In Space and Time

In speaking with a prospect we begin to talk about the differences in perceptions within organizational structures.  He described a scenario where a midlevel manager confronted a challenge, made an executive decision, and implemented it.  Once this manager explained what he had done to his superior, he was instructed to recant his course of action and move in a different direction.  The prospect believed that the manager should not have been upset or uncomfortable and should have administered the redirection as if were his own.  His explanation was that the manager should understand his superior is looking at the situation from a distinctly different standpoint.  He reasoned that the farther up the organization structure, the more variables that are considered, thereby enabling more accurate decisions.  He illustrated his thought as:

This philosophy of his generated interesting conversation.  I absolutely agree with him, and took it a step farther.  Einstein’s theory of relativity immediately came to mind, and compelled consideration of not only space (people within the organization), which is what he was referring to, but time (past occurrences and future consequences) as well.  Experience and position warrant an ability to perform that justifies this relativity.  With that said, we both arrived at the following visual:

Imagine an organizational hierarchy of President/CEO, Vice President, Director, Manager, and Representative.  As a generalization the higher the executive level, the more people, time, variables, and circumstances one can see regarding decisions.  A more comprehensive approach is taken because as a representative we are primarily focused on a more immediate problem; whereas the executive has a more objective and accountable  view addressing more space and time.  As discussed in positional ownership (www.rudyjamison.com) and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers; the more accustomed we are to intense execution, the more we behave with distinct grades of grace.  It is imperative that we acquire our 10,000 hours which generally correlate to elevated organizational esteem and influence.  Relatively speaking, never underestimate the experiences and abilities of upper level executives, there is a reason they’re there.  Great Selling!

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