The gap seems to grow ever wider between the strategies required to compete effectively and the capabilities needed to execute those strategies. Organizations designed in—and for—a stable environment can easily grow into unwieldy barriers to performance improvement when the environment becomes turbulent. One CEO described the result as being like "running a slalom race in cement." Most know the feeling.

As the demand for performance ratchets upward, many top managers have tried to lead their companies toward some more responsive form of organization—only to find the route as problematic as the goal was elusive. Their wish—indeed, their need—to organize for better performance was perfectly reasonable. But the path chosen was not. All too often, the critical process of determining which route to follow was silently, but effectively, thrown off course by one of several common fallacies about how best to get from here to there.

How often have you heard, for example, that

..."We ought to be able to ’leapfrog’ to the kind of organization we need"

Once a company’s strategy has been agreed, there is a strong temptation to move quickly to align the organization

Once a company’s strategy has been agreed, there is a strong temptation to...