A Proposed Model for Bringing an Organization to Its Goals

I propose the metaphor of a motor dingy:
You have the head of the person sitting in the boat, with his/her sights on the desired destination.
You have the motor, under the water, powerfully (and blindly) propelling the boat forward.
You have the hand on the motor's handle, directing the motor so as to align it with the head's vision.

These three can be three different people or groups, but they don't have to be. You do need them all to get where you want to be, though.

A few interesting observations enabled by this metaphor (I'll try not to take it beyond its relevance):

  • The head will do the best job if it's on board the boat. You can have someone at your destination waving a flag saying "this is where you want to be", but if you want your vision of this destination to direct the boat you need to be looking from where the boat is at right now.
  • The hand also directs the power at which the motor is running. Since fuel costs money (and since human motors get tired), it's important to align the strain on the motor with the urgency perceived by the head.
  • If you want the boat to turn right you need to turn the motor to the left (since it is located at the back of the boat). This is very important to remember if you're stirring a boat but has absolutely no relevance to the metaphor I'm making about stirring an organization :->

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