that could be tapped into if teamwork were more the rule rather than the exception?

TBM and transforming toward a Team Based Organization should be a strategic decision and not entered into lightly. TBM is a big change. A big change in corporate values, culture, systems, structure, leadership, etc. With the right strategic challenges, TBM may provide you with the speed, processing power and rate of learning required achieve a distinct competitive advantage.

What experience do you have of TBM? What do you feel are the determining factors of success?

Organizational Culture.
I’ve watched the understanding and application of organizational culture go from relatively unknown and novel to an acknowledged and necessary element of organizational functioning and advantage. We’ve worked hard with our clients to help them understand culture, why it is important, how to work with it, manage it and transform it. After all these years it is still a very stimulating topic to discuss, define, operationalize or apply.

Just because organizational culture is a powerful force, and it is, does not mean it’s easy to define or apply as a construct for change. One technique to better understanding the dynamics and nature of organization culture is to compare it with other powerful forces, like Weather or Gravity.

We use this technique in our LEAD program, Culture Change Workshop and Culture Kaizen events. Weather and gravity work well because they are powerful forces which, like culture, we tend to take for granted... until they can no longer be ignored. Admittedly, these two forces also work because most of the leaders we work with are not physicist of meteorologists. This comparative technique helps make organizational culture accessible and relevant to leaders.

When we challenge leaders to compare the dynamics and nature of organizational culture to the dynamics and nature of gravity and weather we get some wonderfully insightful responses.

The shared spaces between Culture and weather tend to be:
• Both weather and culture influence our behaviors and habits.
• Both weather and culture are the result of many different elements interacting dynamically.
• Both weather and culture are attractive to and affect people differently.
• Overtime, most will adapt to both.
• Both weather and culture affect our moods and how we feel about the things we do.
• Both get talked about a great deal around the water cooler.
• Neither are universal and both can vary from location to location.
• With a focus on the immediate and near term, both can feel unpredictable and chaotic.
• With a historical and long term view both have definite and predictable trends, ebbs and flows.
• Transformative change in either is often precipitated by significant events which emerge rapidly,    exponentially and sometimes out of the “blue”.
• And finally, to position oneself as a credible expert in either is just plain asking for it.

I am most interested in your comments and additions to the list above.

I also ask you to help finish this “around about” way of defining and understanding organizational culture by contributing your ideas on how the nature and dynamics of Organizational Culture and gravity are similar. Please post a comment, question or idea.

I will continue to write on this topic, further defining culture, providing case studies and guidance on culture change.

This site is intended to provide visitors with information, perspective, tools and guidance in the areas of leadership, team and organizational effectiveness. Leaders at all levels as well as those in the “development” (HR, consulting, etc.) community may find this a useful place to visit, to reenergize, tool up and hone their skills.

There will be a number of sources that the information and content on this site will come from. Some content may come from our established programs such as LEAD, Leadership Skill & Style Development, Team Based Management, Respect & Recognition, etc. There are categories on this site for you to choose from. I have highlighted these categories in bold type face below.

Client Highlights and client service summaries or case studies provide a great deal of insight and will be found here.

I learn a great deal, about what works and what doesn’t every week. On this site you will also get to share in and learn from my experiences and lessons learned as facilitator of change, leadership and team effectiveness. Some topics/categories that I find particularly energizing, have regular experiences with and have a lot to contribute on are:
• Organizational Culture and Climate.
• Leadership.
• Teams, Teambuilding, Team Based Management (TBM).
• Organizational Change: concepts, tools, theories, application, experiences, etc.

Finally, as a visitor, I ask that you contribute information and give us all the benefit of your experience as well as pose questions to guide the focus and content of this site.

Change. A simple word with just one syllable and a straight-forward meaning: “to make into a different form.” But, in organizations, that simple word represents a complex series of events that, if not managed properly, can spin a company into chaos. It is an undeniable fact that change drives business.

Companies have been expanding, down sizing, re-engineering, and going global. Whatever the cause, the reality is that all companies have been, and will continue to be, touched by change. Some of this change will be evolutionary. Some will be revolutionary. Regardless of how change comes about, the way it is led and managed determines the level of success companies will enjoy as the 21th century unfolds.

Our mission at the General Systems Consulting Group and LEAD Institute is to assist our clients in leading and managing change, helping them to make their organizations more productive and better places in which to work.

Over the past thirty years we’ve provided consulting and change management services to such companies as Raytheon, General Dynamics, Ford, Honda, Siemens, ABB, Autoliv, AT&T, Eaton, Glaxo Smith Kline, Motorola, NASA, NIST, First Energy, DHL, BWXT & McDermott, Lucent, Pall and Estee Lauder, to name just a few. Because of the depth and breath of our consulting experiences, we’ve developed and integrated, client centered approaches to change management. The four corner stones of the services we provide lay within the areas of Leadership Development, Team Development, Strategic Organizational Development and Training & Education. Because ours is an integrated, holistic approach, it allows us to design change processes that fit our client’s needs and deliver real value to them.