Enterprise Evolutionary Stages is a model that describes the natural journey that all companies go through as they grow and scale through stages. This links to Setting the Stage for the 7 Crucial Conversations. See Figure G.5 depicts the Enterprise Evolutionary Stages.
- Stage 1, Independent Contributors: A loose confederation of partners, each with its own business approach. Central leadership is based on achieving consensus among senior partners.
- Stage 2, Directive Leadership: A single intact business leadership team leads the organization to nail and scale one business model. Functional capabilities are organized to support this business model.
- Stage 3, Distributed Leadership: The organization is a portfolio of capabilities that serve multiple business models and segments. It has been restructured into a team-based matrix based on intact high-performing teams (HPTs). Aligned leadership is driven chiefly by consultative decision-making, direct conflict resolution, and other ways of working. The enterprise leader only rarely escalates decisions for autocratic decision-making.
- Stage 4, Leaders Leading Leaders: The enterprise has developed the capabilities to build and support self-managing teams. The organizational structure is a flat agile team matrix. Aligned leadership is driven by consultative decision-making, direct conflict resolution, and other HPT ways of working. Only rarely are decisions escalated to the enterprise leader.
