Work the Problem was about understanding what a management system is and referenced Managed by Morons. This post’s about a new book and why you need to re-think your management system.
I just finished Wiring the Winning Organization and it’s definitely worth a read!
Since I added a short video clip in Work the Problem which summarized what a management system is I’ve included another one titled, The importance of Management Systems in this post to highlight why management systems are so critical today.
I loved how the authors used the term social circuitry …
“This is the overlay of processes, procedures, norms, and routines, the means by which individual efforts are expressed and integrated through collaboration toward a common purpose.”
– Wiring the Winning Organization, Gene Kim and Steven J, Spear
This is quite consistent with USM’s view of the 3 types of routines (processes, procedures and work instructions). There were many more synergies with the USM method.
While Wiring the Winning Organization seemed to order layers differently than USM, this is not significant. More interesting to me was that they relate well to USM:
- Layer 3 (‘social circuitry’) – aligns with USM’s WHAT or routines (which originate from processes, which create procedures (WHO) and work instructions (HOW)
- Layer 2 (‘tools and instrumentation) – align with USM’s HOW
- Layer 2 (‘technical object’/person doing work) – Aligns with USM’s WHO
So, what USM call routines the book calls social circuitry — each are made up of the three things we need to create value (people, process, and tools).
I’ll have to get with the rest of the USM Professional community who may be reading this and we’ll add USM to the table on pages 276-279 which will detail how USM aligns with the book. concepts of Slowification, Simplification and Amplification.
No question about it though, if you want to wire your organization for winning, the USM method and Slowification, Simplification and Amplification as described in the book can help.