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1. INSIGHT EXPERIENCE
www.insight-experience.com
152 Commonwealth Avenue | Concord, MA 01742 | 978-369-0639 | info@insight-experience.com
Accelerating the Matrix:
What’s a leader to do...
A webinar from Insight Experience
6

2. • Insight Experience helps leading companies
develop leaders and execute strategy
• We create dynamic business simulation and
leadership development experiences that
connect leadership to business results
• We work globally across industries, at all levels of
management, with a focus on Fortune 1,000
clients
About Insight Experience
2

3. • Insight Experience helps leading companies
develop leaders and execute strategy
• We create dynamic business simulation and
leadership development experiences that
connect leadership to business results
• We work globally across industries, at all levels of
management, with a focus on Fortune 1,000
clients
About Insight Experience
7
All our
clients operate in
some form of formal
or informal matrix,
functional partner, or
network structure

4. • The original definition
– Managers have two reporting relationships
– Executives “share” P&L responsibility
• The 21st century definition...Multiple dimensions
– Two dimensions, like products and functions.
– Three dimensions, like functions, business units, and countries.
– Four or more dimensions, which arise when serving global
customers
– P&L clarity and budget dependency
What is a matrix structure?
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5. • None
• Two (often a business/product and functions)
• Three (business/product, geography, functions)
• Four or more (business/product, channel, geography,
functions)
Poll: How many dimensions
in your organizational structure?
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6. • To focus on multiple goals simultaneously
• To leverage resources for economies of scale
• To break down silos and encourage cross boundary
collaboration
• To make resource allocation and cross-functional priority
tradeoffs more visible
• To develop broader people capabilities
• To respond to opportunities at the local level
Why a matrix?
10

7. • Multiple goals
• Economies of scale
• Cross boundary collaboration
• Visible tradeoffs
• People development
• Speed of local response
Poll: Which is the primary objective
of the matrix for your organization?
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8. History
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“The companies ...assumed that
changing their formal structure
(anatomy) would force changes in
interpersonal relationships and decision
processes (physiology), which in turn
would reshape the individual attitudes
and actions of managers (psychology).”
– Christopher Bartlett
“It is wise, therefore, for managers thinking of adopting
a matrix to be familiar with the diagnoses, prevention,
and treatment of nine particular pathologies: tendencies
toward anarchy, power struggles, severe groupitis,
collapse during economic crunch, excessive overhead,
sinking to lower levels, uncontrolled layering, navel
gazing, and decision strangulation.”
– Stanley Davis and Paul Lawrence
1960s -1970s 1978 1990 2005 2012
To date few studies
have examined the
human side of the
matrix. Most focus on
its structure and
variant forms.
– Sy and D’Annuzio, Human
Resource Planning
...a matrix has an innate cultural
dimension. It is a way of operating
and interacting—a complex web of
formal and informal relationships
that reflects how things actually get
done across the organization.
– Jon Katzenbach

9. We believe that in the future matrix organizations
will become almost commonplace and that
managers will speak less of the difficulties and
pathologies of the matrix than of its advantages
and benefits.
Crystal Ball 1978
13

10. While true...
14

11. • Average multinational
organizational size
• Globalization of brands
• Information cycle time
• Information volume
A lot has changed...
11

12. Functions
Business
Units/Products
Accounts/
Channels
Geographies
The complexity of the matrix has dramatically
increased

13. Increasing complexity demands good leaders
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• Clarify, prioritize,
and adapt
strategy
• Synthesize across
complexity
• Relate across
cultures
• Identify tensions
and tradeoffs
proactively
• Create and sustain
momentum

14. Matrix organizations push tradeoffs down– so
leaders at all levels need those skills
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In best practice companies it’s not about reducing conflict –
but balancing competing voices.
– Amy Kates
President
Director of
Products
VP
Design
VP
Manufacturing
VP
Finance
VP
Marketing
Human
Resources
Products
Manager A
Products
Manager B
Products
Manager C
Products
Manager D
Marketing
Manager

15. So what’s a leader to do?
Leadership Levers
Perspective
Operating
Model
Relationships
• Build deep social capital and
reciprocal relationships
• Encourage others to develop
relationships to enable cross
boundary work
• Nurture strong working
networks at all levels
• Offer a broad perspective
on why and how to
collaborate
• Align your agenda
• Communicate shared goals
and values
• Identify and resolve issues
to build matrix capability
• Create an effective operating
model to support collaboration
(structure, processes, systems)
• Use shared systems and
measures to encourage
collaboration

16. Insight Issue:
A Platform to Talk about Issues and Ideas
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17. Challenge:
Build relationships to launch a new product
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Product Organization
Meters and
Monitoring
Global Sales
Organization
Enterprise Sales
• Existing revenue target
• Scarce resources
• Market development
• Technical sale, requires new
skills
• Need for first year sales for
ROI
• Focus on launch activities
• Future market segment and
long term growth opportunity

18. 22

19. These choices are representative of each
leadership lever
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Operating
Model
Disease State
Coordination Council
Integrated database
Roles and Decision
Rights
Relationship
Building
Travel Budget
Planning offsite
Cross Business
Assignments
Leadership
Perspective
VP of Technology
Message
Talk with field leaders
Connect to the
Strategy

20. What this group chose...
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21. What this group chose...
25
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Operating Model
32%
Perspective
38%
Relationship
30%
Discussion this could trigger:
• When is one lever more
important than another?
• Which is our team’s strength?
Which is our team’s
opportunity?
• What specific actions could
we take?

22. Levers of Collaboration Vary in Real Life
26
Discussion this could trigger:
• What is our organization or
leadership bias?
• Should we balance our
approach differently?
• Do different parts of our
organization depend on
different levers?

23. Leading the matrix requires attention to more
than a single decision
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• Clarity of the
strategy, direction
and goals
• Consistent,
continuously
communication and
reinforcement
• Who do you work
with
• What relationships
do you build
• How do you
spend your time
• How do address
proactive and
reactive issues
Direction
StakeholdersTime
Issues

24. 28
Direction
StakeholdersTime
Issues

25. Intent Interaction Example
Inform &
Engage
Update/
Engage
• Keep up to date on progress
• Share information
• “Elevator speech”
• Build ongoing relationships
Gain better
understanding
Inquiry
• Hear perspectives/point of view
• Increase your knowledge of a situation
• Identify issues
• Gather input to the frame, analysis or alternatives
Build
alignment
Influence
• Align perspectives and actions
• Ensure support
• Respond to concerns
• Overcome objections
Change
Behavior
Coach
• Provide constructive feedback
• Empower other to address and solve problems
• Build capability through situational leadership
• Increase accountability of team members
Leverage
Disagreements
Dialogue
and Decide
• Use “productive conflict” skills to approach conflict situations
• Separate business from personal conflict
• Avoid surprises
• Keep communication open
Interactions are the currency of matrix leadership

26. The skills for effective interactions are in scarce
supply (per the Hay Group)
30 The Hay Group, 2012

27. The secret sauce:
What do great matrix leaders do?
1. Lead for the big picture
2. Assume positive intent
3. Embrace issues
4. Explain criteria
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28. • Stay big picture
• Assume positive intent
• Embrace issues
• Explain criteria
Poll: Which is the most challenging behavior for
leaders in your organization?
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29. Your view of Barriers in the Matrix
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30. Poll: How will matrix organization structures
change in the next 5-10 years?
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31. Leaders need to pay attention to all three levers
for the matrix to deliver its promised results...
Where is your
opportunity?
Perspective
Operating
Model
Relationships

32. The leadership at the top performers
see mastering the requisite complexity
as a source of advantage.
(Jay Galbraith 2009)
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www.insight-experience.com
152 Commonwealth Avenue
Concord, MA 01742
978-369-0639
INSIGHT EXPERIENCE
info@insight-experience.com
@InsightXP