1.5 - About University

1.10 T HE GAS MODEL: DESIGNINGP RACTICAL O RGANIZATIONAL P ROCESSESInspired by Karl Weick.Leadership processes in organizations are often so elegantly designed, they are not usable! Forinstance:• An organization spent days crafting a mission, key result, and goal statements for everydepartment and individual employee. These were tidily assembled into large binders,which subsequently were rarely opened.• A task force spent countless hours developing a performance management system thatwas never implemented in any meaningful way.• An enthusiastic executive returns from a time management training seminar, hastilydemands that all employees in the department start using the process taught in the seminar,then wonders why others are not as enthusiastic.This tool will help you optimally design, or redesign, leadership processes. It guides leadersin making the necessary trade-offs to ensure that processes are practical and usable.The ideal leadership process is threefold: It is simultaneously general, accurate, and simple(GAS).1. It is General in its use (i.e., it works over a wide range of circumstances, beneficial forexecutives, yet useful for frontline workers).2. It is Accurate or precise in its use (i.e., it accurately describes the unique situations in alldepartments—past, present, and future—without being exclusive or limiting to any onedepartment).3. It is Simple to use (i.e., no one will need much training to use the process).GeneralAccurateSimpleAn example is an organization that wants a simple-to-use career program—no need forlarge information binders and arduous training programs. If the career program is general, itcan be used in all parts and levels of the organization (e.g., systems analysts, engineers, librarians,accountants, and so on). If it is accurate, the process will precisely describe the careerSECTION 1 FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS 33