The Power of Minds at Work

ReaderStrength™

Resources for Leaders

Vol. #7 7/18/03, Deanne G. Bryce, editor

ReaderStrength™ is published monthly

©LeaderStrength Systems, Inc. 2003

If you’ve worked in an organization you’ve no doubt experienced what author, Karl Albrectht of The Power of Minds at Work: Organizational Intelligence in Action calls Albrecht’s Law:

“Intelligent people, when assembled into an organization,
will tend toward collective stupidity”

To prove his point, Albrecht provides a few sad, but funny examples of this law. One in particular is a campaign that Ford ran in the early 1980’s. The senior marketing people created an advertising campaign to entice potential new owners of Ford vehicles. The campaign was simple, “No Unhappy Owners.” The senior marketing executives failed to think about the impact such a message would have on existing owners. They also failed to tell the thousands of dealers all across the country. When these existing owners showed up in the dealerships with their vehicles, complaining about what didn’t work, the dealers were caught off guard and actually created unhappy owners.

Effective Leaders Look Beyond Common Assumptions

At LeaderStrength Systems, Inc., we teach leaders to look beyond common assumptions. It makes sense to look beyond the assumption that hiring smart people will lead to an intelligent organization. The reality is, if you don’t apply some action, Albrecht’s Law will take effect and who knows what kind of dysfunction will occur. This book provides a perspective of what is involved in creating an intelligent organization. Using the concepts in the book you can investigate what is happening in your organization and make informed choices that will eventually release the true intelligence potential of your organization.

By writing, The Power of Minds at Work: Organizational Intelligence in Action, Albrecht, shares seven key dimensions for leaders to consider. As you read them it is important to keep in mind that intelligence is required to examine organizational intelligence (OI). Karl Albrecht calls the seven key dimensions, Traits of OI. He warns us not to try to quantify and measure these traits but to look at them for what they are:

“Each of these traits or intelligences has various antecedents or causal factors. Antecedents can include sensible organizational structures, competent leadership, products and processes suited to the demands of the marketplace, coherent missions, clear goals, core values, and policies that determine the rights and treatment of employees. In each dimension, we can identify various antecedents which can contribute to maximizing that element of intelligence.”

Albrecht dedicates one chapter for each trait. We have included a very brief overview of each trait so you have an idea of what you can expect from the book. Traits of OI

Strategic Vision: A theory, concept, an organizing principle, and a definition of the destiny the organization hopes to fulfill.
Shared Fate: A state of being when all the stakeholders know and feel their sense of purpose and understand their contribution.
Appetite for Change: A willingness or desire on the part of executive teams to experience new challenges.
Heart: A willingness to give more than the standard. Energy to go above and beyond what is expected.

Alignment and Congruence: An organization needs a set of rules by which it operates. However sometimes these rules themselves are the problem rather than solutions to unintelligent efforts.
Knowledge Deployment: Almost all businesses depend on the knowledge and wisdom that exists in its individual contributors. This trait helps to look at how accessible that knowledge is to others in the organization.

Performance Pressure: Typically leaders apply performance pressure. This pressure can be more effective if it is a self-imposed set of mutual expectations and an operational imperative for shared success.

We recommend this book as a starting place to increase the intelligence within your organization. However, don’t expect a cookbook approach. It doesn’t say, first add a pinch of this and a pinch of that and viola, you’ve got an intelligent organization. This may feel frustrating, but the reality is…unleashing organizational intelligence is a complex process that will involve investigation and dialogue. This book will simply give you a place to start looking and talking.

About ReaderStrength™

We humans have been writing about leadership for more than 2000 years. Is there anything new and exciting to be said about the subject? Perhaps not, but still we hunger for information and inspiration. ReaderStrength is an e-publication that adds value to your busy life as a leader by pointing you toward books to fuel your inspiration as you lead yourself and others. Send us your ideas and favorite leadership books so that we can share them with others.

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dbryce@leaderstrength.com • Leader Strength Systems