Every so often, senior leadership decides that a new system will solve all our problems.  They know there will be a “period of adjustment” but this drawing communicates the emotional costs in a way that is hard to ignore. The minute this metaphor map appeared a room full of fifty people started laughing in recognition.  The directors and all his direct reports pedal a monster bicycle of integration that leaves dead bodies behind and people running for their lives ahead.  The emotion in this picture is the primary message.

Virtual teams can work but this particular member of a virtual team didn’t feel like she was part of a team at all.  The meeting was the first time the eight people had met in the same room for a year.  Each of them performed the same role at their individual business units, but no one knew why they were in the room together or what they were supposed to achieve.  There was no sense of connection to each other or the company.  This one drawing set the agenda for the rest of the meeting.  Often one person has an insight that crystallizes general discomfort to a specific actionable issue

It is frustrating to be the one collecting data.  Quality and Safety managers don’t know what works if they can’t measure results.  Personally I hate people measuring me, and I have a gut resentment against those who think I need measuring.  The person who drew this map drew it for people like me.  I look at it and it helps me remember to chill out.  All of us can do with a reminder that the people that get on our nerves don’t wake up early to plan new ways to make us crazy.  They are usually just as concerned about achieving the vision as we are.

Guess who drew this map? If you need a tip, the only people who can stop the whole world from exploding is management.  Management has the scissors, the fuse is on their side and instead of cutting it they are spending time fighting.  All the damage of course will be to the “field.”  Headquarter and Field are natural adversaries.  HQ makes rules and policies to keep things fair and quality high (a/k/a consistency) while people in the field need the flexibility to adapt and see fairness as related to work ethic or talent instead of some HQ policy.  Both are right.  This dilemma has to be rediscovered by each new team that has begun to think it is about personality differences, or to accuse the other side of not understanding the real issues.  This map was a message to the boss.  And for reasons I can’t explain, she took it much better than a year of complaints.