Building Versatility

Leading an organization through its evolutionary stages - and from one market environment to the next - is a little like voyaging to South America in a sailboat.  Much is known about the journey, and a great deal can be planned for in advance.  During the trip there are charts to follow, landmarks to watch for, and reliable methods to help you stay on course.  Solid knowledge of your craft will help you to steer in the right direction, avoid potential dangers, and adjust your course as needed.

At some point in your journey, however, conditions will become unpredictable and potentially deadly.  Your knowledge of your craft, the waters you are in, and the experience of others who have made similar journeys will all help you make your way through the worst of these conditions.

Conditions are always changing - sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly and with little warning - in any business environment.  As a leader, therefore, you need to always be ready and able to change what you do and how you do it based on your organization's current circumstances.

Thus far, for the sake of clarity, I've approached organizational roles as if each of us is, by nature, unalterably either a ruler, warrior, hunter, or pioneer manager.  In real life, things are not always this simple.  On the one hand, there certainly are some managers who are classic examples of the four archetypes.  On the other, many of us are hybrids - or, at least, able to function according to more than one management style.  For example, you might be a natural warrior with strong hunter tendencies, or a pioneer with some ruler ambitions and talents, or someone who functions best near the borderline between a frontier and a jungle.

Whatever your natural talents and inclinations, it is to your (and your organization's) benefit for you to learn a variety of management styles, skills, and techniques.  Your goal should be to become ever more versatile, ever more able to alter your management approach to suit the current circumstances.  

Your organization will fight many different kinds of battles, and what you need to accomplish on one day may differ greatly from what you need to do the next.  While few managers can be total chameleons, stretching the limits of your style can only make you more effective.

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Business Matching ProcessTwo Journeys - A Product and an Organization The chart below once again plots the journey that personal computers took through the four market archetypes.  It also plots the journey that one particular PC manufacturer might have taken as its leaders responded to changes in the market: Read More Maintaining Organizational Balance Organizational zones indicate how well an organization is doing in its appropriate market environment, and reflect its current cultural and operational conditions. Read More Steering Your Organization Through Turbulent Waters No organization stays in one place on the archetype grid forever.  It will be pulled in a variety of directions by both internal and external forces.  Most organizations that enter the pioneer quadrant, for example, do not stay there very long - normally from a few months to a few years.  The wise leader knows both where their organization is on the grid and in what direction it is moving.  They can then take steps to influence that direction and/or to prepare the organization for the market situation it will soon encounter. Read More Charting Your Organizational Journey It is possible to generalize about the key issues, general goals, and major difficulties that each of the four types of organizations most needs to grapple with.  Here is a breakdown of what these look like: Read More Building Versatility Leading an organization through its evolutionary stages - and from one market environment to the next - is a little like voyaging to South America in a sailboat.  Much is known about the journey, and a great deal can be planned for in advance.  During the trip there are charts to follow, landmarks to watch for, and reliable methods to help you stay on course.  Solid knowledge of your craft will help you to steer in the right direction, avoid potential dangers, and adjust your course as needed. Read More