On Matrix Mindsets

This is a great point and one that we encounter all the time. The vast majority of our participants are experienced and good at what they do – otherwise, they wouldn’t be in our sessions. It’s a big challenge to ask successful people to look critically at what they currently do and get them to ask the question ‘How can I do it better?’ The good news is that, if you approach it in the right way, they often manage to make the shift.

The starting point is that people need to see change as conveying benefits to them, and also to see it as a series of incremental steps rather than an overnight alteration in their style (which can be hard for the individual and confusing for their colleagues). We often use the analogy that I was once given by a yoga instructor: “We’re here to strengthen muscle, not create it!”

•  Companies that drive effective change have clearly defined values that they not only identify, but also reward – for example in their performance systems;
•  Individuals should have input into their goals: for example, ask them “‘what do you want to achieve?”  – and then make sure that there’s a clear correlation between those objectives and the way they are rewarded (not just in monetary terms but in terms of recognition etc);
•  Focus on small steps – start with something simple;
•  Make sure that senior leaders model the behaviours they want to see in others;
•  Provide people with the tools to drive those behaviours (which is the focus of our skills training), rather than just saying they’re important .

Finally, there are individuals who simply don’t want to change. You will always encounter them. From our perspective, ‘What you ‘do’ is what you do’. What we mean by that is that what you are doing may work for you, but does it fit company goals or the position that the individual is being asked to fill? If you are a Regional Manager who doesn’t want to share resources or see beyond their own personal  goals, then that may be a problem for the company.

We see this on a regular basis, because most companies promote people for doing their last job well. The reality is that the skills required to be an effective matrix manager are often different from those required to be an effective project manager. You can provide tools to help people deal with this, but if they persist in behaviours that don’t correlate with their new position, then a decision needs to be made. Matrix management doesn’t suit everyone.