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Editorial
OMNI’s
soul about
to be liberated
Latest decisions will work wonders
Friday May 9, 2003
This idea of communities of practice
is not a new one. And, right up to the minute before the plan was made
public it was still being
called the ‘regional structure’.
That title gave away the biases working in the background
at OMNI home office. They are the same biases that have been influencing
OMNI’s
decision-making process for over four years. The leap from ‘regional
structure’ to ‘communities of practice’ was a quick
and easy one to make, though, because both concepts have been kicking
around for a long time.
The idea of regional gatherings of people in similar
positions is one that Fraser started talking about overtly a couple
of months
ago. An answer to calls from homes for more opportunities to discuss
issues with peers who would understand them – the idea struck
a chord.
It continues to do so, perhaps more so, today.
______________________________
RECOMMENDED READ:
Supporting Pioneering Leaders
as
Communities of Practice
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But here’s the rub. For years OMNI has been
structuring the management of its operations along geographic
lines. There has been
for at least four years, in practice or on paper, a regional
division of the company. East, Central and West regions grouped OMNI
homes
geographically and assigned one member of the home office team
to each region.
This structure arguably ensured that each home had a clear and direct
line to a representative at home office, that there was an executive
accountable for the performance of each home, and that there was
communication and consistency emanating from home office.
There were direct lines of communication and accountability, a hierarchy
that kept the organization stable and clear on its reporting system.
It still works this way.
In the meantime, waiting in the wings was a competing vision restlessly
seeking its time.
It came under various names and guises, communities of practice
being one of them.
In competition with the organization of the company
by geography approach, this second idea argued that it would be
far more effective
to organize the company by knowledge areas – communities of
practice. The case was made that setting the organization, and the
people working with it, up along geographic lines would hem in knowledge
development and growth.
But, that case wasn’t effectively made. It’s
proponents could not, and did not, propose a way to satisfy the
need to maintain
a clear and logical system for keeping the pulse of operations. The
two ideas were seen to be in competition.
By a last minute gestalt Fraser instantly fused the two ideas. Then
he went further.
The decision’s working title, ‘regional structure’ bespoke
the bias for organization by geography. What ‘regional structure’ represented
is a formal communication framework that took into account geographic
realities, and one that could facilitate the liberation of communities
of practice.
OMNI is a company culturally committed to face to
face conversation despite the vast geography it spans. By integrating
OMNI’s
historical approach of organization by geography with communities
of practice, Fraser effectively fused the two ideas when nobody else
did. The fusion leverages the advantages of both, without detracting
from either.
And, it is meeting with popular and executive support - the most
unanimous, unencumbered and enthusiastic support we have ever seen.
But, Fraser has gone a step farther. Jim Collins published,
in the venerable Harvard Business Review, a powerful piece on catalytic
mechanisms, which Fraser is believed to have read. In it, Collins
posits some highly democratic systems to inspire new heights of transparent
accountability and capability development.
This is the step beyond what any in the executive suite had to suggest.
It is a step, and a surprising one, Fraser took independent of previous
undercurrents. It could send ripples through the entire organization
not to mention the long-term-care community at large.
The selection of regional leaders, in democratic
fashion, from each of the communities may be a quiet structural
point that could enliven
OMNI’s entire relationship economy.
In its entirety the communities of practice decision
is one that will liberate OMNI’s knowledge, individuals,
and its soul.
To top it all off, establishing communities of practice this way
is, on the chess board of long-term-care leadership, a move only
a few away from checkmate.
Prepared by: Peter Pula, Executive Editor, OMNIway News
E-mail: peter@newsroom5.com
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