Last month I wrote about pebbles and ways not to stumble over them. As a recap, I discussed the old
proverb: “Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the
pebbles in your path and you will find you have climbed the mountain.” I spoke about the new
leadership paradigm of focusing on the result, guiding ideas and evidence that the results are being
realized. In other words, senior leadership does not focus on the structures of accomplishing the result.
That should be the work of the line leaders. All too often, senior leaders make their daily meetings
around issues that involve structures, becoming project managers rather than project leaders.
If senior leadership keeps its attention on supervising to the evidence that the results are being
achieved, then line leaders can supervise (and have the freedom to design) the structures without
interference from senior leadership. This simple shift becomes empowering to everyone in the system.
Senior leadership is then able to spend more time focusing on those strategic issues (we call that
working on the system) versus managing daily activities that line leaders would do in this new paradigm
(we call that working in the system).

As senior leaders concentrate on the evidence that we are achieving those important corporate goals,
they may notice a lack of convincing evidence. To that end, we then ask the question: What is occurring
in the system? If the line manager is not finding evidence of mission accomplishment, there is probably
a deficiency of knowledge in the system about how to make the necessary adjustments (we call that
personal practical knowledge). The senior leadership does not rush to judgment about lack of evidence.
We believe in what Dr. Deming said: 99% of the people in the system are doing the very best they can to
succeed; however, it is the structures we create that cause them to fail. Therefore, if our outcomes
aren’t being realized, we critically analyze the structures we have in place and inquire about our
personal practical knowledge to see if we can increase the system’s capacity to be more effective
through knowledge/learning. Dr. Deming also stated, “It is not enough to do your best; you must know
what to do, and THEN do your best.”

The JLC triangle (see figure 1) places organizational focus in the right people’s hands. Senior leaders
supervise to the evidence that the result they are attempting to achieve is being fulfilled. The line
leaders focus on the structure construction and efficiency—using evidence to support their decisions. If
the results are not in evidence, then we talk about the Personal Practical Knowledge issues that we
need.

An example might help bring this discussion to light:
Result: To complete one part of a triathlon bike leg in ? x time.
Guiding Idea: In order to complete the Biking leg in ? X time, I must increase my stamina and overall
pedal speed.
Evidence:
1. Minutes at the top of cardio?vascular range
2. Pedal speed per minute
3. Sustained pedal speed per 5?minute intervals
4. Sustained pedal speed at 10?minute intervals
5. And so forth
Structure:
1. Gym time on stationary bike
2. Road work for x time
3. Speed work
4. And so forth

Personal Practical Knowledge
If my structures are not leading to the evidence that my desired result is being achieved, then I might
need to consult a trainer who can offer me different structures that would show evidence that my result
is being fulfilled.

If you take the above example and place it in figure 1, you can see how the triangle keeps us focused on
our organizational responsibilities and the most important aspects of what we are trying to accomplish
(that result). Senior leaders should ask themselves: Are my Board discussions dealing with the top of the
triangle (result, guiding ideas, and evidence) or the bottom of the triangle (structures and Personal
Practical Knowledge questions)? Asking yourself this question as you look at your agenda is a good way
to keep the proper focus as a leadership body.

The triangle is a very powerful tool to clearly outline the result you are trying to achieve. That step is
often overlooked in programs/projects, leading to lack of clarity on the desires of senior leadership.
Next, as you design the guiding ideas (those “in order to achieve result x” statements) you will be
compelled to do research around best practices to achieve a desired result. As the evidence statements
are constructed, they provide the organization clear expectations of what the senior leadership is
hoping to accomplish. Line leaders then have clear direction and can work with their teams to design
structures they feel are most appropriate to support the desired result (very liberating, we find). If the
evidence isn’t generated, we then can have objective discussions around what personal practical
knowledge must be enhanced to improve the evidence. In this model we do not come from a place of
knowing but from a place of inquiring. Lastly, in the words of Dr. Deming again, “everyone doing their
best isn’t the answer. The first step in transformation is to learn how to change.”
Jorgensen Learning Center is committed to this work for all to share and use. The ultimate goal is to
build high quality professional relationships between senior leadership and line leaders. We believe that
high quality relationships lead to high quality results.

 Figure 1: