Musings at Altitude

I’m in Anchorage this week, feeling every bit of the itinerant worker that I really am.  I’m only getting up here about every 2 months now, sometimes every 3.  At one time, I was coming up 2 or 3 times a month, and it was really wearing me down.  Every 2 or 3 months seems like the right timing.

But even though I’m traveling to Anchorage much less frequently now, some things stay the same:

(1) I still find a beautiful flower on my desk (yep, I still have a desk) every time I show up in the office

(2) I still find hugs and smiles when I tour the hallways

(3) I still sense excitement in some and see the passion in others

(4) I still hear the concerns and the challenges that come with growth and increasing bureaucracy

(5) I still hear the constant churning of the copying machines and printers in preparation for board meetings and major briefings

(6) And I still sense that we’ve got a long way to go to transition from that “small company that could…” to that “large company that is…”

I first started coming up here in 2003, and the old adage applies perfectly – “some things change, but lots of things remain the same”.

I think the biggest difference is the buzz…when we were small and growth was contagious, the buzz was intoxicating.

Today, we’re at least 6 times bigger than we were 6 years ago, and the buzz seems much more process than passion driven.  It’s more of a hum of the machine than an amplifying roar of excited growth.

I guess that has to happen in organizations.  The contagious attitude of an entrepreneurial, “just get it done” mentality changes to the somewhat more mundane and risk averse profile of a bigger corporate bureaucracy.

But I remember reading about fast growing churches and how those churches broke themselves down into ministerial pods.  So that church may have had 10,000 members, but the real pulse was at the 100 person pod level.  The senior pastors were enablers and messengers, but the real labor was being done at the pod level.

I’m wondering why business couldn’t be the same way.  We’re close to 10,000 people now, and our senior pastors – sorry, meant senior leaders – could very well focus on enabling and messaging.  Then the real work could be done at the pods – sorry, meant operating company – level.

It works in the churches.  I wonder if it can work in business.

I’d love to give it a try.