Episode #26 - Making the System the Star

Jay;

Organizations are a well balanced network of people, process and systems. One of the more complex systems goes by the name “team”. Sometimes we forget that teams are a strategic method for achieving results faster. The Ken Blanchard adage, “No one of us is as smart as all of us” aptly applies.

When properly chartered with norms, decision making, values, roles, etc. a team can better pursue the clear vision, mission and goals in front of them. There will always be individual contribution, but the high performing team wins or fails as a team.

Even if it’s just a man and a dog, as the story goes. The man’s role being to feed the dog, the dog ensuring the man doesn’t touch the wrong button. Systems are only as good as the people running them.

Hi Jay,
This episode got me thinking about the co-op I did some work with this year. There were no “stars” there as the field was leveled by almost everyone there being a worker-owner. But I wouldn’t say the coop system is the star either. It’s simply a way of organizing the business that reflects the core principles of the worker-owners: empowerment, fairness, transparency, etc.