Relationships

As a leader, how do you support the development of relationships among the members of  your staff?


Relationships: The Pathways of Organization

Relationships are the pathways to the intelligence in the system.  Through relationships, information is created and transferred, the organization's identity expands to include more stakeholders, and the enterprise becomes wiser.  The more access people have to one another, the more possibilities there are.  Without connections, nothing happens.  ... In self-organizing systems, people need access to everyone; they need to be free to reach anywhere in the organization to accomplish work. 

To respond with speed and effectiveness, people need access to the intelligence of the whole system.  Who is available, what do they know, and how can they reach each other?  People need opportunities to "bump up" against others in the system, making the unplanned connections that spawn new ventures or better-integrated responses. 


From: Finding Our Way by Margaret Wheatley
Published by: Berrett-Koehler Publishers