All of us who have worked in conventional organizations know what “More for less” means when our CEO tells us that that is our goal. It means big layoffs. It means those that remain will have more work to do. It means that the competition for scarce resources inside the enterprise will become even more deadly.

This was the fate of Easter Islanders. As resources became ever more scarce, civil wars became pandemic. As resources became more scarce, the more they were squandered on grandiose projects to propitiate the Gods. Until all the wood was used for making and moving statues – so that there was none left to make boats and hence be able to fish.

That is where many organizations are going today as the economy tightens. It is where nations are going too.

Divisions fight each other inside organizations. People fight each other inside of departments. Institutions spend what they have on projects that look good but don’t help. The need for control at all costs goes up. The real work doesn’t get done. The future is jeopardized.

Is there a better way of getting more for less? Yes there is and it is more than a model. It is out there and it works.

Of course being revolutionary, few saw it for what it was and almost no one except a handful have copied it in spite of it being so successful.

You use it every day and never think about it.

More than 30 years ago, the new credit card industry was in chaos and a man called Dee Hock was asked by the Chairman of Bank of America to make work.

His huge idea was the Chaord. A system connected by a set of DNA or Principles rather than directed from the centre. A system with a small group in the centre who job was to work on behalf of all members to grow the value of the larger system. Bach who used the Chaord in his music described this process as:

“Not the autocracy of a single stubborn melody on the one hand.  Nor the anarchy of unchecked noise on the other. No, a delicate balance between the two; an enlightened freedom.”

For the big problem was that each bank wanted to have  global card system of its own – the control thing. What Hock could see that was that there was not enough money in the world to do that. But if all banks could become members of a system – the system could act as the connector. In this way the network effect could help all. Point of sale terminals added by one bank would serve all. ATM’s added by one bank could serve all.

He could also see that such a system need not impinge on the unique identity of each member. They could keep their own brand and their own IT systems. All they had to do was to meet a small number of performance standards and use a co brand in common.

The staff at Visa International, until the IPO, worked for a non profit! Their role was the support the interests of all the members.

So in practice, each member got more for less and all the actions of each members added resources to the whole.

Dee Hock’s great dream was that this well proven model would become the norm for all organizations. His tragedy is that it remains largely unknown, not understood and not adopted.

Until recently. On PEI we have been deliberately using this idea to build a new Bio Science capability. Like the banks starting Visa, there were many competing groups, labs, companies etc that all saw the other as the competitor. All were small and could not get to critical mass on their own.

In the last 10 years we have found a way to use the Visa model and the results are in.

In my next post I would like to tell you what happened so that you can see how you too might use this model.

Here is a pdf that will tell you Dee Hock’s story in his own words. The forgotten gospel!

dee-hock-the-chaordic-organization