GALAXIES FRAMEWORK – HOW WE DO IT

Utilizing science, frameworks and modern concepts we take a unique deep dive into your organization and discover where the best opportunities are to cut stagnation and increase agility and profitability.

People are predictable compared to the interlinks they form with others, which tend to be capricious.

During our years of senior management at very large organizations, we were always perplexed by recurring problems and our apparent inability to find permanent solutions.  No matter what we did, they just kept popping up.  Whether communication, accountability, long-term customer satisfaction recurring issues were holding us back from fulfilling our organizational potential.  We found this seeming ‘price’ of doing business not only occurred in individual organizations, but entire industries.

Fortunately, time and experience became our allies.  As leaders of groups, departments, and organizations we relied on the old axiom: to solve a problem, you needed to break it down into smaller parts, focusing on people and smaller groups.  Ultimately, we realized we needed to take the opposite approach.  The solution lied in looking at the organization as a whole: rather than zooming in, we needed to zoom out.

Initially using our intuition, we began applying this concept within our own organizations and the results were dramatic.  Our success compelled us to embrace this model and fueled a desire to learn everything about the art and science of looking at an organization as-a-whole.  Over the last seven years it became clear the key was understanding the interactions, impacts and flows between people and groups.  It’s what is in-between that matters.

Surprising at first, we soon realized there was a vast amount of resources on the topic of a holistic overview of a system.  Not so surprising was the level of complexity involved.  As we tried to communicate our findings it became clear few understood what we were talking about.  Part of the challenge stemmed from the fact that this was all very contemporary and developing as a science, and as a concept and with different practices.

Regardless, we had success and proof of concept, but continuing difficulty in articulating what we were doing.  This led to the obvious conclusion that we needed to create a simpler virtual version.  This would allow us to explain the importance of understanding how systems of interactions and impacts and flows worked.  We knew this was the key to seeing the where the flaws were and eliminate them permanently.

Accepting this challenge, we developed a framework which merges multiple sciences, concepts and tools into one structure.  As you will see, this easy to understand process is augmented with a validation process missing in antiquated concepts no longer relevant.

From a high-level point of view, there are seven steps in our framework:

0 – Setting Up the Scope (only used once)

1 – Collecting Data on Interlinks and Transforming it into Models

2– Validating the Model 

3 – Using Synthesis and Analysis to Detect Flaws

4 – Define Several Solutions.

5 – Validate the Best Solution, Short and Long-term.

6 – Translate the Proposed Solution into a Roadmap.

0 – PHASE ONE: Setting up the Scope

Our objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the problem from an organizational structure perspective which gives us a baseline.  We begin by creating a boundary of the organizations constitutes identified as part of the problem and then all entities internally and externally they depend on (and vice versa).  This allows us to identify other elements we need to bring into focus to create a holistic picture typically consisting of people, groups and technologies.

1 – Collecting Data on Interlinks and Transforming it into Models

Once we know the basic parts of the domain, we start to collect their interactions, impacts, and flows. Interactions are changes in internal states of the specific entities we are focusing on because of their direct connections.

Interactions: worker A does something causing change the internal state of worker B.

Impacts: any change in an entity because of another entity’s actions or decisions.   The change is not limited to the original action but to other parties that weren’t a part of the original interaction.

Flows: exchanges of data, materials or anything else that can be accumulated.

This step is designed to collect data on these interlinks within the scope of the project resulting three models depicting the interactions, impacts and flows.

2 – Validating the Model 

Models are never 100% accurate individually, but helpful when utilized properly. There are several ways to increase the accuracy of models. The easiest and most practical way is through multiple simulations which creates numerous data points.  The next step is an interpretation and comparison to the system at large.

Models are validated when the results depict at least 75% of the reality of the current system.   This 75% standard is the minimum threshold we attain before moving forward.

Through this process our framework doesn’t just refine collected data, it also reveals patterns of flaws and challenges regarding the way the current system of interlinks is set up.

3 – Using Synthesis and Analysis to Detect Flaws

We base this step on patterns and anti-patterns of interactions, impacts and flows and how they are impacted by organization structure, policies, and management.  

Patterns can be defined as how to go from a bad solution to a good solution and anti-patterns how to go from a problem to a bad solution.

Part of those anti-patterns are illuminated from the sciences and framework we merged. The other part a result of our experience running the framework.

The resulting data helps find challenges in the current system of interlinks. It also provides several options to resolve or minimize the challenge based on relevant experiences.

The resulting data creates a list of potential issues and suggested changes that can resolve or reduce the challenge.

4 – Define Several Solutions

Utilizing the data of step 3 and the models from step 1, this step creates two to four new models which are an augmentation of the models from step 1 to identify solutions.  The result is three models of interactions, impacts and flows augmented to depict the proposed changes.

We then compare the current and proposed models.  This makes it easy to see the proposed changes and understand how they will impact the organization both short, and long term.

5 – Validate the Best Solution Short and Long-term

In this step, we use further simulations from the suggested solutions from step 4 with the same sample data created in step two.   The new data further illuminates issues and points us to the best solutions for the organization (and which solutions should be taken off the table).

In our experience, leaders often make decisions based on an incomplete assessment of their organization.  This is problematic, to say the least.

The data we’re able to surface allows leaders to make decisions based on a complete understanding of where their organization is and what the best solutions are.

6 – Translate the Proposed Solution into a Roadmap

This step is the endgame.  We have taken a deep dive, surfaced solutions for identified problems, and now we create a specific roadmap to implement the solutions: who, what, when, how and what the costs will be.

CONCLUSION

This framework encapsulates five different sciences, two frameworks and several modern concepts of how organizations are working.

Each of the above steps is involved and complex but ultimately takes a holistic and in-depth observation of organizations using interactions, impacts, and flows.

 We are proud that we have managed to merge and box all these concepts and ideas into one framework that everyone can follow to resolve problems which are difficult to solve using traditional problem-solving methods.