Ever been frustrated with how information is exchanged or decisions are made in an organization? Ever wondered if there was a way to fix it? You might have just stumbled upon one such answer, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

A typical organization functions in a top-down, one-directional system – one we are all familiar with.

These organizations present problems, figure out solutions, and make decisions all at a high level and disseminate them downward. We all know that this often produces undesirable situations like, “solutions” not making sense on the front lines, “problems” being nothing more than misunderstood information, and “decisions” that do not take into consideration the current abilities or processes of lower levels.

Though familiar, and overwhelmingly popular, this system is not structured in a way that promotes a good Brand-centric focus or a healthy organizational culture. Needless to say, it is ill-prepared for the next generation workforce. This system often is seen in large companies with many employees, but can also be found in many companies operating under traditional business practices. What I’d like to propose is a new way to look at how information and decisions could and possibly should be made and transferred.

Company Focus

Let’s start with what a company’s focus should be. Based on research, it’s evident that a single-focused system isn’t a good practice. Instead, a more holistic approach, like a Brand-centric approach, would produce the desired results. So what direction should focus go?

Typically the focus of an organization is bottom-up. Meaning, lower levels of an organization are looking to their bosses for direction, gratification, and promotion. While this is not innately an issue, it often leads to a misdirected focus upwards instead of downwards towards the employees, customers, and products. Symptoms of this style of organization include high turnover due to employees feeling undervalued or underutilized, a culture of pride and fear, a cut-throat environment, and poor customer service due to front-line workers not feeling empowered or passionate about the product. Basically, if everyone is looking up, no one is looking down towards the customer and employee.  

So, how do you fix it?

Step 1. – Change the focus direction

This step is the most difficult due to its company-wide implications. This shift in focus moves from one of pleasing the boss (upwards) to serving the level below – may it be customer or employee (downwards). This flips old business thinking on its head and puts the responsibility of higher levels to focus on equipping and empowering lower levels with the tools needed to fulfill their duties while also feeling fulfilled. This shift in thought requires an overhaul of old practices, all with the goal of focusing on what matters and what will more effectively propel a company towards their company mission and vision. This step must start/have full buy-in from the very top since almost all organizations have a trickle-down effect when it comes to culture and thought. This shift in thought will open the door for a company culture that produces loyal customers and employees.  

Step 2. – Adjust direction of operation

Once the focus is moving in the right direction, it’s time to adjust how the operation is handled. As you probably noticed, the above chart shows a slightly tweaked version of the first one. This one shows the “Problems” arrow pointed both ways and the “Possible Solutions” arrow pointed upward instead of downward. To break this down, let’s look at each arrow.  

“Problems” Arrow

As often the case, problems come from all directions. The CEO could have an issue as well as the front line, or anyone in between. Often, organizations treat problems as if they can only move in one direction (downward). But we all know this is just not the case. As long as an organization remembers that all levels can have problems and treats them all as legitimate, it is time to move to the solutions arrow.  

“Possible Solutions” Arrow

Unlike the first chart that shows the “Solutions” arrow moving downward, the above chart shows the same arrow, but now named “Possible Solutions” and pointing upward. This tweak speaks to two shifts of thought. First, the name change. The addition of “Possible” has presented the opportunity of suggestion, ownership, and collaboration of multiple levels. Second, the change in direction illustrates the need for inclusion of lower (and often lowest) levels in the problem solving and solution creating process. This is VITAL because there is often a breakdown of understanding of the processes of lower levels. An information gap or disconnect is often present between upper levels and front-line workers. An upward solution strategy would bridge that information gap and provide a more realistic and possible solution to a higher level problem. These possible solutions will guide the decision making of upper levels.  

“Decisions” Arrow

You can see that this arrow didn’t change from the original chart. Decisions still need to come from the top down, but only when followed by the other two arrows. This format will allow for greater identification of problems, gathering of possible solutions, and collection of necessary information to make the best decisions.

What’s the point?

This whole change of thought is intended to challenge old business structures and identify/explore new ones. Through this process, we can see that there are ways to improve the effectiveness of upper-level decisions, while also creating an organizational culture that creates loyal customers and employees.