Long ago, in a faraway corner of the galaxy, Spiro-Gyro, a small company that created and manufactured gyros, became a big company. This company was founded and managed by one man. From the day the company began, he designed its gyros, oversaw their manufacture, and was personally involved in the details of the entire operation.
With the passage of time, the company’s reputation became legend throughout the universe, for its gyros were the best. So creating, making, and selling these gyros became the company’s most important responsibility.
As the demand for more gyros grew and grew, more people were needed to make and sell them and to create better and better ones. In fact an entire department was created to do nothing but search the galaxy and to hire, hire, hire.
The phenomenal demand for gyros required new and efficient manufacturing processes. The increased number of employees made communications more challenging, and the company’s ever-increasing growth demanded financial control. Differentiated functions soon emerged, led by some who had risen through the ranks and by aliens who joined the company from distant planets.
The company’s success rested primarily on a function called Genesis.
The people who inhabited this mysterious realm were special, for it was their job to create new gyros. Another major function was called Prometheus. The people in Prometheus made the gyros that the people in Genesis created. A third major function was called Ulysses. The people in Ulysses traveled the galaxy, selling the gyros in far corners of the universe. As the company grew, a fourth function emerged called Rhinegold, wherein rested responsibility for the company’s finances
There also emerged a set of support functions called Felicitations that were responsible for providing shared services to the company such as information management, employee relations, safety, and legal advice. The people in Felicitations did not create, make, or sell gyros, nor did they generate capital to do so. Yet in countless ways they assisted the other functions.
Because the company had grown and spread throughout the universe, the focus was more on solving the numerous day-to-day problems that arose rather than engaging in planning for the success of the business. In some ways, the numerous functions had developed tunnel vision with respect to their individual responsibilities.
One day, the company’s founder called you into his spacious office in the stars. He asked you to serve as his chief of staff and to gather your ideas and recommendations on three key issues facing the company:
Given the growth of the company and emerging functions, what type of planning process would you recommend to help the company stay on track?
How would you ensure that everyone understood the main mission and objectives of the company, both long- and short-term? How would you ensure one integrated plan was created for the new business year? What would you recommend?
