Many vision-driven executive groups focus on forming and maintaining a "growth-enabling culture." These organizations consistently have:
A healthy attitude toward change.
Urgency embedded in the way work is done and decisions are made; there's a need for speed.
An environment where collaboration is fostered, risk taking is encouraged, and people are self-confident.
Communication flowing freely down and up. Managers provide an unusual degree of feedback to direct reports.
Organizational structures that can withstand the stresses of growth.
In the "vital hierarchy," the corporate structure takes on particular attributes, too. First, the structure is designed, with almost religious zeal, to support the strategy declared by the vision. Structure always follows strategy. Then, these companies tend to cluster people as business units around customers and products, rather than functions. Permeable boundaries are created to speed communication, transfer knowledge, and manage power. The structure looks flat and accommodates fast decisions.
Finally, these companies realize that people are their competitive advantage, since nothing much would happen without recruiting, motivating, and retaining extraordinary talent. Here, managers—not an HR department—must take much of the responsibility for selecting, developing, and rewarding people. Managers:
Recruit for culture fit.
Align employees' compensation with the vision.
Invest heavily in developing people.
Promote from within.
Constantly give feedback to employees.
