A wise person, lost in anonymity to the ages, described the platypus as a duck designed by a committee. It is exactly the sort of useless thing a committee would come up with.
Committees can be counted on for two things – delay and compromise. GM demonstrated this point quite ably. While its chairmen and CEO's over the decades made financial decisions with authority everything related to products and processes was decided through the ponderous bureaucracy of its Automotive Strategy Board, and a blizzard of lesser committees – no big surprise that decisions were made slowly, cultural transformation was non-existent and every innovative suggestion was thoroughly watered down before taking effect, if it ever came out of the committees to take effect at all.
Committees are also effective tools for ducking responsibility and accountability. If the decision can be made by a committee, then no one is individually to blame for failure.
That is just what committees do, and they are no substitute for clear vision and decisive leadership. Committees are a way of life in government and academia, and neither is much of a model for aggressive action.
A lean transformation cannot be driven by a 'steering committee' or any other kind of committee. It has to be driven by senior leaders who know exactly where they want to take the organization.
Original: http://idatix.com/manufacturing-leadership/platypus-leadership/
Allen Roberts says
Kevin,
Did you know the platypus has a poison hook on the back of its feet?
Usualy they are smart enough not to sting themselves, but those who follow in their webbed footsteps, like GM, are rarely so nimble.
Beautiful creature the platypus!
Cheers
Allen Roberts.
david k waltz says
Committees seem to me to be a fundamental part of the landscape for any large organization. It is a mechanism so that all feel they have a seat at the table (whether they really do or not) and as a means of coordinating activities of the far flung empire.
The trick is to get the type of drive mentioned above in spite of that infrastructure.
Wesley Connell says
I like the post very much, but I would like to add that I DO believe a steering committee can be useful in driving change through an organization. I just think that it needs to be teamed up with accountability of its members on specific projects. Having the consensus or at least agreement from a high-level committee ensures that there is management support for the improvement initiatives, which is often lacking, but without one of the members taking direct responsibility and accountability for each specific initiative, then you will get something that looks like a platypus.
Dale Savage says
You mention that committees are a way for individuals to avoid accountability. However, in the Japanese culture, major decisions are often made by group consensus in order to share both acountability and praise without one individual standing out. This does take more time but also prevents impulsive and sometimes misguided decisions of one person. Each individual has his or her thoughts taken into consideration behind the scenes. However, if the committee acts by following the same old line of thought as previously done in a company, the results are definitely as you mention above.
Squander Two says
Describing the platypus as “useless” is verging on insane. It’s barely changed since mammals first came on the scene precisely because it’s extremely effective.