Lead Worship

Good to Great: Chapter 8 – The Flywheel and the Doom Loop

Posted on February 17th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Book Notes, Good to Great, Leadership.

“No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great transformations never happened to one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no wrenching revolution. Good to great comes about by a cumulative process – step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel – that adds up to sustained and spectacular results” (page 165).

“we kept thinking that we’d find ‘the one big thing,’ the miracle moment that defined breakthough. we even pushed for it in our interviews. But the good-to-great executives simply could not pinpoint a single key event or moment in time that exemplified the transition. Frequently, they chafed against the whole idea of allocating points and prioritizing factors. In every good-to-great complany, at least one of the interviewees gave an unprompted admonishment, saying something along the lines of, ‘Look, you can’t dissect this thing into a series of nice little boxes and factors, or identify the moment of ‘Aha!’ or the ‘one big thing.’ It was a whole bunch of interlocking pieces that built one upon another.’ (page 168)”

“The good-to-great companies had no name for their transformations. There was no launch event, no tag line, no programmatic feel whatsoever. Some executives said that they weren’t even aware that a major transformation was under way until they were well into it. It was often more obvious to them after the fact than at the time” (page 169).

“Then it began to dawn on us: There was no miracle moment” (page 169).

“It’s important to understand that following the buildup-breakthrough flywheel model is not just a luxury of circumstance” (page 172).

“The good-to-great companies understood a simple truth: tremendous power exists in the fact of continued improvement and the delivery of results. Point to tangible accomplishments – however incremental at first – and show how these steps fit into the context of an overall concept that will work. When you do this in such a way that people see and feel the buildup of momentum, they will line up with enthusiasm” (page 174-175).

“Clearly, the good-to-great companies did get incredible commitment and alignment – they artfully managed change – but they never really spent much time thinking about it. It was utterly transparent to them. We learned that under the right conditions, the problems of commitment, alignment, motivation, and change just melt away. They largely take care of themselves” (page 176).

“The good-to-great companies tended not to publicly proclaim big goals at the outset. Rather, they began to spin the flywheel – understanding to action, step after step, turn after turn. After the flywheel built up momentum, they’d look up and say, ‘Hey, if we just keep pushing on this thing, there’s no reason we can’t accomplish X.’ ” (page 176-177).

“When you let the flywheel do the talking, you don’t need to fervently communicate your goals. People can just extrapolate from the momentum of the flywheel for themselves: ‘Hey, if we just keep doing this, look at where we can go!” (page 177).

“Instead of a quiet, deliberate process of figuring out what needed to be done and then simply doing it, the comparison companies frequently launched new programs-often with great fanfare and hoopla aimed at ‘motivating the troops’ – only to see the programs fail to produce sustained results. They sought the single defining action, the grand program, the one killer innovation, the miracle moment that would allow them to skip the arduous buildup stage and jump right to breakthrough” (page 178).

Signs that You’re In the Doom Loop

1. Implement big programs, radical change effors, dramatic revolutions; chronic restructuring – always looking for a miracle moment or new savior.
2. Embrace fads and engage in management hoopla, rather than confront the brutal facts.
3. Demonstrate chronic inconsistency – lurching back and forth and straying far outside the three circles.
4. Jump right to action, without disciplined thought and without first getting the right people on the bus.
5. Run about like Chicken Little in reaction to technology change, fearful of being left behind.
6. Spend a lot of energy trying to align and motivate people, reallying them around new visions.

“It all starts with Level 5 leaders, who naturally gravitate toward the flywheel model. They’re less interested in flashy programs that make it look like they are Leading! with a capital L. They’re more interested in the quiet, deliberate process of pushing on the flywheel to produce Results! with a capital R.
“Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats-these are all crucial steps in the early stages of buildup.
“Next, when you attain deep understanding about the three circles of your Hedgehog Concept and begin to push in a direction consistent with that understanding, you hit breakthrough momentum and accelerate with key accelerators, chief among them pioneering the application of technology tied directly back to your three circles. Ultimately, to reach breakthrough means having the discipline to make a series of good decisions consistent with your Hedghog Concept-disciplined action, following from disciplined people who exercise disciplined thought. That’s it” (page 184).

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