Since I published my view to organizational maturity, I noticed a lot of acceptance and gained agreement from various sides.

Personally, I am able to tell which is the dominating mindset of a person or a character acting within a role and therefore as a component of an organizational system.
I can also tell, what maturity stage organizationals culture is, currently.
I want to share knowledge about and behind this ability, to enable people’s understanding and progress towards OMG stage 5 interaction.

My goal is to be unnecessary – some day.

/context

I found my self very often in unsuitable situations. Sometimes I provoked, sometimes I mis-interpreted.
Equality between all these situations is:

it does not feel right.

Once, I understood for myself, I wanted to allay pain for fellow humans in future.
I recognized a lot of rejection from what I did to achieve this goal.
I kept goal, but changed approach.

Finally, I am able to express my understanding. This may help to speed up and ease understanding.
I just want to create clarity about the point of mindful decision between sharing a single moment, welding a chain of moments or splitting up.

/topic

Being great as a person is one thing, creating creatness in a group is exponentially harder. Every failure of one member can spoil the result at all.

But there is also something magical in organizations. You cannot explain it by school mathematics.
There is this very moment, where the sum is greater than its components.
This is, when systems come alive and machines get components of life itself.

This is where “Deus ex machina” changes its meaning.
It is not the moment where one godhead is lifted down to stage from a crane.
It is the moment where divinity is perceived in interaction between people supported by machines.

When I face it, it makes me creeps.
I wish You this feeling as often as possible. It is just the feeling of greatness.

I named the stages towards greatness OMG – Organizational Maturity Grade

/stage 1: fighting

In the beginning, there is wasteland.

In this stage addressees do not work on own decision. The biggest gun makes people around move according to the mind of its controller.

/stage 2: serving peace

Violence works for the moment, the very situation. But, You cannot build organizations from application of violence.
You need to switch to threat of force instead of application.

Members of organizations in OMG stage 2 work for their own reason – often peace, sometimes sheer survival.
Organization is build from this shared purpose. The goal is so dominating for every member, they accept everything else to achieve this goal.

By that, organization dictates what to do and how to do.
Additionally, it is defined that there is nothing worth outside the walls of doctrine.

Result is imprisoning of imagination to achieve what is accepted as the only goal to strive for.

Examples for OMG stage 2 are monasteries, barracks but also ships on sea and start-ups in the early days after establishment.

/stage 3: serving split purposes of the same kind

Stage 3 organizations are build from corresponding actions and split purposes. Purpose of the organization in stage 3 is maximized material wealth. Share in mind derives from mindset of its members. “Greed is good.” Everybody strives to the biggest chunk of the cake. Co-operation enables ability to bake ever bigger cakes.

In stage 3, an organization has the maximum possible extension of outer limits. By this, it is slowed down to the minimal possible speed for survival. Some die from the slowness of being big. There is always the possibility to fail from big. Otherweise dinosaurs would be still there.

/Stage 4: sharing same purpose

After stage 3, organizations getting adult. At stage 4, the organization gets mature enough to accept greatness in an issue rather than a Person. The organization, not only the people populating it, is able to accept the other. Inside the organization, structures begin to prepare for stage 5. People evolve from “I am great” to “we are great”.

In stage 4, it is all about passion for the sea. Everybody serves the shared dream, also called “vision”. The shared goal unites. People group around, not behind anymore. It is the first stage, where the issue is focus, instead of people.

But, You need to be part of the dream to participate. Only active contribution will make You be part of the organization. Simple sponsorship, or customer-role will exlude You from the tribe of visionaires.

Stage 4 is effective, but limited in efficiency by active differenciation against stage 3.
Scaling up is not intended. It is about deepening of a purpose in opposition to extension of the outer limits. Its about growth in quality rather than growth in scale.

It is possible to combine units in OMG stage 4 with an organization on overall stage 3.
This is often found at companies where there is a pre-located project- and product-development culture, handing over a blue-print to an up-scaling production for re-production.

/stage 5: sharing the moment

In stage 5 it is all about the very moment. It does not matter how long something took to came to presence. It does not matter how much someone has of it. What matters is sharing what You can and taking what You need to create greatness in sharing from what is.

In stage 5 it is all about being – understanding – acting.
To perform in greatness You need acceptance of being as it is, understanding of what it means and acting towards a realistic future Status quo.
Attempts may fail, attempts might succeed – it is about action rather than possession.

The most important ability in OMG stage 5 is fast perception, quick action and instant release in mind to achieve optimized balance between freedom and limitation.

This balance also is named harmony or beauty – depending on context.
It is already know to the world as arts.

What I describe here, is the ability of an organization to perform as an organization on mastership level.
This is extremely rare, but sometimes witnessed.

But, do not mixup with artists performing in context of organizations on stage 2. Zen-Monks creating stone gardens and Kung Fu masters practicing at Shaolin are on master-level for themselves. Their fostering organizations are on stage 2 of 5.

Some choirs are acting on stage 4 as a resonance corps. But their fostering organisations are still acting on stage 2 or 3.
Examples are Thomas choir in Leipzig or the choir of Dartmouth College.

/Organizations protect and enable

People are able to open up and grow. Organisations around make their grow in scale and depth possible or prevent it. Limit to greatness is the Ego-Barrier – personally as well as in groups.

Sweet spot lies in decision whether to transform the organization around to fit – or to leave organization to grow on Yourself elsewhere.
Do You need an exo- or an endoskeleton to perform in greatness?

/Are You already surrounded by perfection?

Are You able identify greatness, once You see it? Are You part of it?

• What, if You act differently?
• What, if others act differently?
• What, if greatness needs constant activity?

/Organizations serve

Organizations equalize deficts. They serve this purpose until a specific state is achieved.

On personal level, scarce is extinguished by organizations when You are able to meet organization’s target specification like a degree at University. It might be a Mater of science or a master of arts as diploma.
You get real master, only by education of a student.
Please consider the ambivalence of this statement. I inteded the words exactly as given.

On organization’s level, organizational’s end of life is achieved when demand falls below a degree of sufficiency. Lack of demand results in lack of justification of  anymore existence. Creative destruction, You know.

Most important moment in organizational context is cognition whether to change or to leave behind.

So called “Start-ups” often believe to found themselves into a OMG stage 4. Might be, if the majority of the actors has a shared history.
If You are honest, most of the start-ups begin in stage 2 where the overall reason is “making it fly” and everything else is pushed behind the wall of relevance.

Often transformation is not properly managed. This is when “idealists”, are left behind. They believe themselves in stage 4 environment, while “Business” converts the organization from stage 2 to 3. Other direction is also possible. People are attracted by misbelief about an organization being at stage 4. In reality they are not able to transform into stage 5, because organization is stepping up from 2 to 3.

Microsoft in the lost decade was turned from stage 4 into stage 3.

/Organizations are shaped by decisions

Hopefully, the OMG stage images help You to understand where to hire and whom to fire.

There is nothing better or worst in the stages, just difference.
It depends where the following majority is and where the leading majority directs to.
If it is so called “agility” – “Hey, so what.”
Nobody said it is easy to achieve simplicity. In fact it is hard, time consuming and painful.
– not everybody’s cup of tea.

There is a huge comfort zone in OMG stage 3, because it is the broadest range of organizational coverage. Up to stage 3, it is about gaining in and for the future. In stage 4 and 5 it is about loosening and leaving behind to be most present in the moment.

Yes, it is possible to fully live in corporate USA or corporate Europe or corporate Japan. When You are always busy, there is nothing like Business. You need no personal home, no personal mobility, no personal purpose. Everything is provided by Your corporation and You are fine.

Mind the red pill!

It is Your decision whether to stay or to leave.

/etc

You get access to whatever I estimate being worth to share on my twitter-channel.

/Inspirators

• Stephan Schwab
• Microsoft’s lost decade
• Dagmar Terbeznik, the real coach
• Gunter Dueck
• Tobias Leisgang, the company pirate
• Peter Lorenz, inventer of “A and O scheduling”

/additional source

Issue based interaction (OMG stage 3 to 5) is speeding up by defined approaches.
Processes perform better in mutual and shared understanding.
The up2U-protocol enables people to achieve greatness while learning by understanding.

/farewell

May all Your needs vanish into reality.
Live long and prosper.

/famouslastwords

Does Your life run in a circle?

Life runs in cycles.
Some are smaller, some are bigger.
In the end, there is no end – only another beginning.

If You feel the need for support – convince by Your demand.
Talk to whom it may concern. And share what matters to You!