Don’t Forget the Overlap.

One of the best and most usable graphs I
have run across in all the books and
reference materials is the graph below. This
graph is full of information, so lets pull
apart a few areas that will help you know
and in the future. Each department,
division or company must depend on
having the right people in the right place,
doing the right tasks, and controlling their
area of assignment. In the best companies,
people are providing work that
corresponds to the future and direction of
the company. Front-line staff work on daily
tasks that affect a week’s worth of work.
CEO’s must look into the future, at least
10-15 years, and decide on the vision and
direction of the company. If someone in
the line-up is missing, you can see what
short or long-term assignments will be
missing. The best running companies
ensure that great minds are aggressively
pursuing daily to multiple year activities
and written visions. Progress comes at all
levels, so each is extremely important to
the overall success.
An important visual on the graph is the
small overlap that occurs for each position.
Think about your current job and how you
learn from the person above, or instruct to
the person below. Wisdom, experience,
and personal growth, let alone the
company flexibility, all extend from this
area. As I have said before, it is everyone’s
responsibility to teach or mentor. This
graph shows the connectivity and
importance of doing just that.

Action:
1. Review the graph and think of
organizations that have or not have people
situated to encompass daily thru the long-
term. Can you think of gaps in their
strategic initiatives?

2. How does your organization line up with
the graph? Where are you and what
knowledge and thought process will you
need to move up?

3. Once you find “you” on the graph, ask
yourself if you grow with the overlap to
your supervisor/mentor? And, do you
develop those below you?

Don’t just think outside the box,
create new ones

' box” a manager says
to a team member.
When was the last time you had your own
thought for the company, or even better
yet, for yourself?
Thinking outside the box to us means
taking a step back and not letting the
limitations of the current influence ALL your
work.
Another way to look at this is being
maximally creative.
Can you step back far enough from your
current activities and thoughts to really
brainstorm outside the box?
Unfortunately, this can be quite hard for
many people to do. We get so caught up in
the assumptions and limitations of our
day-to-day work that it can be very difficult
to get outside this “box”. There is also a
significant amount of risk in proposing
“outside the box” ideas. Will they be
accepted? Rejected? Laughed at?
There is a quote from Robert H Schuller
that asks, “What great thing would you
attempt if you knew you could not fail?”
In our opinion the risk and associated fear
of failure are both functions of the “box”.
As long as your ideas are tied to the
current situation, even if they’re outside it,
there will be this inherent stress.
Only by breaking from the limitations and
assumptions of the current situation can
you experience the free-flowing creativity
that generates true innovation. Therefore
we say:

“Don’t just think outside the box, create
new boxes!”

How?

Action: Flipping Assumptions Exercise

One way to create a new box is to
brainstorm as if your situation was the
exact opposite.

For example:

√ Issue: We need more revenue

√Element
s of the
current
box:
1. Our organization is
an academic non-
profit
2. There are many
layers of bureaucracy
to work through for
new projects
3. There is very little
money for new-
project development

√Element
s of the
opposit
e box:
1. Our organization is a
for-profit corporation
2. The structure is flat
and streamlined for
new pro
jects
3. There is a healthy
project development
budget
Ideas: Poll staff for new
project ideas
Have a new project
contest
Find new markets/
applications for
existing products and
services

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