Matrix Management 2.0™
There's a barbecue joint near my house. The barbecue is fantastic and the business is hugely successful. People line up for the barbecue an hour before the place opens. The restaurant's menu is focused on one key offering - the barbecue -and a couple of accompanying menu items - potato salad and cole slaw.
There's not much else on offer - no other sides, meat, or alcoholic beverages. The business is kept as simple and focused as possible, and it works well. This, however, is an exception, rather than the rule. Most businesses have no choice but to be complex.
"Successful change, even small in scale, creates momentum and helps bring people on board. Leaders gravitate toward limited-risk environments, and a small initiative with a maximized chance of success is a great way to start."
Problems, pain points, challenges… Let’s talk about the good stuff, the happy feelings, that great job you had where camaraderie ruled and things got done. What’s the key? Collaboration! We asked a few of our clients and partners to talk about what collaboration feels like when it’s embraced.
“We’re asking clients to change the way they think about how they are organized, what accountability looks like, how they set priorities and measure productivity, and, scariest of all, how their power structures look. That’s asking them to take a deep dive in a world where the trend is to just dip your toe in and call it “change management.”
Failure is frustrating. Failure to solve the same problem repeatedly – even more so! This is the story of a nonprofit membership association we’ll call ABC, and how Matrix Management 2.0 could help them solve a cross-functional problem, improve member satisfaction, prevent frustration and extra work, and ensure that their processes are benefiting the organization.
We're accustomed to looking at organizations as vertical structures with "org" charts and reporting relationships, so it's no wonder that when we look for solutions to matrix challenges, we look for them in this vertical dimension.
This month we are looking at the concept of matrix maturity – the ongoing growth and optimization of an organizational matrix as its members develop a deeper understanding of their roles within it. As a case in point, we offer the Grocery Manufacturers Association – a trade association headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Many organizations and leaders have heard about “matrix management” and are eager to learn more. They are embracing the fact that a matrix needs to be managed differently, and leadership teams are ready to begin incorporating matrix concepts into their organizational strategy, but they don’t always know where to begin.
Are you leading a medium to large-sized organization with multiple business strategies? If so, you are operating in a matrix, and effectively pursuing more than one business strategy simultaneously requires matrix maturity. Matrix-mature organizations use an up-to-date organizational operating system.
Even with the most competitive business strategy, if you want to win the game, you need the most effective organizational operating system.
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This introductory book will teach you the basics of the MM 2.0™ management operating system for improving any matrix organization.