Leading outside the lines: How to Mobilize the (in)Formal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results

THE OVERLOOKED INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONS

If Katz had asked Lt. Sandrock—he of the well-pressed uniform and well-thumbed rulebook—if emotional commitment was important to his operation and if the feelings of his crewmen mattered, it is likely that Sandrock would have said, “Yes, but not nearly as much as process and execution.”

Today, when we ask that question of managers and executives, especially in large companies, their answer tends to be about the same as Sandrock’s would surely have been.

Formalists view the world through the lens of rationality—they value logic, analysis, data, and frameworks. They manage through formal processes and programs (usually devised and enforced by a select group of senior executives). These formal elements ...