#145 from R&D Innovator Volume 4, Number 3          March 1995

The Holographic Team and the Code for Success
by Mark Sanborn

Mr. Sanborn is president of Sanborn & Associates, a management consulting firm, in Denver, Colorado.  He has published TeamBuilt: Making Teamwork Work (MasterMedia Ltd., New York, 1992).  Phone (303) 698-9656.

Stan Davis suggested the concept of holographic organization in his book, Future Perfect.  The idea originates with a unique property of holograms: any fragment of the hologram can regenerate the entire image.  Davis puts it this way:  “For our purposes, the hologram has a very unique property.  If the image is broken, any part of it will reconstruct the whole!”  Later he adds, “Can it also be said with equal possibility that the entire corporation resides in each of its products, and in each of its services?”

My work has focused on the use of holography as a useful metaphor for creating teamwork, both at the organizational and departmental level. For a team to be maximally effective, the blueprint or code for success must reside within each member.  Shared understanding of what’s expected—from members and the team, itself—and a commitment to provide it, form the basis of holographic teamwork.  Holographic teamwork occurs when every team member knows, understands, and respects the code for team success.

While holographic teamwork is a worthwhile goal, team leaders can be perplexed about how to accomplish it.  The starting point is defining the components of this blueprint—the shared understanding—which must reside within each team member.  The blueprint, from my point of view, must have five basic components: vision, mission, values, goals, and expectations.

Each of these components is distinct, yet related.  Because different people might use different definitions (I have heard “vision” and “mission” used interchangeably), I’ll define each term before explaining its importance.

Vision

Vision answers the question, “Where are we going?” 

According to Proverbs 29:18, “Without a vision, the people will perish.”  For team members to be motivated for change, they must know what they are changing towards.  The team’s vision is its view of the future, addressing questions such as:

What will be our role within the organization?

Will the team likely expand or shrink, and why?

Who will be our customers?

What will be our products or services?

What will it be like to be a member of this team?

The last question is critical.  Organizational vision statements often fail because they define the type of future in which management prefers to do business, rather than one in which its employees want to do business.  Team members want a sense of what their work will be, and its long-term rewards.

This vision can—and should—be clarified at the team and organizational levels.  While upper management is typically responsible for developing organizational vision, team leaders must articulate a vision for their team.  Furthermore, corporate and team vision statements are worthless unless they incorporate the interests and desires of team members.

A practical exercise for team leaders at the end of each year is to develop a one-page vision statement for the next 12 months, and for the next five years.  The short- and long-term views balance the controllable against the less-known. 

Mission

Mission supplies the motivation, answering the question,“Why are we going there?”

While vision provides destinations for team members, the mission statement explains why.  It’s one thing to know what I do, and significantly different to know why I do it.  Useful mission statements give purpose to what team members presently do, as well as what they will be doing in the future.   Yet most mission statements reflect what an organization does (what I call vision), not why they do it.

Subtle differences in mission can achieve dramatic differences in results. For example, a department that screens chemicals may thinks its mission is to screen as many as possible.  But isn't its real mission to find pharmaceuticals that will treat diseases currently untreatable?  This formulation of the mission enlarges the purpose of the team and captures members' imagination and passion far more effectively than "screen more candidate drugs"!

Values

Values define team integrity and behavior by addressing the question, “How will we get there?” 

For example, the mission statement of Federal Express incorporates the firm's primary values:  “People, Service, Profits.”  This is a concise approach to emphasizing mission and values simultaneously. 

Rules, policies, and procedures simplify decision-making at the lowest and often most important level.  Due to workplace complexities, no leader or manager can write rules and procedures for every contingency a team member may encounter.  (And were this possible, nobody would have time to look up the rule or procedure, anyway.  If you want proof of the results of using this convoluted approach to business, check the Post Office procedure manuals--or those found in many corporate bureaucracies.)

What values should drive behavior and procedures?  If we really expect team members to think about what they do, we must provide useful guidelines rather than rigid policies.  In a formulation department, for example, the value that reflects a true commitment to customers ("We're only happy if our customers are") creates different outcomes than a mission statement like this: “If the customer purchases the material, be sure to receive payment.”

Almost all successful teams learn to "BOFOGA" rules when necessary:  "bend or flex or go around" them.  Why doesn’t this create chaos?  Because the team never allows its values to be violated.  Results are important, but values—and how we act to achieve them—are sacred.

Goals

Goals tell the team, "Are we getting closer to realizing our vision?"  Goals create accountability and serve as a kind of sign-post to allow the team to judge whether it’s moving toward its vision.

Team members need several major goals, linked to long-term success, each year.  Knowing that they’re responsible not just for maintaining the status quo, but for real progress, they can get a good idea of their progress (or lack of progress).

As blasphemous as it sounds, I don’t believe goals motivate most team members.  Dubious?  What would happen if I set an arbitrary goal for you?  You wouldn’t seek that goal unless you had a reason to.  (That’s why the team’s mission is a critical component of the holographic code.)   

The popular phrase, “self-directed team,” is usually a misnomer because it suggests that the team determines how it operates and what it will do. Such true autonomy is rare; it's usually more accurate to say a team is “self-managed,” since the group remains accountable to goals that satisfy the good of the whole organization.  Thus most teams are required to pursue goals set from above, even though the team may also set its own specific targets.

Once organizational goals are clarified for the team, management can then ask, “What else are you willing to commit to?”  This allows the team to realistically name other objectives, based on the expected workload and available resources.  Typically, the team should identify three to five goals and then structure the calendar year around them, assigning responsibility, allocating resources, and monitoring progress.

For reasons of financial responsibility, every organization is governed by a fiscal year.  But how many organizations have a "results calendar year"?  Without such a schedule, in my view, organizations cannot be responsible to their goals. 

Expectations

Expectations answer these questions: “What is expected of me?  What can I expect from my teammates?” 

Different teams, depending on their vision and mission, will require different expectations for success, yet most employees carry a mental image of a good team player, which they use to determine what’s expected of them and what they can expect of others.  Although these expectations reflect past experiences with other groups, team members rarely compare images and clarify expectations. 

Job descriptions seldom are sufficient to define expectations, since they tend to be task-specific.  It's better for a team to agree on a list of, say, ten expectations, which they feel are required of a successful member, then post the list in the break room to remind members of their commitments.

Commitment: From Information to Transformation

The holographic team benefits dramatically from the shared understanding that results from clarifying and communicating vision, mission, values, goals, and expectations.  But the real purpose here isn’t information, but transformation.  Transformation occurs when structure changes, when a group shifts from a loose-knit group of people sharing responsibilities to an integrated team sharing commitments.  It’s this commitment to the team's mission that makes the difference.

Countless pages in annual reports and employees handbooks have been devoted to mission statements and other corporate rhetoric, but with what impact?  Corporate teams need more than information; real transformation cannot take place until a team understands the holographic code and commits to it.

There’s something infinitely more important to a team than better information, and that is real-world transformation.  For organizational transformation to occur—for teamwork to succeed—requires more than simple lip-service to the above concepts.  Without passionate commitment and action, the code of the holographic team is empty business jargon. 

Everyone must eventually “walk the talk,” but leadership must walk first.  Only when everyone, from part-timer to CEO, knows, understands, and is committed to these concepts, does holographic teamwork become reality.  The difference between information and transformation, between mediocrity and excellence, is simply the difference between common knowledge and consistent application.  Accept the challenge.