SPG Blog

By Diana McLain Smith
Review by Jennifer Dawson

When an organization is struggling, it’s easy to look beyond company walls for the cause. But you know what they say: it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

For organizational consultant and researcher Diana McLain Smith, looking “inside” is not just about corporate culture, strategic planning or an operational review. In Divide or Conquer, Smith suggests that a company’s performance is directly influenced by what’s happening as far inside as you can go–within and between its key leaders.

Smith’s book is about relationships. She focuses on the usually invisible and therefore unexamined informal relationships between leaders that result in entrenched—and often destructive—patterns of interaction. Smith proposes a tidy theoretical model, which she calls the Anatomy Framework, to explain how these patterns develop. It’s a circular and therefore self-fulfilling process by which two people come to see each other as two-dimensional stereotypes. “She’s a long-winded lecturer who can’t let go of the reins.” Or “he’s a defensive and indecisive weakling who holds up progress.” These “frames,” as Smith calls them, are interpretations each person has of the other. Over time they become the lens through which every exchange is viewed and the justification for each person’s reaction (thoughts and feelings) and action (behaviour). Unless something is done to disrupt this cycle—to get the parties to recognize the role they each play in the dynamic and then “reframe” their relationship—the organization as a whole will suffer.

Recognizing the destructive power of the stereotype-based shorthand we use to navigate all our relationships is beneficial to everyone, including leaders of organizations. At a minimum, a decision-maker requires such awareness prior to investing the substantial resources necessary to improve any important relationship. But the audience for Smith’s book is really the specialized third party intervener–the consultant or coach who can use her model as a tool for working with clients whose relationships are affecting corporate performance.

This becomes increasingly clear throughout the book and is explicitly stated in the penultimate chapter which outlines three strategies for effective intervention. The first two strategies, which Smith labels “facilitate” and “reflect and reframe,” can be done by a peer or even a courageous subordinate. The idea is to ask well-chosen questions, examples of which Smith provides in a helpful chart, to open the individuals involved to alternate interpretations of each other’s behaviour. The third strategy, called “engagement,” will have the greatest impact on the relationship. It requires a highly skilled outsider, the commitment of substantial resources and, it turns out, asks you to follow all the steps outlined earlier in the book. The bottom line? Don’t try this at home.

The Anatomy Framework is an enlightening and, as evidenced by Smith’s three decades as an organizational consultant, highly successful approach when applied to two-person relationships. But Smith’s simple cause-and-effect model, which works well for a dyad, may not effectively describe the complex interactions that take place between members of larger groups. Although she asserts that her model can be used with a team, there may be other approaches that are more appropriate with groups larger than two.

The Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching model, or ORSC, is an approach that is effective with any group, from a pair to an entire organization. Instead of understanding and changing unproductive patterns of action and reaction between two people, ORSC practitioners seek to reveal the “system” that is an unconscious joint creation of all members of any sized group. The “system” reflects the dynamics within and contributions of the group as a whole, rather than being attributed to any one member. Like Smith, when she employs the Anatomy Framework with her clients, ORSC practitioners bring a theoretically informed and rigorously tested set of exercises and tools to group engagements.

Smith’s core belief that constructive, resilient, flexible relationships are an excellent predictor of organizational success is not in dispute. If you are a coach or a consultant, her model may offer you a new way of engaging with dyads. If you are a leader in an organization, Smith’s book is a call to action. Take a hard look inside. If you suspect that unhealthy relationships are sabotaging your company’s performance, it’s worth making the investment in third party assistance. But buyer beware. Any sound relationship intervention will have a strong theoretical foundation and proven practical application. Ask questions of a prospective consultant or coach to determine if the proposed approach meets your organization’s needs and the matches the size of your team.