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Equine Alchemy
Article
Using Holographics
By Lisa Murrell
Printed from an article in Consulting Today magazine
In the winter 1997 issue of Consulting Today, Alain Cardon described the concept of holographic diagnosis of organizational issues. In holographic diagnosis, Cardon explained, consultants can develop and check hypotheses about the whole organization from patterns that they observe in a single unit or meeting, much as a hologram provides a picture of the whole from a part. Here's a case study.
An interesting example of the use of holographic in uncovering organizational issues occurred recently in a food-service company. As part of a broader consulting engagement, the consultant took on an assignment coaching the senior executive. It became apparent the executive had a poorly defined partnership with his second in command, the company's president. Their roles were unclear; the chairman could not describe which of them was responsible for which decisions, which for follow up.
Actually, no one in the company seemed certain who was "really" the boss. As a result, decision-making was either impossible or ineffective. Organizational goals were not being meet (one of the reasons for the initial consulting engagement). Employees weren't sure they should carry out decisions from one or the other, so they often didn't follow through on corporate strategies.
| "The same problems were everywhere." |
After discovering this pattern of behavior and it's negative consequences, the chairman and president began work to clearly define roles and responsibilities. The chairman assumed a position of leadership, enabling him and his company to function and to begin to meet their goals.
As the senior executives role became clear, he began to free up energy and time to see more of his organization. He saw that more than one department was experiencing difficulty in meeting their goals. It seemed there was no clear decision making process, and too little follow through with department objectives. A still closer look revealed that the "boss" and the second in command in several divisions were unclear about their respective roles.
Sound Familiar? What was first seen as an unhealthy behavioral pattern for the leader of the organization was clearly a part of the existing system of functioning within the entire organization. The same Problems were everywhere. Holographically, it was possible to see this instantly, and the client saw it as clearly as the coach did.
There was another interesting aspect to the situation. In each case, from the most senior level down, the two "paired" executives were of different genders. If the senior manager was male, the second in command was female, and vise versa. So another organizational pattern came into focus, and perhaps an additional reason for the role confusion.
It was clear what needed to be done. The changes initiated at the top level would be adapted and deployed throughout the organization. The goal was to create a new system, one that enabled decisions to be made, communicated, and implemented. Great Progress has been made. All roles, all chains of command, all communication paths have been clarified.
As a result of these and other interventions, this organization is on its way to a 20% pre-tax profit, which was part of the initial request. In addition, and also important, the client is becoming proficient at diagnosing his organizational challenges holographically.
Be sure to also visit our sister site, Equine Alchemy.
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