How To Become Bloody Brilliant

Did you know that you carry 60,000 miles of blood vessels with you everywhere you go? If four people were feeling collaborative and adventurous, they could reach the moon with their blood vessels. Your vascular system is a miracle.

Organizational vitality is less about the flow of blood and more about the flow of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.

When working properly, the organizational vascular system is complex enough to circulate information to the extremities, but simple enough that it doesn’t distract from the work. Imagine having to spend most of your day focusing on the logistics of flowing blood through thousands of miles of tubes to stay alive.

Thankfully, we don’t have to do that because the system is in place and everything is automatic.

What system does your org have in place to move DIKW through all the parts? It likely involves a hierarchy of meetings from annual (aorta) to daily stand-ups (capillaries), and everything in between (quarterly, monthly, weekly). All supported by messaging platforms and a host of tools and norms (vascular dilation).

Other lessons in this same vein:

• Nutrients travel from the digestive system to tissue cells in 60 seconds or less. How long does it take information to flow through your org’s system?

• Plaque buildup blocks blood flow. What blocks the flow of information in your org? Politics? Silos? System gaps?

• The heart can pump 4x more blood when you’re exercising (20 liters per minute!). How informative are your meetings? Especially during times of peak urgency?

Take some time next week to map out your organization’s circulatory system. Feel free to share your insights or questions!