Managing the matrix: How to cope with ambiguity and change

What is the matrix?

Welcome to the matrix, where multiple bosses, competing goals, influence without authority and accountability without control are the norm.

It requires a different skill set

Today work is done in a ‘horizontal’ way and not in a vertical structure.

A matrix requires skills in leadership, co-operation and personal effectiveness.

Disadvantages of a matrix

• Lack of accountability
• Unclear goals and roles
• Delays in decision making
• Increase in bureaucracy
• Increase in uncertainty and conflict

Skilled people are central to it

The advantages and disadvantages of a matrix are fundamentally about people and the way they work together.

Skilled people can make any structure succeed, and even the most elegant structure will fail if the people within the structure do not have the skills.

Control and power are less effective

Skilled people sometimes have an over-reliance on control and power. That doesn’t work in a matrix.

Traditional management prioritizes clarity, predictability and control. In a matrix, we need to balance ambiguity, manage change and decentralize control.

It requires engagement

High levels of engagement increase discretionary effort. Leaders must push engagement in a matrix.

Employee engagement comes when individuals feel a sense of ownership of meaningful goals.

It involves more meetings, slower decision making

Matrix implementations are often followed by an increase in number of meetings, conference calls, emails and a slowdown in decision making.

Ways of co-operating

There are four ways of co-operating in a matrix: networks, communities, teams and groups.

Centralized control is dangerous in a matrix

It leads to more escalations and nothing gets done.

Build trust and empowerment

In a matrix, we build engagement by demonstrating trust and enabling empowerment and we gain better, faster control.

Building a matrix mind-set and skill set

• Active self-management
• Breadth
• Being comfortable with ambiguity
• Adaptability
• Influencers

A choice to be more flexible

The matrix is a deliberate choice to sacrifice some clarity for flexibility.

We need clarity in an organization to know who is doing what, we need flexibility to cope with change and ambiguity.

It allows us to be good at different things

We set up a matrix to be good at different things that compete for our time, attention and money.

Bring clarity on strategic goals

If the strategic goals are unclear, middle management tends to escalate a lot more.

Most of the debate and conflict on achieving goals happens in the middle management.

A recent survey found that 85% of middle management thought their roles were unclear; only 22% of senior management held this view.

The role performance management plays

Performance management in a matrix has to move up, it has to pay attention to people’s ability to juggle competing priorities and make decisions on trade-offs.

Role clarity enhances engagement

Research shows that role clarity is highly co-related with engagement, performance and retention.

The RACI

In a matrix, you need to think of RACI—Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.

Accountability

In a matrix, we rarely have full control over the things we are accountable for. We rely on a network of supporting functions and colleagues to deliver.

The trick is to get down to a sufficient level of detail where we can drive clarity on accountabilities.

Responsibility

The people who are responsible are the people who do the work.

Consulting

Consult means you ask for and listen to someone’s opinions and inputs before you make a decision. It does not mean that they are the decision makers or that they have to agree.

In a matrix, everyone thinks that he should be consulted. That is not true.

Informing

When you inform people, they are not decision makers and they do not have a right to veto. You are not asking for approval or involvement when you inform.

Three ways of making decisions

• The boss decides
• An empowered individual decides.
• Collective decisions

Solution providers matter

“Why talk to someone with a job title, when you can talk to someone with an answer.”

A lack of alignment and goals

That is one of the most common complaints in matrix working.

The pull towards local goals

People tend to be pulled towards their local goals and old friendships and relationships as opposed to doing the right thing.

Managing competing priorities

A level of “constructive tension” is good in a matrix.

As F Scott Fitzgerald  said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

Making trade-offs

The need for a trade-off implies constraint. We cannot have it all and participants in a trade-off need to have that maturity.

Be as fact-based as possible in trade-off discussions and don’t leak emotion all over the discussion room.

Making a compromise

A compromise is where we agree to meet in the middle, and each of us gives up something in order to reach agreement. Many rigid managers fail in this meeting the middle ground philosophy.

Depersonalise discussions

Keep the issues objective rather than get emotional. Focus on the specific challenges to be resolved.

Experience and good judgement

“Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement.” – Rita Mae Brown

Why conflict happens

Conflict happens when one party wants to impose their views on others without addressing the issue properly.

Making agreements hold

In a matrix you should always shoot for agreements and then monitor and hold people  accountable to see that agreements have been met in good faith.

Move to fewer people in meetings and approvals

As we become more comfortable in a matrix, we need to cut the number of people involved in meetings and approvals—that is when the matrix will pick up speed.

We cannot afford low-quality meetings in a matrix.

Four buckets of co-operation

• A team is a number of people with complementary skills working together to achieve a collaborative goal.
• A group is a number of individuals with either similar roles or skills that do not require close collaboration but need to be co-ordinated.
• A community is a group that shares a sense of identity.
• A network is a number of people who are connected and related in some way. They exchange information and may interact to achieve specific goals.

What it means to be accountable

Accountability means responsibility, answerability, blame worthiness, liability and account giving.

Accountability in a good company

A good company is one where accountability routinely exceeds control over resources, that will stretch the manager to work collaboratively, to use others to deliver.

Visibility in an organization depends on...

• Performance
• Image and
• Exposure

In a good company performance is monitored; in a poor company image is multiplied.

Coaching to build capability

Coaching is a powerful way to build capability in a matrix. Leaders should ask the right questions rather than dictating answers.

The best coaching happens in an atmosphere of trust.

The nature of trust

Trust is like the air we breathe. When it is present, nobody notices; when it is absent, everyone notices.

Trust is easier to destroy than to build.

Trust, capability and character

Trust is about capability and character. Capability is about whether you are reliable; character is about whether your behaviour is predictable, consistent, open and fair.

Be a matrix manager, not a victim

The matrix victim waits for someone to bring clarity; the matrix manager relishes the flexibility, autonomy and breadth in a matrix.