An Undiscovered Path to Personal Growth

This ability to lead horizontally across organizational boundaries, without formal authority over others, is a key capability for a 21st-century leader.

Just about every company has some kind of organizational structure that divides people into departments or business functions or geographic units, or all of the above.

As much as businesses need these structural divisions to organize work, information and ideas have to flow across them. Only then can people make informed tradeoffs and decisions, and keep the various parts of the business coordinated. Decisions are smarter and execution is faster.

There’s no structural fix that can ensure that information and ideas flow freely. It’s up to all of us to shape relationships among our peers in order to share more, coordinate better, and work toward a common purpose.

by Ram Charan

Full Story: http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/companyknow/9643