Reflections based on Article & Video
Organizational shrapnel
Organizational Shrapnel
is defined in this article as a state which generates a lot of inefficiencies,
frustrations, errors, in-competencies, and slowdowns in accomplishing tasks in
an organization.
In this frustrating
state people trend to find who is guilty…. but this only creates more confusion.
People feel that there are things that they should not feel responsible to do,
but if they do not do them there will be consequences.It is in this state when most organizations break…and some succeed.
The key factor here is
that all team members have to know (and or trust) that the other members are
all going to succeed in their respective tasks. If, for example, a member does
not play in the same direction, then everything else falls apart. People decide
to do things on their own and there is no team work. Many roads are build
leading to the same point, but they cannot be used.
Examples are:
·
A team works together and defines group
agreements, but a member continually does not abide by these.
·
A decision is made and agreed upon, but
there is no clear implementation plan, or process for feedback and evaluation.
·
A process or procedure is implemented
within the organization, some stakeholder decide to follow it, others decide to
not use it and use an alternative in isolation of the rest of the organization.
·
A collaborative group works together,
but all the actions and follow through are continually done by a few, and
others play lip service to the work but are not participating actively and tend
to block movement in the meeting setting
Collaborating within a
big institution can be quite complicated. If everyone understands what causes
this organizational shrapnel. If there is a system that supports the team work,
if there is an empathetic understanding of the situation, then the whole
organization can work more efficiently.
It is very difficult
to be innovative if every time there is a change the organization collapses and
fails as a team.
Every organization has
some degree of Organizational Shrapnel. The successful ones are the ones that
create an environment where there is a high motivation of all participants
about the situation and the flow of generating innovation continues.
Thank you for your comment, and observations, you bring up some excellent points on this topic. "In this frustrating state people trend to find who is guilty…. but this only creates more confusion." I agree, when organizational shrapnel occurs, the key is to not point towards people, but more thing of it as a group issue, and look at enhancements, say something does not work, how can we support each other to make this work... when egnaging the group or person, start with the phrase how can I help us.... this shifts the focus to the process and not the people in my opinion. The other point you share "an empathetic understanding of the situation, then the whole organization can work more efficiently." to me relates again to the "why" if the narrative, group norms and common direction is collectively bought into, and people make it part of their own narrative, generally in my opinion you decrease the opportunities for organizational shrapnel. Nice reflection.
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