Be the Composer & Arranger
Most business organizations are hodge-podge. They either evolve by happenstance into a tinker-toy like structure. Or, those who are in control simply try to emulate the most popular organizations of the day – whatever is in style at the time.
Organizations need to be continuously composed and arranged to fulfill the unique purposes which they are intended to serve. You must be the orchestrator – the one who must make the whole perform as a composite of how all of its roles are performed.
You are the engineer of making the organization perform as it must if it is to fulfill its role. This requires requires a grasp of how you relate the performances of the parts to the performance of the whole, all in the circumstances of the day.
Managers make the existing machinery go the best it can. Leaders devise or invent better machinery.
This is what you as the leader are supposed to provide. You must provide this both in advance (preparedness) and at every moment. If you can’t (or don’t), the organization will fail its role – its mission, no matter how right-minded that might be.
-Lee Thayer, Thought-Leader