STOP Pretending-START VACCing
Old VS. New
Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer, is inspirational when he talks about Bayer’s transformation that started one year ago. He talked to Handelsblatt editor in chief, Sebastian Matthes, who represented the old system. This is how I read this interview- feel free to listen to the whole session below and draw your own conclusions.
Span Of Control VS. Span Of Coaching
99% of companies are organised in hierarchies. Managers are the gatekeepers within the SYSTEM OF CONTROL. They can handle max. nine direct reports.
If you change the model from „span of control“ to „span of coaching“ you can go from 9 to 30, 40, even 50 people- formally known as direct reports.
It’s NOT about PLAYING CORPORATENESS, and pretending that the next re-structuring wave is actually gonna work this time…
Why are they successful?
There are successful examples of companies with 95-99% workers and 1-5% managers:
- Dutch nursing company Buurtzorg with 16.000 people and 2 managers
- Californian food processor Morning Star
- Nucor– the largest steel producer in the United States and the largest recycler of scrap in North America
- The largest sporting goods retailer in the world, French sporting goods retailer Decathlon with over 2,080 stores in 78 countries and regions (2023).
How did they do it? Everything that does not serve „the why“ has to go!
Why do we exist? For whom?
Dynamic Shared Ownership
Demolishing the hierarchy and control system is easy- replacing it is the challenge. Let’s take a look at the HOW:
- MISSION comes into the centre and everything else around it
- The management system of command and control is replaced with VACC.
- Vision
- Architect
- Catalyst
- Coach.
Managers give you input and workers decide what is helpful and what is garbage- read that sentence again ;-).
- Put the org-chart to the back of the room. In the case of Bayer, dynamic shared ownership forms temporary and standing teams with a 90 days rhythm. The action is on the teams. They have common practices within a 90 days cycles: They set priorities on the first day and drive them for 89 days. 10-15% of people move teams. One person can be on several teams. Great people will ensure that the transition does not end in chaos.
- The key is giving people, who do the work, the power to do what is necessary to drive goals. The old control system is not that good. It only gets 0.5 out of a person that is potentially a 1.0. Bad companies only realise 0.3 out of 1.0 people. The new system is getting from 0.5 as close to 1.0 as possible. Again: the old system is not that good.
- At Bayer they set-up capability centers and change people, processes and structures. They are debunking all the myths around hierarchy.
- During implementation: People, who are not yet working in the new system, are scared.
- Number one driver for people over time is: am I making progress on something valuable (Harvard Business Review finding).
- You can fool your manager, you cannot fool your peers. Dynamic shard ownership is an employee centered system. Peer feedback is essential.
- Bill is not playing corporate anymore. He has stopped pretending. He focuses on the progress and the good news from the workers in the new system. He takes on the challenges- it sounds simple, and it can be.
