A tale on Committees
Victoria
felt tired when she woke up. It was probably a result of her agitated dreams
during the night, with images and action she still vividly had in her mind. While
she took a shower, she was reflecting on the previous day meeting she had attended.
She was the manager of Project Minivan, a project which involved several
departments in her company and which implied drastic changes and decisions in
order to deliver the final product: a versatile, modern, efficient and fit for
use vehicle.
Project
Minivan had been running now for over 1 year. Victoria had set up the correct
project structure, and had extensively informed key stakeholders, including top
management, all the time. She had been making progress over the past year and
was ready to finalize the first phase, and had a good concept proposal for a
further implementation and eventual launch of the Minivan.
The meeting
yesterday had been a surprise. It was a presentation of Minivan to AYSYTR Committee;
the Are You Sure Your Technology is Right Committee. One member had been
particularly difficult and had raised concerns never before expressed, despite
he was a member of the Steering Committee of Minivan. As a result of AYSYTRC
decision, Minivan was now split in two: the back wheels and trunk would be
Project Mini, and it would be launched first, while the engine and front wheels,
Project Van, would be put on hold, as it was considered very complex.
Victoria
was frustrated and though what had she done wrong.
Victoria
was still puzzled because she had understood the role of the AYSYTRC was to
ensure there were no problems on the technical aspects of Minivan in terms of
compatibility with other model vehicles, interface of software tools, etc.
However, the main concerns expressed were strategy and scope related.
In her way
to work, she recalled the words from her colleague Alex, when he explained to
her the numerous Committees existing in the Company, and how confusing the
decision making was sometimes. Alex explained that there were 4 main
Committees:
· WRHYPC – We Review What You Procure
Committee
· WRWYCSC – We Review What You Can
Spend Committee
· WRWYCHHC – We Review Who You Can
Hire and How Committee, and
· AYSYTRC - Are You Sure Your
Technology is Right Committee
The role of
WRHYPC was to ensure procurement was correctly done, but they liked looking at
strategy or budget, even looked at technical aspects, and sometimes stopped
projects because of that, despite the process had been perhaps correctly
applied.
The role of
WRWYCSC was to ensure budgets were correctly set and money for spending
authorized. However, they liked to look at strategy too. They were famous to
stop projects despite having them been already discussed, approved and
authorized by the Chief Executive Officer in person.
The role of
WRWYCHHC was to decide on who was appointed where. They were famous for
strictly applying rules sometimes despite the desire of the person in question,
and his/her managers in both the receiving and current position. Considerations
on efficiencies, adequacy of person to role were secondary to making sure X
people were allocated to X positions.
Finally,
nobody was totally cleared what the role of the AYSYTRC was. It was supposed to
be to ensure that technology was correctly applied, coherent and consistent
with other projects. However, they liked also to discuss strategies and budget.
And this Committee was known by its frequent postponements or cancellations of
scheduled meetings
This
decision making by Committees was rather confusing and
slowed down progress in the Company. Moreover, the Committees did not meet as
regularly as the business required. Sometimes, the meetings were cancelled and
a decision was therefore put on hold. The whole business was cumbersome.
Victoria had
a bright idea!: she would apply the homeopathic principle of “alike cures
alike”. She would propose to create an overarching Committee, which would be the
remedy: the OCOCC, Overarching Coordination of Committees Committee. That would
be the solution. The OCOCC would meet quarterly, and would rule on conflicts
among the Committees. Its scope to be wide: strategy, budget, technology (hard
and soft), HR, etc, etc
**********************************************************************************
While
Victoria was internally elaborating her proposal, her Guardian Angel was
writing a letter to the Lord of Common Sense in the following terms:
Dear Lord,
I write to you in urgency asking or your
intervention in the Company. Common Sense has disappeared and a cloud of strict
rule thinking is replacing pragmatism and effectiveness. Moreover, managers
responsibilities are confused by the collective decision making.
My Lord, as advised by you in the last Heavens
and Earth Strategic Meeting, the working by Committee does not encourage
individuals to take calculated risks. The business is slowing down to the
extent that we start to worry that the Company survival is at risk.
Yours,
Victoria’s Guardian Angel
The Lord of
Common Sense put the letter aside and smiled. It was working again!! These
Humans, they would never learn! After the Babel fiasco when his Great Grand
Father had confused them all by creating all the different languages, this
Working-by-Committee intervention was starting to work.
The Lord
stood up and went to walk his dog. He felt well.
