What Really Matters
Finding it hard to locate the source of a problem at work or in your life? You may benefit from What Really Matters, designed to discover the root cause of the ills facing you.
Caleb and the Girl from Berkeley
A true story with the details changed to protect the guilty
The company’s organisation chart looked like the meanderings of a drunken spider. People in Beijing reported – on the famous ‘dotted line’ – to people in Zurich even though their Regional boss was in in Bangkok. Some technical staff had a close working relationship with others in Melbourne. Financial control emanated from Lichtenstein while the Global Head of Sales was based in Hawaii. With Skype all things are possible?
Beverley, a financial genius according to her tutors at a prestigious business school, was precipitated into China without Mandarin, with some, but not much, experience of China and with a six year old daughter by a now-long-since-gone father. Her brief: “Sort it out but do not change any of the reporting lines. Head office says they are sacred.” She approached the job with trepidation and enthusiasm.
After several meetings she came to us for help. Her boss in Lichtenstein flatly refused to back her suggestion of a thorough overhaul and simplification. He claimed exhaustion and a dislike of Zurich. In truth he was frightened of both. She was getting little cooperation from anyone in authority – and amused observation from colleagues who had wrestled with the problem for the past eighteen months. She needed guidance on the best way to handle the matrix organisation and achieve results.
Terrific Mentors collaborated with her to perform an extensive and timely root cause analysis, and we collectively discovered the real Heart of the Matter. In the background of this overwrought and complex organisational structure there was a struggling and demoralised accountant. His apathy and lack of engagement was snowballing across the business causing lost opportunities, inaccurate reporting and was inadvertently jeopardising the company’s financial structure across the entire Pacific Region. He was the Heart of the Matter.
Beverley got alongside Caleb, discovered his problem and helped him solve it. In return he cooperated.
Recognizing What Really Matters can be critical to the future growth and success of a company – or of an individual’s growth and success within that company. Sometimes, this realisation is enough to help the corporate or the individual bring about positive changes at work. Sometimes a little more help is needed.
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