Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Apr 19, 2010 - Business & Economics - 240 pages
An all-new approach to understanding the (in)formal connections of an organization

From the bestselling coauthor of the business classic The Wisdom of Teams comes an all-new exploration of the modern workplace, and how leaders and managers must embrace it for success. Katzenbach and Khan examine how two distinct factions together form the bigger picture for how organizations actually work: the more defined "formal" organization of a company-the management structure, performance metrics, and processes-and the "informal"-the culture, social networks, and ad hoc communities that spring up naturally and can accelerate or hinder how the organization works. With dynamic examples from enterprises around the world, this book takes a timeless organizational approach and creates a powerful paradigm-shifting tool set for applying it.

  • Includes self-assessment guidelines for senior leaders, front-line managers, and individual contributors
  • Features organizations in business, government, the nonprofit sector, and academia-including the New York City schools system, Aetna, the Marines, United Nations, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Home Depot, Bell Canada, and the Houston Police Department

Leading Outside the Lines illustrates how leaders can make the two distinct factions work together to get the best of both.

 

Contents

Like Talking to a Wall
8
USING THE INFORMAL TO ENHANCE THE FORMAL
9
The Logic of the Formal the Magic of the Informal
13
When the Balance Shifts
31
Jumping Together
47
Its All About the Work
71
Values Driven Not Values Displayed
87
Its Still About Performance
103
Setting the Fast Zebras Free
123
Melting the Frozen Tundra
141
A Different Kind of Managing
155
What to Do
175
In Conclusion
197
About Our Sources and Methodology
201
Notes
217
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2010)

Jon R. Katzenbach is a senior vice president of Booz & Company, where he founded the Katzenbach Center. Previously, he was the founder and senior partner of Katzenbach Partners and a former director of McKinsey & Company. He is the author of Why Pride Matters More Than Money, Peak Performance, and coauthor of the seminal book The Wisdom of Teams.

Zia Khan is the vice president of strategy and evaluation at the Rockefeller Foundation and a senior fellow of the Katzenbach Center. He cofounded the Katzenbach Center while a partner at Booz & Company. Previously, he led the Katzenbach Partners San Francisco office and developed many of the firm's hallmark practices in strategy, organization design, and culture change.

For more information, please visit www.booz.com/katzenbach_center.

Bibliographic information