Art or Lines?

Like it or not, this is a famous painting by Pablo Picasso. A popular quote goes something like; "art is in the eye of the beholder." It’s the value of the beholder that is not equal.  

 

Scan the lower images, what do these images have in common? I see vertical and horizontal lines in the chart that create a formula, but for me the are just abstract lines like the work of art remains for many.  

What do you see when you look at your business? 

Have you ever create a flow chart to explain roles and relationships between job titles, departments and your consumer?

In a recent industry blog post from Promotional Consultant, Cassandra Johnson shared some interesting tips on how to look at the organizational chart of one’s business. The artist in me immediately gravitated to the analogies between liner perspectives versus the more “out of the box” vision that might be crafted by Picasso. In school I struggled to understand algebra. How could A + B = C? I recall telling my teacher those characters seemed abstract variables to me; variables that might have informal but meaningful or additional relationships that did not fit into the liner formula.  

Johnson summaries business coaching tips from Ruth Schwartz in the shared blog post below. 

                                          Owner, Olivia Scott

"Everything you can imagine is real..."  Pablo Picasso

If Picasso Drew Your Org Chart
 

Every organization has them—organizational charts. These geometric structures of boxes and lines represent people, teams, jobs and reporting structures. But what do they represent about the company?

Promotional Consultant Today shares business coach Ruth Schwartz's view on org charts, asking the key question, "How would Picasso design your org chart?"
Schwartz states her disdain for traditional box and line org charts for many reasons, including: 

1. They are vertical, not horizontal.
2. People are represented as boxes.
3. You can't see the informal relationships of an organization.
4. They are a myopic internal vision of a company.
5. There are no customers represented.
6. No core value, noble cause, purpose, mission, or vision is visible.
7. They don't promote leadership and mentor-ship or innovation at multiple levels.
If you were to redesign your org chart, what would it look like? Step outside the boxes and lines we generate from HR software today. Instead, use your imagination and follow these guidelines:

• Create a metaphor that represents your business. (What would Picasso do?)
• Draw your company's missions, vision and values into this picture. Remember that your heart is central.
• How do people intersect with each other, customers, and your community?
• How do people REALLY (informally) interact?
• Are you cross-functional or departmental? Can silos be replaced?
• How do you make and spend money? Can you represent that in the nature of the drawing?
• Where is your leadership pipeline? Where is the upcoming bench strength and how do you illustrate it?
• How do you represent roles, titles and hierarchy in the picture?
• Now, place yourself where you want to be rather than where you may find yourself today.

Is your picture different from your reality? Can this new org chart set the stage for your strategic plan? What will you need to think of, innovate, start or stop to develop a strategy that represents the vision represented by your picture? 

This organizational vision is a critical step toward creating unique organizations that we want to be part of, rather than being defined by the hierarchy of an organization.

Source: Ruth Schwartz is an internationally certified business leadership coach, motivational speaker and author. She owns High Performance Advocates, a management and leadership coaching company. 

Compiled by Cassandra Johnson, Promotional Consultant Today