Integrating Strategy & Action in Knowledge-Based Organizations

Introduction

One of my clients, Don, was the Vice President of National Operations for one of the nation’s
largest wireless telecom companies.i His team was responsible for the maintenance and
operation of the entire wireless network. Their Network Operations Control Center looked like
a scene from NASA Mission Control. His team worked under a spotlight and in the hot seat;
they were highly reactive, but at the same time, highly competent. When my client came to us
for help in deploying their next-generation network platform, the reaction from his team was
loud and united: We don’t have time for this!

The first challenge was a problem of perspective. The team was so busy reacting and putting
out continual brush fires that they could never step back to address the causes of these fires.
This brush fire syndrome became a vicious cycle: their operational bandwidth continued to be
consumed by reactions to problems, which in turn gave rise to more problems. The result
was a perpetual state of crisis, causing wide-scale burnout in the team, which led to low
performance and morale. The team always felt like they were treading water and therefore
unable to respond proactively to their situation.

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