6
The Matrix – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Debra was not in a good mood as she entered Johann's office for their third meeting. One of her colleagues had just been promoted and, although the guy who got it was good, she didn't think he was any better than her. Well, except at one thing, he was always playing politics – sucking up to the more senior guys and volunteering to be on any committee going.
Debra knew the type – went to the same school, belonged to the same club – she didn't have a hope against the kind of connections he had so she might as well give up. It seemed doing a good job just wasn't enough around here. This was exactly what she said to Johann when, after a few minutes settling in, he asked her how to elaborate on her comment of “I've had better days”.
Johann nodded. “So you feel that, no matter what, this guy was always going to get the promotion because he is well connected and sucks up to those who can help him? And there's nothing you can do about it?”
Debra indicated her agreement. Johann went on “OK. I think you have managed to tell yourself the three ‘clever stories’ identified by those guys who wrote that New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations, and I'd like to try to ask you some questions that might help you change perspective. The first one is ‘why would a good person do something like that?’ or, to put it another way, if you look at the behaviour of your peer when he's ‘sucking up’ can you come up with any other explanation for his behaviour?”
Debra thought for a moment. “I suppose he could just be ambitious and very interested in his field.”
Johann added, “Yes. Or he could be in a horrible marriage and wanting to spend as much time as possible at work.”
Debra raised her eyebrows.
“Or he could be under enormous pressure to support three families. Or he could be a suck up of course. The point is we have no way of knowing. Assuming the worst of him doesn't help us work with him. Or think about our part in the situation. Let's try the same question again but, this time, thinking about the hiring managers. Again, assuming they are ‘good people,’ why would senior managers hire anyone other than the most competent?”
“Maybe they're incompetent themselves?” suggested Debra.
Johann smiled. “Absolutely. That's certainly an option. There must be others though?”
“I suppose it is hard to hire people and they can only work on what they know – if they see him performing well and trust him because of their personal connection then I guess it makes sense to go with him.”
“Great. OK. How about this question: ‘what are you not noticing about your role in this situation?’”
Debra reflected. “I suppose I'm back to what we discussed last time – hiding my light under a bushel. I mean, I doubt if any of the people on the hiring committee had even heard of me before the interview process.”
Johann then asked the final question he had learned to help with the three “clever stories” of victim, villain and helplessness. “What can you do now to move towards what you really want?”
“Well, I suppose what I really want is to get the recognition I deserve without feeling like I'm stepping over other people.”
Johann leant forward, “And what's stopping you doing that now?”
“Nothing, I suppose. It just feels a bit, well, ‘slimy’.”
“OK. Try thinking about it like this – you don't have to be nice to people you don't like or think about yourself constantly. Instead you have to find something interesting or admirable about everyone that you can and constantly be looking for ways to help others – at any level of the organization. Does that still sound slimy?”
Debra agreed that it didn't and began to sketch out a number of things she could do to improve her profile and reputation in the organization including volunteering for high-profile projects and addressing networking groups and presenting at conferences.
Johann was pleased but, aware that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” he pushed hard – getting Debra to put in the detail of what, exactly, she was going to do by when and whose help she would need. As her mentor he offered to make a couple of introductions and to work with her on the first presentation.
“Great,” he said. “We've got our first set of actions – let's just confirm that they are SMART before we move on.”
Debra was surprised that such a senior manager was prepared to get into such detail and, noticing this, Johann explained that experience suggested that the couple of minutes spent ensuring the actions to be taken were clearly understood and specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound was worth it in the end as people were more likely to do them.
“So,” he continued. “Did you have a chance to look at the information I sent you? What are your thoughts?”
“Yes, thanks,” Debra replied. “They were very interesting. I suppose my first thought is really a question: everything I read seemed to imply that the matrix presents enormous challenges and, when I look at my own situation that rings true, so I can't really understand why an organization would decide to put a matrix structure in place.”
Johann smiled. “I know what you mean. Working in a matrix is hard but companies often have good reasons to decide on it anyway. To help us work out what they might be – let's define a matrix organization. OK?”
Debra thought before replying. “As I see it, a matrix organization is one where you have more than one person relying on you or, I suppose, where you rely on more than one person. If the person or people you report to day to day are different from the person who you report to on a more formal basis and who directly signs off on your performance review, salary and bonus then you're in a matrix. There are different ‘flows’ of authority – horizontal and vertical – across, for example, geographies, skills and industry.”
She continued: “When you say it out loud like that, it's obvious that would create problems – people don't know where the power lies so they don't know the right thing to do. As a result they are going to waste huge amounts of time going from pillar to post checking in on everyone and getting consensus, or they will go maverick and play only by their own rules or they'll give up. And if you give up in the matrix it's very easy to slip between the cracks as you can play one side off against the other and, mostly, avoid being held accountable!”
“Wow. That seems very bleak. You've spent most of your career working in a matrix organization, right? What might be the pluses of working in a matrix? And have you never seen anyone who managed to get things done effectively and without becoming ‘that guy?’ Sorry that's two questions. Let's take the first one. What might be the pluses of working in a matrix?”
“Assuming a perfect world?” mused Debra. “I suppose it gives me the chance to work on different projects with people from different backgrounds and so learn a lot. In theory I can see a number of different career paths because I've had an opportunity to specialize but also to move up within that specialization and gain other skills by moving geography. I've never been bored at work because there's always a new project to get you out of your routine.
“From a personal perspective the benefit should be that you have a wider network and so the ability to learn, progress and move elsewhere in the world – if my functional boss believes I should be promoted I have 80 countries to look at but if my geographical boss says the same thing then I have to take his job!
“The matrix is a network of knowledge and exposure. It allows sharing of knowledge and can give great intercultural competence as the influences from all sides are visible and you are exposed to different cultural approaches.
“It's also more complex work because you have different stakeholders bringing in views and expectations and you need to find a way to meet best the business expectations but then also work out how to satisfy all the stakeholders. The projects and work can become very challenging and interesting and you have opportunities to be creative. We have to win people over to ideas to promote a good solution. And you get exposure to multiple styles of leadership or at least management one level above you so you can learn from different approaches and styles.”
“Yes,” said Johann. “I know that I've personally moved from specialist to generalist roles in a way that was made easier by working in a matrix. I worked on one project that involved me collaborating and having to persuade a group of different country managers, all of whom had better things to do with their time like their day job, to adopt a new process when half of them didn't even understand why we needed a process at all. I learned a lot about the importance of knowing how to sell ideas and negotiation at that time! I also learned about the need to make the connections and build the relationships before you start knocking on people's doors. It's like when you're a teenager and there were people who you knew to be ‘users’ and you didn't like or trust them. That hasn't changed – we just call it something else or don't mention it at all now. But we still notice!”
Debra was surprised to hear Johann mention something that seemed so personal – she guessed that he hadn't always been so open and decided to ask but, before she could go on, Johann continued.
“Anyway, other good things about working in the matrix?”
“I can't believe I'm saying this as I've seen it work so often in the opposite way but, in theory, it should allow an entrepreneurial culture where there is flexibility: the flexibility to attend to multiple projects simultaneously and adapt the teams in a sort of ‘Mix & Match’ to get things done. It's like having those Lego® pieces and you take the ones you need and slot them into place but it's not permanent.”
“Yes,” said Johann. “In reality, of course, it sometimes works the other way and the flexibility is destroyed because of the time needed to get consensus. As you said before that's when we see the ‘mavericks’ go off and do side or pilot projects outside the matrix which, if they work, are then accepted in the wider organization. I often wonder if we shouldn't explicitly allow this as some other companies do rather than acting surprised every time it happens…”
Debra was interested in this idea but wanted to continue thinking about why the matrix might be chosen by organizations. She continued:
“I suppose there are times when there is no other way of doing things – in order to serve the client we need to have people from a lot of different backgrounds who wouldn't normally work together put in the same place but we still need to be able to manage them.
“And even your point about having to go around to all the stakeholders – OK, it takes time up front but I bet that, when that's done properly, and not just as a box-ticking exercise, anything that's adopted stays adopted over the long term. When experts from different fields get to really work together – when they have a platform where their voices can be heard and they do speak up, but from a position of knowing what the overall objectives are – their contribution is invaluable. That way we get better decisions and, because they belong to everyone, they actually get implemented.”
“And from the point of view of leading a company? Can you see any advantages there?” Johann prompted Debra.
“Well, thinking about it from your point of view, I suppose it must help to have different versions of what is going on and what is important to help you make up your mind on any given decision. If Ahmed was in charge then we'd be entirely focused on stock levels and if it was Colin it would be all about the margin and to hell with quality or getting it to the clients!”
“Exactly, we should be able to get different perspectives – specialist and generalist – I mean, it was a great help to me when I took this role to be able to talk to my counterparts in other countries. There is a real benefit at the organizational level if you have the ability to debate from different perspectives. That's often a big ‘if’ of course as people often don't speak up. But, I know that if I hadn't had a functional boss outside of the region I'd have been more insular, wouldn't have learned so much and wouldn't have had the chances I have had.”
“Yes,” Debra resumed. “And I suppose the matrix should make it easier to build a global pool of talent that is easy to find because, by definition, there should be a map to any skill I'm looking for. For example if I want a guy who specializes in selling widgets in Asia I should be able to find him.”
“Which, in turn, should allow us to serve our client well because we can cater for specific needs.” Johann finished her thought and smiled. “That's a lot of good things that the matrix should bring. Convinced?”
Debra considered. “I understand that. In theory, this is all true but the problems remain. They're not made up – we've all experienced them.”
“Fair enough. The world isn't perfect. But let me go back to my question from earlier – have you ever seen anyone who managed the matrix and got the most out of it? Maybe it wasn't perfect – remember, sadly, the world isn't. But have you ever seen anyone who did it well?”
Debra conceded that she had: “Lots of people, sure.”
“And what did those people have in common? How did they make the most out of the positives of the matrix? How did they manage it well?”
“Well, they were all really well connected, people liked them, you felt like they cared…”
Johann interrupted, “cared about what?”
“Good question. Cared about me and the project. The team and the results. They were always clear on what was wanted and expected and asked for that clarity if it wasn't there so that everyone knew what the objectives were and they spoke up when something wasn't right but in a way that didn't upset other people. They could prioritize properly.”
“And how did they do that?”
“They built great relationships, they were trusted. So they could say the ‘unsayable’ and they knew what was going on so they could make good decisions.”
“And how did they do that?”
There was silence. Debra didn't know the answer to that. How did someone become trusted? How do you build a great relationship?
Johann looked at his watch. “I'm afraid we're out of time. Why don't you take that as your ‘homework’ until our next session – to come up with some ideas about how people build relationships and trust?”
As they were shaking hands Debra thanked Johann for his time and acknowledged that she had some things to think about before their next meeting.
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