Balance Anyone?

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to work with The Tom Peters Company. Tom and his words were a lightning rod for mine. If you are not familiar with his work, I suggest a little homework here.

While working with the organization, we would crisscross the country, and sometimes the world, to share our leadership thoughts with whoever wanted to listen. (Well, sort of, they did have to pay.)

Working with people shoulder-to-shoulder for weeks at a time in far off locations creates strong bonds. In other words, we became friends. We still connect as often as possible. When we meet there are many laughs about “the good old days” and a few adult beverages. (Okay, more than a few.)

Two of the folks I rubbed shoulders with were Richard King and Madeline McGrath of Tom Peters Co./United Kingdom. Late last year, they conducted a Webinar I was fortunate to attend. In it, they were unwrapping a new product: The Future Shape of the Winner™. I really like what this product could do for people and their organizations. After the webinar, I asked Madeline to write something up about FSW for you. Take a look; let me know what you think. I’d be glad to make the introduction.

Work that matters…

By Madeline McGrath, Tom Peters Co./UK

Now, of all times, surely every business needs every person on their payroll to be doing the best work of their lives?

American author Tom Peters coined the mantra, Work that Matters, several years ago. His premise is that when you can create situations in which people are doing Work that Matters, it creates a virtuous circle that ends up being good for everyone. For the employer, because the individual is doing great work the value that is being added to the business is optimum. For the customers, they benefit from the output of the effort of these switched-on employees. And for the employee, they feel their work is important, and this makes their work life personally and professionally more rewarding.

So far, so good; but how do we pull that off? What is the magical combination of conditions that can set you up for success?

Over the last 20 years, the Tom Peters Company’s experience of helping companies to achieve Excellence has led us to the conclusion that most development initiatives are a bit of a struggle. Whether you focus on intangible subjects like leadership, or service, or on the other hand you focus on more tangible topics like business structure or process improvement, there is always the concern that the prevailing culture will somehow get in the way. We all do our best to come up with strategies and tactics to overcome this ‘resistance to change’, but bringing about genuine change always feels like swimming against the tide.

Surely there must be a game-changing solution to this dilemma?

We think we have a promising solution in our newest organization model, The Future Shape of the Winner™.  Although the model is new, the thinking behind it is not. It draws on the work of Tom Peters, who has been advocating for many years that we learn from the best of the Professional Service Firms to create organisations that are designed to release the talents of their people.

In The Future Shape of the Winner™, we re-frame six of the seven aspects of any organisation - Ambition, Performance, Brand, Customer Experience, Architecture and Execution - so that they focus on the impact that they have on the behaviour of the seventh Element, Talent. Let’s be clear about this, it is not about creating organisations that are fun theme parks for employees – it’s about creating a context for people in which the outcome of what they do is the best work of their lives. And when they are doing the best work of their lives, people justify being called Talent. You’ll recognise all of the characteristics you would expect to find in an organizational model (vision, values, performance targets, projects, processes, organization structures etc). But you will see each described with a different emphasis. For example, when it comes to your business Architecture, to what extent are people organised in ways that enable them to be productive by networking, sharing knowledge, and having minimum bureaucracy to get in the way of doing great work.

The Future Shape of the Winner™ is a dynamic model in which all of the seven elements connect through their relationship with the central Talent element. We use as our metaphor a gyroscope; an instrument that helps to set direction, and remains stable when there is alignment around the core axis, and when the remaining elements are all balanced and rotating.

We have found that the gyroscope metaphor can help to explain why achieving change in organizations is so difficult; if you attempt to change the status quo in one part of the gyroscope, in order for the organization to stay in balance there must be equivalent changes in other dimensions of the organization/gyroscope.

All very interesting, but how can The Future Shape of the Winner™ help leaders in the tough times that most businesses face at the moment? FSW is all about transformations. So, the ideal scenario would be a group that needs to make a breakthrough of some kind – perhaps in finding new markets or new products, getting more output from reduced resource or to avoid their work being outsourced to a cheaper service provider.

Diagnosing the status quo against the seven element FSW model enables a business leader to come up with a much more holistic approach to the changed performance that is needed. The ideal method of analysing the situation would be the FSW’s bespoke audit instrument, known as the Excellence Audit™. This is accessible via the Tom Peters Company, and will provide a detailed analysis of your present status against the FSW model, and identify the aspects of the organization that people most believe need to change. A focused change strategy can then be created.

And if you’d like to talk to an associate about how FSW and the Excellence Audit might help you, please contact Robert or us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we’ll put you in touch with one of our associates.

The Offsite Book Club…NEW

I had a great conversation with Kelly from Chicago the other day. We were talking about a situation at her workplace and what, if anything, could be done to save the day. I love those conversations.

But what really struck me was her opinion about my book, The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable. She hadn’t finished it yet, but shared with me her disconnect with Abby, one of the key characters in the book. She found the potential intimate relationship with Charlie inappropriate. Even though it is clear that Abby and Charlie are single, she found it distracting that a relationship (while at work) was being used as a device in a business book. (I’ve also heard that The Offsite is the best business book to take to the beach hands-down. Go figure.)

It was the first time anyone had ever given me feedback from that perspective. Kelly, at first, thought she was offending me but I quickly assured her that was not the case. I asked her to please continue to read the book and then re-connect with me. She promised to do so.

I receive far more positive feedback from the tense relationship between Abby and Charlie than many of the learning elements in the book (I’m not sure that’s a good thing), so I was pleased to have the conversation with Kelly. Most everyone who reads the book wants to know what happens. Does she or doesn’t she? (You will find out in the sequel…maybe.) (No, don’t ask when…too much pressure.)

But her question was the springboard to a new Leadership Path feature: The Offsite Book Club.

Many of you are informing me you are creating mini-book clubs at work after reading The Offsite. You are using the characters and their exploits to discuss how their situations might be relevant to your life and workplace. I urge you to continue the practice as the continuing saga of Sam, Gwen, Joe and the gang can provoke some cool stuff. Those conversations are helpful I’m sure. I would love to hear some details too.

So, that is what The Offsite Book Club is about. Each month I will answer questions I’ve received, plus pass on any comments, from you, the readers, for all of us to learn from.

So, let’s use Kelly’s concern as a starting place. In the Introduction to the book, I made it clear that the characters began speaking to me in a variety of ways. While writing the book, I did not plan a relationship between Charlie and Abby, it just seemed to work out that way.

But Abby’s situation and her conflict speaks volumes. She is the consummate executive consultant who is dedicated to her profession, very passionate. Yet, like all of us, she is flawed. Even though she teaches the principles of leadership, she has just as much of a problem with it as her students do. Very human, indeed.

She pines intellectually for a personal relationship that is stable but her heart seems to say otherwise. Can anyone relate? Do you ever find yourself conflicted between something you think you should do versus something you know you want to do?

Do you stick with the safe and stay away from the cutting edge? Do you hear yourself saying the same old thing but the little voice inside is begging for new? Do you do what you love or do you repeat your script of fear until the urge to breakout of the pack passes? 

What is your thinking around this struggling relationship metaphor? Now is the time to share. Your comments just might influence where it goes from here.

Only the best may apply

Last year we participated with Winning Workplaces to help find the Top Small Workplace of 2008. We’re back at it again.

This program is a collaborative effort between Winning Workplaces and The Wall Street Journal. The are looking for exceptional independent organizations with no more than $200 million in annual revenue, 500 or fewer employees and have been in business at least five years.

Does your organization meet the criteria? Do you dare find out if you’re good enough?  The selection process includes the following: Nominations are due by January 30, 2009; Nominees will be sent an online application link in February; Completed applications are due March 2; Finalists will be selected in April.

The Top Small Workplaces will be announced in a Wall Street Journal Report on Small Business on September 28 with those named being honored at a conference in Chicago on October 1-2.

If you want to take a peek at the 2008 winners, check them out here.

Winning Workplaces is a not-for-profit providing consulting, training and information to help small and midsize organizations create great workplaces.

I urge every one of you who works with or knows about a firm that might fit the criteria to Step Up to the challenge. If you or they are not ready then perhaps a call to Madeline might help.

Next Month

There’s no reason your New Year’s resolutions need to begin and end in January. What will you do differently this year to get different results? From leadership fitness to physical fitness and how you inform your day-to-day life…we’ll offer up some new ways to recommit and create a new Set Point for your life. Stay tuned..