• Matrix structures combine the benefits of traditional functional & product / service based structures. In a matrix reporting channels form a grid, and employees typically report to both a functional leader as well as a product or service based leader. • Prior to adoption, an organization should understand the advantages and challenges associated with the matrix structure, as well as how such structure would address the specific needs of the current and future business. Matrix structures have several advantages over conventional one, such as flexible allocation of resources, increase information flow & increase employee autonomy. However, in addition to being extremely difficult to implement and sustain, matrix structures can incur greater overhead costs and increase internal competition for limited resources. • If an organization decides to adopt a matrix , then it should be aware that, to succeed, the transition will require significant investment of both time and effort. Simply adopting a matrix structure is no guarantee for success, and such fundamental changes to an organization are not made swiftly. Organizations should acknowledge that changing cultural attitudes and norms, increasing levels of emotional intelligence and awareness, and developing effective training for employees and leaders are all critical components in maximising a matrix structure’s potential success. • Organizations also should give thought to how they will navigate the unique challenges associated with successfully adopting a matrix structure, such as the increased potential for misaligned goals, unclear roles, responsibilities , ambiguous authority, the lack of matrix guardianship and silo- focused employees.

1. Some Impressionistic Take away from the Book of
Kevan Hall
Making the Matrix Work
Ramki
ramaddster@gmail.com

2. About the Authors
 Kevan Hall is the founder and CEO of Global
Integration Ltd. , a consultancy specializing in
skills required to work in complex, international
organizations, with offices in the UK and
California.
 He works with companies around the world
including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, GlaxoSmithKline,
and Vodafone.
 He has practical experience in line management,
manufacturing operations, HR, training, and
strategic and market planning, mostly at Mars
where he worked in Strasbourg as head of
training and education from Vladivostock to
Ireland. He manages his own cross-cultural and
remote organization and is a regular speaker at
international conferences.

3. Prelude
 In a matrix organization your skills matter more than your status,
your role does not define your reach, and you may wake up
every morning with “multiple bosses, competing goals, influence
without authority and accountability without control.”
 A “matrix organizational structure” slices horizontally. It cuts
across the up-and-down chain of command, severing silos,
stretching to multiple locations and combining functions that
used to be delineated.
 That new mind-set calls for new skills. For example, because
companies now can sprawl across national borders, managers
need strong intercultural communication skills, openness and
flexibility. You’ll interact with “colleagues from different locations”
and you’ll affect people in various units and cultures.

4. Prelude
 Traditional “vertical structures” with clear lines of responsibility
seem simpler, but they don’t fit today’s collaborative business
environment.
 In a horizontal “matrix organizational structure,” formal titles
mean less and divisions are permeable. Managers may have
less formal, defined authority.
 The matrix’s positive and negative qualities merge in how
people work together, though the apparent negatives can be
daunting: Within a matrix, your accountability may decrease,
your goals may be less clear, and you may face
more uncertainty..”
“Both the advantages and disadvantages of the matrix are
fundamentally about people and the way they work together

5. Context
– why matrix
Creating clarity
& embracing
flexibility
Being connected
& effective
Balancing trust
and control
The Matrix
Mindset & skillset
Process

6.  A Matrix Structure is where we have more than
one formal reporting line.
 Matrix working is where we are working or
managing “horizontally” across the traditional
“vertical” silos of function, geography and other
organizational boundaries. It can include managing
external stakeholders, multi-functional and virtual
teams.
Context – What is Matrix ?

7. Why Matrix ?
Drivers – Internal & External
 To meet the needs of Global or Regional Business
needs
 Improved Global or Regional projects & systems
 Improved access to shared resources, skills &
technologies across the organization.
 Improved cooperation & communication across
the old functional & geographic silos.
 Flexibility through faster decision making
 Broader & more multi-skilled people development

8. • Because work runs horizontally across the
organization, it no longer fits within the traditional
vertical silos of function and geography.
Matrix working is everywhere in managerial &
professional roles in major organizations.
Why Matrix ?

9. Why move to a matrix

10. 1
Clarity

11. Matrix working represents a significant increase in
complexity in leadership, collaboration and personal
effectiveness.
Multiple bosses
Competing goals
Higher levels of complexity
Influence without authority
Accountability without control
Success requires a new “Matrix Mind-set” & The skills
to back this up
A Step up in Complexity

12. Creating Clarity & Embracing Flexibility
A matrix trades clarity for flexibility
We need to do what we can to bring Clarity, but we also need
to be comfortable with higher levels of ambiguity
If we could have complete Clarity, we would not need a
Matrix

13. Top Few Matrix Middle Local many
Low
High Clear Strategy &
Goals
Clear Goals
& Workflow
Competing “Whats”
Clarity about WHAT we need to do

14. Top Few Matrix Middle Local many
Low
High
Most conflict is
about how
& less visible to
senior managers
Debate about HOW we should do it

15. Top Few Matrix Middle Local many
Low
High
Middle Managers get squeezed
Competing “Whats”
Conflict about
how

16. Question – What do the matrix middle need?
Question - “What knowledge, skills, authority or
information do people in the “matrix middle need in
order to be successful?

17. Clarity and Flexibility
 When you have 2 or more bosses you may be the
only person with a compete view of your goals and
role.
 You should certainly be the person with the most
motivation to sort out any lack of clarity or conflicts.
 A matrix requires much higher levels of personal
ownership of goal and role clarity.

18. Clarity and Flexibility
 Create clarity where you can – goals, roles and alignment.
 But not everything will be clear so don’t obsess on RASCI
etc.
 Trade-offs and dilemmas are normal
 Metrics and incentives need to reflect this
 Conflict is OK so long as we have the skills to resolve it.
 Concentrate on escalations as a signal of problems.

19. Decision Making –Expertise vs. Authority
Based on authority /DOP
Boss feels the need to reserve to him –
or herself
Boss will consult others
Responsible for final decision
Within the area of responsibility of
the expert, confident & empowered
Made on basis of expertise
More than one person
Process through discussion, Consensus
Collective process .Not Hierarchy

20. To Summarize –Matrix & “Clarity”
 Functioning in a matrix demands “clarity,” “flexibility” and
continual renegotiation of the balance between them.
 Most organizations define clarity in terms of goals, but most
goals aren’t as clear as executives like to think.
 Leaders /Managers torn between two clear but conflicting
goals need to handle such trade-offs themselves without
taking questions up to the executive level.
 To reach those self-governing choices, managers need the
data, skills “and confidence to make good decisions.”
 “Communities are about creating opportunities for connection
and dialogue and seeing what emerges. They are not about
forcing collaboration.”

21.  People working in matrix organizations often complain that
their goals and their roles are not aligned.
 Be aware of this issue if people regularly make “poor
judgment calls,” if they duplicate one another’s efforts, if
tasks don’t get done, if processes aren’t synchronized or if
people clash over resources.
 To achieve greater alignment, communicate the firm’s
“vision, mission” and core strategies.
 Create a strong culture and share it. Set up a balanced
scorecard to show that different aspects of the company –
customer relations, finances, learning, organizational
development, administration and more – create value. Make
sure everyone knows what your leaders value.
The Matrix & Alignment

22.  “Effective organizational change flows from strategy to
structure to systems to skills.”
 Use “cross-business campaigns” to promote alignment by
building a sense of shared purpose.
 Show employees why they need “vertical goals” for their
jobs – based on strategic concerns – and “horizontal goals”
for facilitating the work of the overall organization.
 If you belong to a team, work with your members to boost
the group’s coordination and collaboration.
The Matrix & Alignment
“Research shows that role clarity is highly correlated with
engagement, performance and retention, so it is
important to get this right.”

23. To Summarize –Matrix & “Clarity”
 The different levels that hierarchical management structures
once kept strictly separated now must communicate with each
other until executives and managers share the same reality. That
seldom happens in traditional structures where 78% of senior
managers think that their middle managers’ roles are well
defined, while 85% of middle managers believe their roles are not
clear.
 “A lack of alignment of goals and roles is one of the most
common complaints in matrix working.”
 Goals often compete and “change quickly,” complicating the
issue of clarity in a matrix organization. When goals can come
from different parts of the corporation, and from offices in
different places that work on mismatched timelines and have
diverse perspectives, the result can be complex and frustrating.
Matrix organizations have many tools to deal with this,
including…………..

24. To Summarize –Matrix & “Clarity”
 “Line of sight” – Align all employees’ objectives with “high-
level strategic goals.” This can help individuals gain clarity,
and support “overall organizational alignment.”
 “Cascade” – Goals and communication flow from the highest
level down to the next, and the next, and so on. This structure
can suffer from lack of feedback if communication flows in only
one direction.
 “Focusing” – Concentrate on increasing clarity about a few
main goals.
 “In reality, talented Leaders have always used a wide range of
influence techniques and sources of power to get things
done.”

25. To Summarize –Matrix & “Clarity”
 People who are clear about their roles are more engaged and
perform better.
 To assess clarity, ask each person at a meeting to write the
top three goals for the firm, the division and the department.
 Share those goals to ensure that people’s perceptions are
correct. Have them define their goals, creating “islands of
clarity” and finding the answers they need to make the matrix
work for them.
 You may change how you define goals.
 Older models, like SMART (“specific, measurable, achievable,
realistic, and time-bounded”) goals, may be “too simplistic for
the matrix.”

26. To Summarize –Matrix & “Clarity”
 “The key challenge to matrix success is creating a mind-set and a
skillset in our people that allows them to cope with the new level of
complexity.”
 Clarify your goals with “RASCI” analysis, which reviews what you
are “ Responsible “ “Accountable” for, what you are “Consulted”
about and what you need to be “Supported “ & “Informed” about.
 Each category entails different duties. For example, only one person
is accountable for a project, but several people may be responsible
for completing increments of the work involved.
 Figure out what you have to deliver and “how you are expected to
work.” Set your priorities and determine what “consequences and
implications” your work carries for others. Outline who makes
decisions: each person, the group or a boss.
 “Cooperation is vital to the success of a matrix organization.
However, cooperation has become more complex and expensive

27. 2
Cooperation

28. Being Connected and Effective
Verticals - Functions / Businesses /
Geography
We introduce a
matrix to increase
cooperation and
communication
across the traditional
silos.
You

29. Being Connected and Effective
Verticals - Functions / Businesses /
Geography
Horizontal–BU/Functions
We introduce a matrix
to increase cooperation
and communication
across the traditional
silos.
But be careful what you wish for!
You

30. One Team

31. Four Modes of Cooperation
Spaghetti Team Star Group
Cloud Community Purposeful Network

32. Star Groups and Spaghetti Teams
Star Group Spaghetti Team
• People can work on individual
objectives
• Roles do not overlap
• People have unique skills
• Communication is needed relatively
infrequently
• People can normally complete their daily
work without information or service from
others in the group
• Information is shared for learning and
interest
• Objectives require cooperation of all
members of the team
• Individual roles overlap
• People have complementary skills
• Communication is needed relatively
frequently
• People are dependent on others in the
team to get their daily work done
• Information is shared to get things done

33. The Question - Cooperation – the size of the prize
Q1 - What % of your typical week do you spend in meetings,
conference calls and web meetings (with more than 2 people)
Q2 – Of that time that you spend in meetings, calls etc.. What
% of the content is relevant and necessary for you to do your
job?
Note - Answers should be a number between zero and 100 – or
you could use bands 0-25%, 26-40%, 41% to 60%, 61-80%,
more than 80%

34. Streamline your meetings
Discuss this in your regular “team” meeting or call
What topics do you cover?
Are these star, sub-team or full team spaghetti topics?
Does everyone need to be involved in these topics?
How else could you meet the objectives of the call or
meeting?

35. Cooperation
 Be clear about the mode of cooperation you need.
 Use the simplest mode you can to achieve your goals
– its not all about teams.
 Involve as few people as you can.
 Clarify decision rights.
 Focus your synchronous time on “spaghetti”.
 Support the mode of working with the appropriate
technology (including social media)
“Set up the matrix so that anyone in the organization could
contact any other individual to get things done, not so that
everyone in between had to come to the meeting”

36. 3
Control

37. Balancing Trust and Control

38. Balancing Trust Control
Trust
Undermined
Factors such as
distance, cultures, time
zones, working through
technology, competing
goals and multiple
bosses can subtly
undermine trust in a
matrix and lead to a
“vicious circle”.

39. Balancing Trust and Control
 Take explicit steps to build trust in distributed teams and
groups – its no longer a free by-product of proximity.
 Use escalation as a signal of a lack or capability or confidence
and an opportunity to build both and increase empowerment.
 Push decisions down to the lowest level possible.
 Review your control mechanisms – the “carriers of control”.
 What should the vertical stop doing to allow space for the
horizontal to succeed – reviews, meetings, controls, approvals
etc...

40. Accountability without Control

41. Situation What behaviors does
this lead to?
Accountability < Control
Accountability = Control
Accountability> Control
Accountability without Control -3 Possibilities

42. Situation What behaviors does this
lead to?
Accountability < Control 16% of jobs in Harvard Study >
Poor performance
Accountability = Control 14% of jobs >
Efficiency
Accountability > Control
70% of jobs >
Exploring and
Collaboration
Accountability without Control -3 Possibilities

43. Vertical Accountabilities
• Individual
• Functional
• Control over most resources needed
• Focus on efficiency A=C
Horizontal accountabilities
• Shared
• Cross-functional activity or process
• Needs others’ resources
• Focus on exploration and cooperation A>C
Accountability without Control

44. 4
The Matrix Mind-Set & Skillset
( Be a Matrix Leader, Not a Matrix Victim)

45. Context
Clarity
Cooperation
Creating clarity and alignment.
Dealing with ambiguity, trade-
offs and dilemmas.
Working across distance, cultures,
time zones, through technology and
organizational boundaries.
Being connected and effective –
avoiding the “over-connection trap”
Leading in a Matrix
Why matrix?
Demystifying the Matrix.
Balancing Trust & Control.
Empowering people in a matrix.
Accountability without control..
Control
Mindset
&
Skillset

46. The Matrix victim waits for someone else to bring Clarity; the matrix Leader
relishes the Flexibility, Autonomy & Breadth that Matrix gives them

47.  Self-Leadership – taking control and ownership of your goals,
role and skills.
 Breadth – think beyond your role and function. Take
ownership for the delivery of results that cross organizational
boundaries
 Comfortable with ambiguity – bring clarity, structure
and control to bear when necessary but embrace ambiguity,
flexibility and trust.
 Adaptive – flexible and open to learning new ideas and new
ways of working.
 Influential – don’t fall back on traditional power and authority
to get things done, use a wide range of influence techniques
The Matrix Mind-set

48. The Question to debate
My organization provides specific skills training for our people
on…
1.Matrix management
2.Matrix teams
3.Working in a matrix
4.None of the above
Please select any that apply
Matrix Skillset

49. Leadership Collaboration Personal Effectiveness
• Demystify the matrix for their
people
• Build clarity and organizational
alignment
• Streamline cooperation
• Create and support
accountability without control
• Communicate effectively to
diverse groups and through
technology
• Exercise power and influence
without authority
• Lead others toward
empowerment and freedom
• Find the right balance of trust
and control
• Build a culture that supports
matrix working
• Building and aligning matrix
team goals
• Managing competing goals and
priorities within the team
• Choosing and using spaghetti
teams, star groups, cloud
communities and purposeful
networks.
• Building Matrix teams –
building, improving and running
teams across barriers of
distance, cultures, time zones,
technology and organizational
complexity
• Supporting cooperation through
technology – creating relevance
in communication and building
participation and engagement
online
• Building, maintaining and
repairing trust in the matrix
environment
• Managing team celebration and
learning remotely
• Define and clarify their own
goals
• Manage alignment with others
• Deal with competing goals and
higher levels of ambiguity
• Own and shape their own role
• Manage multiple bosses and
divided loyalties
• Build and engage a matrix
network to get things done
• Manage trade-offs, choices and
dilemmas
• Influence without authority
• Build trust with colleagues
across distance and cultures
• Escalate positively
• Manage conflict
• Communicate through
technology
• Work in matrix, virtual and
global teams
• Work across time zones
• Stay visible when working
remotely
Matrix Skillset

50. Some thoughts from me on
Behavioural Patterns
( Not in the Book)

51. The Mind-set :Relationship & Trust Investment

52. The Mind-set : Borderless Communication

53. The Mind-set : Influence over Power

54. The Mind-set : Negotiation based Decisions

55. The Mind-set : Realistic Goal Alignment

56. The Mind-set : Learning Paradigm

57.  When you recruit people for matrix roles, do you look for the
Matrix Mind-set?
 What evidence can you collect during recruitment about
people’s past experience of operating this way?
 Are you rewarding successful matrix behaviours through
your recognition & career-development systems ?
 Do individuals in your organization have the skills necessary
to be successful in the matrix ?
 Do your training & development support people in building
the Matrix Skillset ?
The Questions ……

58.  You can be a “matrix victim” who suffers passively and
complains. Or you can be a “matrix manager” who
embraces the flexibility of a horizontal structure.
 Before you can help your employees develop their roles,
you must develop the consciousness to live amid greater
complexity.
 A matrix mind-set calls for Self-leadership as you define
your goals and your role in the company.
 You need to be “comfortable with ambiguity,” able to change
and able to lead through influence, not control.
 The matrix Mind-set calls for a set of related skills, including
leadership, collaboration and “personal effectiveness.”
To Summarize -The “Matrix Mind-Set” and the “Matrix Skillset

59. “Ensuring that individuals have access to
communications technologies and the skills
necessary to use them properly is essential
for effective cooperation in distributed
teams and organizations.”

62.  The “matrix organizational structure” cuts across “traditional
vertical structures of function and geography.”
 Matrix management flows horizontally, across departments
and locations – not vertically, up and down a hierarchy. It
destroys silos.
 A matrix structure provides flexibility and cooperation,
demands greater internal communication, and can cope with
ambiguity and uncertainty.
 Managers in traditional organizations rely on formal
command structures.
 Matrix managers exert influence through cooperation and
empowerment.
 Most people need their managers’ help to understand their
roles and goals in the matrix.
Key Take Aways

63.  “Horizontal accountability” calls for cooperating “across
functions.”
 “Vertical accountability” calls for finishing your own defined
tasks.
 To align employees’ objectives, share “high-level strategic
goals,” approach alignment as a “cascade” flowing through
levels, or focus with intensity on a few main goals.
 Cooperate within four-to-six person “spaghetti teams,” 10-to-
15 person “star groups,” “cloud communities” of up to 50
people or “purposeful networks” of as many as 150.
Key Take Aways

64. Mail your comments to
ramaddster@gmail.com