Program Objectives

The following list represents the Key Program Objectives (KPO) for the Appleton Greene Management Paradigm corporate training program.

Management Paradigm – Part 1- Year 1Appleton Greene

  1. Part 1 Month 1 Setting Context – The Management Paradigm Program is a multiyear program intended to provide both an in-depth experience of science-based managerial principles and processes and individual worker awareness of their accountability, emotional intelligence and how to take care of themselves in turbulent corporate environments. This first session will provide a macro view. Companies and other work systems are being impacted by disruption, technology, local economies and geo-political phenomena. These four factors provide the contextual framework through which corporations must function. It is the intention of this first session to help attendees understand they are dealing with outside forces that are impinging on the business. Industry disruption is nothing new. We’ve seen Uber, Lyft and Via disrupt the taxi and black car industry in many large cities. Outer borough car services once the only source of non-personal private transportation options have also been severely affected. AirBNB has totally disrupted the hotel and motel industry allowing people to travel more cheaply while at the same time providing options for people with a spare bedroom to become hosts and recoup some of the income lost in the recession. Add VRBO to the mix and you can see the impact on the resort rental markets. Realtors have lost a significant market segment. Carvanna and others are disrupting how we buy cars and sell them too. Technology is developing by leaps and bounds. Scientists are now able to identify where in the Human genome the genetic code, there is an oddity. They can correct the oddity replacing the wrong gene with the correct one. Studies underway at the National Institute of Health in Washington DC believe they may have found the answer to eradicating Sickle Cell Anemia an excruciatingly painful and debilitating disease. The hope is this process can result in curing hundreds of illnesses. Laboratories around the world are frantically working to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. The pandemic has intensified the need for speed in laboratories and its hopeful vaccines will be available as well as treatments in the next 12-18 months This all because of technological advancements. AI intelligence is growing robustly. When we call the number on the back of a credit card or have an online chat more often than not, we are connected to a bot not an actual person. These advancements will impact millions of people around the world. The need for low skilled labor will be diminished. New compensation systems will need to be created. More importantly, the mindset countries have to take care of their people, will need modification as corporate wealth generation may require many fewer workers. How will countries both industrialized, and developing, feed, clothe and educate their own.? Roughly 30 million people in the US are unemployed in October 2020. That is about 20% of the workforce. People staying home and cooking has reduced demand for food products. Dry Cleaners mostly small mom and pop businesses are closing their doors, and no one is dry cleaning in the midst of a pandemic. Demands for work attire have crashed while demands for pajamas have risen dramatically. Management Paradigm provides the process by which corporations can thoroughly review how they are organized to conduct business. Today’s companies must be agile and have engaged workforces. Yet worldwide surveys indicate most workers acknowledge being disengaged. The millennial generation came of age in prosperous times. Prosperous parents showered them with praise, a you can do anything mindset and a panoply of toys. Many entered the workforce with little or no staying power or valuing corporate loyalties. They got up and moved whenever things were not going their way. Generation Z grew up in a very different environment. Their families were seriously affected by the 2008 recession. They are more thoughtful and perhaps more conservative about spending. And perhaps most importantly they were born into the digital age and know nothing about an analogue life experience. Participants will be asked to keep a journal between sessions and write about any aha’s they may have. What questions do they have? Whether or not they have attempted to discuss or implement any of the learning they’ve had and subsequent outcomes.
  2. Part 1 Month 2 Accountable Management – Reflections to share since our last session. Participants will then be asked to individually reflect on their careers and identify those times they experienced accountable management. What factors characterized their accountable manager? What did he or she do? How did they communicate- assign tasks, provide support? Were they the only person working with the manager or did the manager have a team of people working for them in subordinate roles? How effectively did their manager develop a team? Did they do something specific that stood out for them? They will then meet in dyads, trios and or quartets to discuss with peers. Thirdly, quartets will share with the entire class. This is followed by input from the instructor/facilitator addressing: 1) What is accountable management? How do you know it when you experience it? 2) Distinguishing management, leadership and supervision. 3) The Role of a manager. 4) What is a manager accountable for and to whom? 5) What must a manager do? What tasks comprise the role? 6) What authorities does a manager have? After each of the six segments there will be time for individual reflection, small group discussion and questions and answers. The second section of the training will address participants’ own managerial experiences. Each will be asked to focus on a significant experience the details of which they recall as a time they wish they could have been more effective; aka could have done better. They will write down some notes and then we will ask volunteers to share and get feedback from the group
  3. Part 1 Month 3 Organization Structure – What does organization structure really mean? Is it the architecture of the work system? Does it tell you who is the boss? Does it indicate who can do what to whom in the organization? Is it representative of the compensation system in place? Most people would not start building a house without having plans drawn up by an architect. Yet we start businesses without exactly knowing how we are going to get things done. It’s considered the true grit of an entrepreneur, the get up and go, determination, “just do it” attitude. Many businesses are started this way. However there comes a time when growth kicks in and the founder or founders have to scale the business. You need business strategies, values and vision, organization, departments, you need to recruit new people. Most do it with people they know from other companies or friends and families. Frequently, founders believe they are the only ones that can run the business. It’s hard to let go. In truth, many founders do not have the capacity to take their “baby” to the next level. Did you know: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this isn’t necessarily true. Data from the BLS shows that approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more. (Feb 28, 2020). Years ago, OD consultants would go into a business and conduct an analysis. We’d get copies of the organization chart, interview people in their roles and come back with this is what you say you have, this is what people are saying about the organization and finally this is “what’s really going on”. All too often what’s really going on is how work gets done using personal power, expertise and tenure. Politics. It’s about asking for favors, owing people and “quid pro quo”. Not generally a very effective or efficient way of getting things done. This session introduces a natural order that exists in all large work systems that demonstrates the importance of doing critical thinking up front so that you build the right organization spine for your business. A requisite organization. Let’s use the human spine as a metaphor. It’s of major importance to the overall health of the body. The same is true of an organization’s structure-its healthy organization spine. In medicine the spine is the conduit conducting energy through nerve endings to your body-your arms, legs, feet and organs. Spinal fluid is essential to our brain’s functioning. Pain occurs when there is a problem with the disc structure-either too much space between discs or too little known as compression. The result is pain, causing people to function ineffectively. Participants’ personal experiences are used to make the point. The second section will address participant’s own history of experiencing organization pain and organization flow. What impact do these experiences have on the individual and the organization as a whole?
  4. Part 1 Month 4 Real Boss – Unfortunately, in many companies there is confusion of who the real boss is. Naturally the owner, founder, President or CEO is accountable for the overall functioning of the business. But who is your “real boss” and how will clarity about this question help workers to be their best and apply their best efforts to the tasks at hand? Distinctions about Management and Leadership will be established. Clarity about the role of a supervisor will eliminate the confusion that sometimes undermines organization engagement. One of Dr. Elliott Jaques’ core findings provided clarity as to who a worker’s real boss is. He uncovered a natural order of work in large scale work systems. He developed this into a grid upon which different roles could be plotted. Originally, he identified seven strata or bands each differing qualitatively from the other. Now there are nine. A useful metaphor to help envision this finding is geology. Over millennia, different sediments form and create layers; each distinctively different from the previous. They comprise the geological formation but are qualitatively different in composition. You can clearly see the strata if you cut through a boulder or rock. Similarly, organization structures have different layers of work each qualitatively different from the previous. In work systems the distinction is based upon the manager’s measurement of the longest task in roles subordinate to them. Every role has a multiplicity of tasks in it. Some taking minutes, hours, weeks or months. At the higher strata of a company, the longest task in the role can be 5-10 years or even longer. As we climb the organization hierarchy, Stratum I is the lowest and Stratum VII the highest, the work in the role becomes more complex, requiring the balancing of many more variables. Task completion time is longer. In this class we will take a deep dive into the complexity of tasks in a role and uncover where the role should be located. A key point in the RO framework is that the role of the real manager should be located in the next higher strata than the role of the subordinate. This positioning allows for the manager to provide a different perspective to the tasks which comprise the subordinates’ work. This allows the manager to provide subordinates with a broader perspective than they can see themselves. Management roles that are too distant from their team members, those that are compressed into the same strata and those that are “just right” will be illustrated and discussed. Participants will be asked to scan their work life experience and identify times when each of the three conditions were present and how it made them feel. There will be Q&A and further sharing. These distinctions are essential because the behavior demonstrated by both the manager and the employee when these conditions exist are experienced as personal when in actuality, they are the result of a poorly designed organization structure. Just knowing this can eliminate stress on the part of the manager and the worker. Ideally, you’d want to correct the situation but from where you sit that may not be possible. The idea is to start the dialogue and figure out together how to manage it. This step in itself eliminates tension and stress and begins to build trust and engagement.
  5. Part 1 Month 5 Work Levels – In Session 5 we will review content from the last session and delve deeper into the distinguishing characteristics of the VII levels of work. We will explore the qualitative differences between Operational, Organizational and Business Unit functions. Strata I-III in the company are Operational. Simply put, delivering the product or service to the intended end user defined as the customer or the client. The work goal is to be pushed outside of the company. Sell, deliver and service the product. The time span required of these three strata go from a few minutes to three months in Strata I. Three months to one year in Strata II and 1 to 2 years in Stata III. Very common at Strata III is management by objectives. Providing one-year goals. At Strata IV there is a significant shift. The time span is 2-5 years. Here the work is focused on organization-wide issues. It requires the allocation of resources across all of the departments comprising Operations. At Strata IV the client /customer is the Stratum III organization accountable for the delivery, sales and account management of the product or service. The requirements of working at the organizational level will be identified. The necessary meaning making capability, mindset and problem-solving ability required by roles at each level will be shared. These distinctions in an individual’s ability to problem solve and how they make meaning need to be congruent with the role they are in. There needs to be a marriage between the level of work in a role and the individual worker’s ability to make meaning and think in the corresponding fashion. When this occurs, workers are able to enter a flow state. They create a synergistic relationship with their work.
  6. Part 1 Month 6 Accountability & Authority – All employed people inhabit roles in a company. Each of these roles have accountabilities and authorities that are associated with the role. Dr Jaques once said “accountability and authority are two sides of the same coin…neither can exist in reality without the other”. This session addresses and explores the general, yet essential components of accountability and authority for the inhabitants of both managerial and subordinate roles. Additionally, it will clearly identify the distinctions between management, leadership and supervisory roles. Managers are accountable for seeing to it that the work of the company is getting done over the full day. It is a role that is authorized to get the work of the organization done through other people or with the help of those in roles subordinate to the manager. Leadership, on the other hand, has nothing to do with the role a person is in. Rather it is a set of characteristics, and behaviors that an individual has which can be viewed as personal charisma or power. Unfortunately, managerial literature has gone off the deep end emphasizing leadership over management. You could think of management as role power. The concept of accountable managerial leadership will be introduced. Organizations get in trouble when they introduce a supervisory role and don’t make clear that the supervisor is not the individual’s “real boss”. The real boss is the person authorized to make key decisions about an individual in a role, aka their manager. The dynamic between the designated supervisor and the person in the subordinate role can be tension filled and breed distrust when there is not clarity. How many times have people asked supervisors for a pay increase and been frustrated that the supervisor is not the person deciding salary? The session will identify the four accountabilities that a managerial role must have as well as the authorities that go hand in hand with it. Codifying these provides clarity for every worker at every level. Those in subordinate roles also are accountable and have authorities. Whenever a person is hired in a company, they too have accountabilities and authorities. There is either an explicit or implicit contract which sets the parameters of each role.
  7. Part 1 Month 7 Developing People – In this session we will dive more deeply into the role of the manager and the manager once removed as providing support for task completion, coaching and mentoring for individual workers. The manager subordinate relationship can be one of the most satisfying relationships an individual can have. Companies hire people because of a need they have. It might be entry level or basic knowledge where individuals come into a role with no particular skill expecting to be trained. At other levels in the company people are hired for particular expertise, knowledge and skill. It used to be that corporations had robust training programs for recent graduates of colleges and MBA programs. In the past decades these management training programs have disappeared perhaps because of the taboo of management. New hires enter corporate life some with skill sets others with a “what’s in it for me” attitude. We now have situations in which five generations are working in a company. Baby Boomers are being managed by Millennials, that is children the same age as some of their grandchildren. There is an abundance of information about how to do things, available on the internet now. Anything from learning how to knit, make a face mask or lead. Google has become the go to source for how to learn something quickly. This information and video learning can be very helpful. Many of these serve a useful purpose. Unfortunately, they provide minimal “how to” information. Corporate America needs an informed workforce. Dr. Daniel Amen on a recent PBS program about the brain said and I paraphrase the brain needs to be challenged. Continuing, he referenced the underutilized brain is one of the biggest challenges to the US. The workforce is looking for quick fixes. We no longer engage in critical thinking. How can companies develop critical thinking skills? These questions will be addressed, and participants personal experiences explored.
  8. Part 1 Month 8 Teambuilding Roles – People come to work in a company as an individual. Their contract with the company is to use their full capacity including knowledge, skills and experience in applying their effectiveness to the tasks assigned to them. Yet they are required to be part of one or more teams. One of the key accountabilities of a manager is developing a team of subordinates who work together to fulfill the goals of the department. To make this point let’s use a metaphor. Management might be compared to parenting. Parents of one or more children recognize each is different. Yet their overarching goal is to see that each child can be and do their best while at the same time developing a sense of the whole…the family. They recognize the unique needs and contributions of each and attempt to satisfy and develop each one. Similarly, effective managers recognize the uniqueness of each member of their team and work to develop each of them. Thus demonstrating that they can grow individually and also thrive as a team. Managers want to create conditions in which each person is engaged and committed. Wherein people can trust one another to do what they say they will do to get the tasks done. This session introduces types of team building. Managers need to meet regularly with their employees to discuss the individual’s effectiveness in the role. This is an aspect of team building because the manager and individual subordinate comprise a team. Managerial meetings and brainstorming sessions are meetings in which all the subordinates of a manager come together to be updated as well as to present situations requiring group input. Task forces are frequently convened to bring people from different departments together. There are different roles needing clarification each with accompanying authority that need to be articulated. These will be discussed. Clarity about who will make the decisions and what actions will be taken are essential in these meetings. The role of the manager once removed (MoR), three tier team building and other team building techniques will be explored. The clearer people are about what is expected of them and the more tools they have to become self -aware the more likely the team will flourish. A quote from Dr. Jaques sums it up: “The great organizational paradox is that effective group collaboration stems from clear recognition of individuals and individual accountability combined with clear specification of required working role relationships”. Three tier teambuilding the purview of the MoR will be introduced. When done properly it cascades down from the top of the organization becoming a vehicle for information sharing, idea generation and concerns. Perhaps most importantly it is a process that builds trust in the work system as a whole and among individual workers.
  9. Part 1 Month 9 Lifelong Learning – Those of us of a certain age graduated from university or have advanced degrees, believed that was it. We knew what we needed to know in this lifetime and would apply it to the work we were doing. Others never felt their school experience was a satisfying experience. Some were poor test takers. Others have parents that wanted them to achieve more. Whatever your situation might be, toss it aside. The world has changed, and lifelong learning is here to stay. Technological advancements are being introduced at a rate never before seen. How do we keep up? People are running as fast as they can and unfortunately, all too often not getting anywhere. The October/November issue of FAST Company magazine is dedicated to the New Rules of Business-Change is Constant. New manufacturing companies are emerging, and in the US we have a shortage of high skilled workers. By 2025 the US will need to fill 4.6 million jobs. At one point in time you could depend on a company to provide ongoing learning and development. Not now. Some companies, particularly manufacturers are tackling this head on. As automation eliminates one job, some companies are retraining employees to fill other positions. In order for those people to be successful they have to want to learn. How do we engage the adult population to get excited about learning? Lifelong learning is not only about your job or career. It’s about how you live your life. ITS A MINDSET. The speed at which information and data has accelerated is overwhelming. Check out Thomas Friedman’s Thank You For Being Late. It’s important for each of us to have something we enjoy. Something just for us which to give us pleasure and joy. You might want to learn more about sailing, take drawing lessons. Online companies have introduced different ways of teaching subject matter. Lifelong learning will become a necessary part of everyone’s lives if it hasn’t already.
  10. Part 1 Month 10 Being Courageous – Some define courage as bravery, the ability of doing something that has instilled fear in you, an internal sense of strength in the face of pain or grief, and or stepping up to speak your truth when the odds are against you. Much has been written about WWII. The young men and women who stepped up to serve whether in the military or manning manufacturing sites to keep product flowing when factory jobs were vacated. No one knew what to expect. Determined after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The terror attack of September 11th 2001. Many immediately enlisted into the military. Not knowing what to expect they trusted the military to teach and guide them. In the face of fear they became aligned. Currently, in your organizations many of you are facing a pandemic of disinterest, people being resigned to just get by. Likely out of fear of losing their livelihood. Now Coronavirus has intensified individuals’ fears. Front line workers have stepped up, whether highly educated or unskilled. They have begun to work recognizing that together they hope to save lives, serve the public and curtail the spread of virus until a vaccine and treatment modalities can be developed. Demonstrating bravery is hard when you are not sure what to do. Many companies have not been developing management education programs. Rather they have focused on leadership development. There is no role called leader. Yet for the past few decades that is all the business literature has focused on. In this session we will explore personal and organizational courage. We will focus on individual values and how these align with corporate values. Together we will explore how each can tap into their reservoir of courage so that both they and the organization can experience greater aliveness and vitality. Congruence with their values. We will demonstrate how accountable managerial leadership can be a transformative element in their career and their organizations success. Participants will be invited to take Wiley’s DiSC Workplace Profile which will provide both information about their natural style tendencies and demonstrate how to work more effectively with coworkers and others in the organization.
  11. Part 1 Month 11 Fair Pay – What is fair compensation? What is a livable wage? Why does a manager in the finance department get a different compensation package than a sales manager, or manager at a manufacturing site? Are sales really more important than manufacturing the product? In this session we will begin to peel back the mystique that has permeated many corporations. That is, you must provide incentive pay to salespeople and certain other roles. We will dive deep into what incentive compensation is really doing to our organizations. Amazingly if you take the time to ask people if they believe they are being paid fairly they will tell you. If you ask them about the role they are in, not their value, they will tell you if the role is under or overvalued in the company. Generally, workers are concerned about differentials. This session will introduce you to Dr. Jacques’ elegant compensation system called Felt Fair Pay. It streamlines compensation by focusing on the role being filled and having ranges of pay for each role. We will use case studies and participants will be encouraged to bring in actual data. A Requisite Organization Analysis will quickly illustrate inconsistencies and structural biases for women and minorities. Employees clearly can feel they are being compensated unfairly either being underpaid or overpaid. These feelings affect the work they do. Their thinking, attitude and application of personal effectiveness. Pay discrepancies are one causal factor of disengagement. Participants will be shown how to uncover these structural inequities. Hopefully spurring on a conversation about salary equity in their respective companies. They can then dip into their reservoir of courage to begin a process to make significant changes in their units leading to personal and organization transformation. Imagine!
  12. Part 1 Month 12 Organization Synthesis – In this final session of the first year of our program we will travel back through the journey we embarked on together twelve months ago. We will have time to reflect on each session and identify key learnings then and now that the yearlong program is coming to an end. Now that you have gone through the twelve workshops, we’ll discuss whether or not you reframed any of your earlier learning given the whole system context of the program? These will be identified and discussed for further richness. The intention of this program is to debunk certain organizational myths, guide you in your own exploration of what is truly going on in your business unit or department, increase your appreciation and understanding of accountable managerial leadership and how important it is for businesses to be successful. We will go through the highlights of each session and show how important the different parts are to create a truly successful business with a workforce that is truly engaged. Businesses are the lifeblood of communities and societies. Since it is hoped you will share your learning with others in your organization emphasis will be placed on key distinctions between conversation, debate, and dialogue. Afterall, you you’re your colleagues’ curiosity to be heightened, to engage with you, not be turned off by you. Participants will be encouraged to develop an action plan they can begin to embark upon that has transformative outcomes for their particular business units and the company as a whole. They also will be encouraged to develop a personal action plan aimed at their taking better care of themselves. It is hoped that their level of interest in transforming their business unit will ignite a desire to learn more about a total management system based upon Dr. Jaques’ Requisite Organization findings and synthesized together with the need to heighten one’s self awareness and learn basic self-care methods.