The power is in the team!

Throughout my career, I've been part of many organizational redesigns & implementation processes. We've evaluated and selected different models in incredibly dissimilar situations. Sometimes, we decided to organize ourselves by geography, function, or by lines of businesses in a pyramidal, matrix, or mixed designs; many times, we went back to improved versions of previously designed models. Reflecting on these, I am reminded of the conversation between Alice and the cat in Alice in Wonderland, in which the Cat answers, "If you don't know where you are going, any road can take you there."

Even before starting to think about your organization's shape, the first step is to have clarity on the mission and to think of where is it that we want to take the company. And besides, I am convinced that at the moment we do know where we want to go, therefore we are confident in the design we choose and we believe it will help us achieve what we want. Most of the time we are not fully aware that the organization is the last part of the puzzle and that if we don’t consider 3 key ingredients, no design will make the magic. As the say goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat!

 I've been in various organizations with very diverse ownership structures (state-owned, privately held, entrepreneurial, or listed companies) and very diverse cultures (lead by Latin American, French, Dutch, English, etc.); however, they coincide that at the core of ALL of them, there is a group of individuals that is willing to succeed. The big difference (and usually not dependent on the structure) to go from a group of people to a high performing team is for that group to develop around the three following conditions (which I need to thank @Suzanne-Yok for making me understand them):

• Clarity on our mission: every team member needs to be clear about where the company aspires to go. Ideally, every individual is incentivized to provide their opinion about where the company aspires to go. 
• Committed to one another: each team member needs to know which role every individual is playing and trust each other in that role. This is a two-way road; I trust and expect to be trusted. We know that together we can achieve more.
• Clear on the plan: Once we have clarity on where the company is willing to go and we understand each team player's role: we have to work hard to own a clear plan that allows us to see the whole picture, focusing on what we need to deliver, by when, and at what level.

We've been working with our team for the past 6 months on our values: collaboration, customer focus, leading by example, and agility. I enjoy seeing each team member owning their part, while at the same time collectively looking for the success of the whole, looking for areas of opportunities, and confident that they are under control.

 I'd appreciate your comments and perspectives on this subject. Let's grow our knowledge together.

 Rodrigo is a seasoned CEO and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience as a leader in different energy industry roles. Originally from Argentina, Rodrigo has worked and lived across Latin America and the US and specializes in building strong and collaborative team cultures while integrating a team spread out globally. Rodrigo is known for leading in challenging and highly volatile environments while keeping goals on sight and inspiring teams to move forward. Rodrigo is currently CEO AMERICAS for Puma Energy and lives in Puerto Rico with his wife and family.