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Matrix Management Wiki

3F. Steering Councils

  • 3F1. Steering Councils are horizontally based leadership teams that oversee a segment of the organization.
    • 3F1i. A segment could be a sector, a subsector, a vector, a part of a vector, etc.
    • 3F1ii. Not all segments require a Steering Council. In some cases, a segment owner is sufficient.
    • 3F1iii. Criteria for needing a Steering Council:
      • 3F1iiia. The segment is critical to the success of the organization.
      • 3F1iiib. Requires high-level leadership.
      • 3F1iiic. Requires integration with multiple other teams.
      • 3F1iiid. Has major stakeholders and therefore needs a team.
  • 3F2. Horizontal structuring starts with the formation of Steering Councils.
    • 3F2i. Steering Councils serve to integrate a segment within the horizontal organization.
    • 3F2ii. A Steering Council is comprised of key stakeholders of the segment.
      • 3F2iia. Because of the complexity involved within key strategic segments, one person cannot manage all the interdependencies and consider all the ramifications when a decision has to be made. Therefore, for major segments, a team of key stakeholders or stakeholder representatives is the best way to oversee a segment in a matrix.
    • 3F2iii. Each council negotiates its goals with the council or councils above it and then sets direction and allocates resources to the councils below it.
  • 3F3. Structuring Steering Councils:
    • 3F3i. Structure Steering Councils around priority sectors first, then subsectors, then the next priority sector. Create Steering Councils for vectors as well.
    • 3F3ii. Create strategic level steering, then operational steering.
    • 3F3iii. The maximum size of a council should be 10 people. An optimum size is six to eight.
  • 3F4. Steering Councils are based on horizontal dotted-line relationships that carry no authority.
  • 3F5. Each Steering Council needs a team leader.
    • 3F5i. The team leader is independent of the position she holds in the vertical dimension.
  • 3F6. Accountability and Steering Councils:
    • 3F6i. The Steering Council leader has individual accountability for the performance of the segment the council oversees.
    • 3F6ii. Steering Council team members share team accountability for the segment performance.
    • 3F6iii. The individual accountability associated with a Steering Council should not overlap with the Steering Council accountability of other segments.
      • 3F6iiia. There is a linkage of Steering Council accountability with other Steering Councils through shared team and organizational accountability.
  • 3F7. Premises for MM 2.0 Structure:
    • 3F7i. Councils are made up of members representing teams that are stakeholders of the span of accountability of the council.
  • 3F8. Rules for segments:
    • 3F8i. The organizational accountability for a segment is shared by everyone who participates in or contributes to that segment.
    • 3F8ii. There is a segment owner for each segment, and she owns (has individual accountability for) all of the outcomes for that segment.
    • 3F8iii. Segment Steering Councils are accountable for governing the segments they oversee.
    • 3F8iv. Member of segment Steering Councils have team accountability for segment outcomes.
    • 3F8v. Segments are more important than individual resource areas (vertical areas).