LCP LCP LCP
Skip to content

Leadership Matrix TrainingThe matrix is here to stay. It’s an organizational structure, when done right, that can be agile and responsive to the market; can knit together global and local priorities; can leverage centralized skills and can enable local accountability.

Done wrong, it can slow momentum to a crawl; it can trigger work-arounds; it offers endless “alignment loops” to delay any decision for months; it can frustrate teams and exhaust leaders.

What makes the difference?

The people and their behaviors. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.

Jay Galbraith spent over 40 years studying matrix organizations and what he learned shaped his point of view that matrix organizations need to align the five elements of his Star model to be successful. One of the five elements he highlights is people. For matrix organizations to work effectively, everyone, at all levels, needs to be more collaborative, networked and empowered than in a hierarchical structure.

So what’s the secret sauce?

Dramatically increasing your use of the words “why” and “because.”

Matrix structures shine a light on organizational tensions. Getting underneath positions and demands of conflicting organizations requires understanding the intent and reasoning for their requests. “Why” and “because” enable employees and teams to see organizational tensions in a different light and find creative solutions to make progress.

Leaders and teams who take the time to ask “why” and explain “because” create openings for that understanding. Those leaders shift their meetings and conversations to a fundamentally different, and more productive, plane.

Sounds simple, but there is a rub. As our communications cycles are more abbreviated, messages are shortened to tweets, and attention spans are measured in dwindling seconds; we are rapidly losing explanations. Leaders have to consciously pause and “zoom-out” or “step-back” and remember to explain the intent, purpose or need behind a direction. In the absence of the explanation of why, tensions escalate. It’s tougher to find a path to a common ground. The matrix suffers.

In our leadership development programs, we focus on helping leaders take the time to articulate ”why” and ”because” for their strategies and their execution choices. It’s not always easy to remember to do. In the pressure of decision making, leaders resort to shorthand, but it’s at exactly those moments that the explanations behind your comments—the “why” and “because”-- are most important to articulate. Those two words align teams and organizations, and offer an opening to raise issues and concerns, better than any other words in the leadership vocabulary.

Collaborative Leadership starts with two simple words that can make the matrix deliver on its promise.

 

Amanda Young Hickman is co-founder of Insight Experience, a Boston-based firm delivering contextually rich, immersive business simulations and learning experiences to accelerate and integrate leadership, business acumen and strategy execution.

Subscribe to Our Blog

Let's Talk

We'd love to hear about your leadership development goals.

Leave Comment

Recent Posts

To Do or Not to Do? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Approving a Project-featured-image
To Do or Not to Do? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Approving a Project
Click to view To Do or Not to Do? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Approving a Project

You have a great team, and they have great ideas. But there is just no way you can get to them all—and...

Category:-  Featured , Executing Strategy

Learn More Click to view blog post
Leadership Lessons From the Political Divide: Turning Conflict into Success-featured-image
Leadership Lessons From the Political Divide: Turning Conflict into Success
Click to view Leadership Lessons From the Political Divide: Turning Conflict into Success

It is a presidential election year in the United States, and political messaging is growing louder and more...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Not Your Grandparents’ Leadership Development Program-featured-image
Not Your Grandparents’ Leadership Development Program
Click to view Not Your Grandparents’ Leadership Development Program

It is currently 3 p.m. on a Thursday, and you have just hit the bottom of your third mug of coffee for the...

Category:-  Featured , Business Simulation

Learn More Click to view blog post
Insights and Analytics for Leadership Success-featured-image
Insights and Analytics for Leadership Success
Click to view Insights and Analytics for Leadership Success

At Insight Experience, we believe that effective leadership development goes beyond just delivering content;...

Category:-  Featured , Business Simulation , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
Embracing Change: Leadership Lessons from Autumn-featured-image
Embracing Change: Leadership Lessons from Autumn
Click to view Embracing Change: Leadership Lessons from Autumn

Note: If you like this post, explore the rest of our Season of Leadership series, which includes posts on...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post
The Impact of Microlearning on Leadership Development: 7 Key Benefits-featured-image
The Impact of Microlearning on Leadership Development: 7 Key Benefits
Click to view The Impact of Microlearning on Leadership Development: 7 Key Benefits

Leadership development needs to be as dynamic and flexible as the leaders it aims to cultivate. While...

Category:-  Featured , Microlearning

Learn More Click to view blog post
Lessons I Learned Before I Could Teach Them: How to Run a Meeting-featured-image
Lessons I Learned Before I Could Teach Them: How to Run a Meeting
Click to view Lessons I Learned Before I Could Teach Them: How to Run a Meeting

Welcome to the first blog post in a series focused on practical skills for emerging leaders. In this series,...

Category:-  Featured , Developing New Leaders

Learn More Click to view blog post
Insight Experience Makes the 2024 Inc. 5000 List!-featured-image
Insight Experience Makes the 2024 Inc. 5000 List!
Click to view Insight Experience Makes the 2024 Inc. 5000 List!

Note: Read an Inc. profile of Insight Experience: "In Leadership Development, Your Vendor Should Be Your...

Category:-  Featured , Leadership

Learn More Click to view blog post