Navigate the Swirl

"The 7 Conversations is a unique model for organizations to grow and innovate in a team-based way with a powerful transformation accelerator."
—Penny Pennington, Managing Partner, Edward Jones

An actionable blueprint for transformational business journeys from Growth River founder Richard Hawkes

Leading transformation in teams, businesses, and organizations is complex, and leaders are expected to know how to do it. Navigating the Swirl provides the clear thinking required to navigate this challenge.

In Navigate the Swirl: 7 Conversations for Business Transformation renowned growth and strategy leader Richard Hawkes delivers a simple and powerful framework that any team can apply to overcome the most common leadership challenges to growing and scaling companies, known as “The Swirl.” In this straightforward book, he draws on decades of experience guiding teams to implement strategic change at companies like Edward Jones, GENEWIZ, Hitachi, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, and Chicos.

You'll learn:

• To understand and lead disruptive change in a complex social system – your company
• Ways to visualize and diagnose the essential working parts of a company
• How to apply an integrated toolset for teams to lead organizational change and business transformation
• How to create transformational journey maps that leaders, teams, businesses, and companies must apply to unleash growth potential and agility
• How networks of teams should work together to develop each other’s leadership and to manage and accelerate change

Written as a practical guide for business and team leaders, Navigate the Swirl: 7 Conversations for Business Transformation belongs on the desks and in the hands of every purpose driven leader.

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xix

A Note To The Reader: How to Use This Book xxi

Introduction: The Swirl xxiii

Part 1 Framing the Conversation 1

1 Understanding Organizations: Social Systems, Not Machines 3

2 Understanding Businesses: The Business Triangle 19

3 Understanding Growth: Dynamics of Organizational Development 31

Part 2 The Evolution of an Enterprise 47

4 The Four Stages of Enterprise Evolution 49

5 A Business Is Born: Stage 1, Independent Contributors 57

6 A Leader Steps Up: Stage 2, Directive Leadership 65

7 A 5:30 Wake-Up Call: The Transition to Stage 3, Distributed Leadership 71

8 A Complete System of Roles: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership 81

9 Leveraging Creative Tension: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership, continued 101

10 High-Performing Teams: Stage 3, Distributed Leadership, continued 115

11 Toward a Flat, Agile Organization: Stage 4: Leaders Leading Leaders 127

Part 3 The Seven Conversations 133

12 Organizations Evolve at the Speed of Conversation 135

13 Conversation 1: Activating Purpose 145

14 Conversation 2: Driving Focus 153

15 Conversation 3: Shifting Mindset 159

16 Conversation 4: Specifying Capabilities and Roles 165

17 Conversation 5: Streamlining Interdependencies 171

18 Conversation 6: Aligning Strategies 175

19 Conversation 7: Implementing Initiatives 185

20 An Invitation to Transformation 187

Glossary 191

Index 239

“…an absorbing business book that brilliantly addresses how to cope with the turbulence of change, culminating in “seven critical conversations” that lead to organizational transformation.” Kirkus Reviews

Richard S. Hawkes is the Founder of Growth River, an international consultancy that guides leaders and teams to create higher performance in businesses and organizations. Its practical mission is to make high-­performing ways of working easier. He works with companies to identify and resolve constraints to success, including Edward Jones, GENEWIZ, Hitachi, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mars. He sees purpose-driven, customer-­focused, team-based, multi-stakeholder businesses as our best bet for solving the big problems.

Too many people live with a gnawing feeling that their team and indeed, their entire organization, could and should run more smoothly, more purposefully, and more effectively, but there is always another problem to solve, turf battle to win, or drama to ameliorate. It seems nearly impossible to implement change and move forward amidst the confusion of the organization’s daily “Swirl.”

In Navigate the Swirl, strategy expert Richard S. Hawkes helps leaders and their teams break this cycle of stagnation, sharing the insights he has gained from guiding hundreds of teams in companies on growth journeys.

Hawkes’ core concept is that organizations are not machines in which leaders can swap people like parts; they will resist. Instead, organizations are social systems in which people are animated by purpose and effective ways of working.

The secret to navigating the Swirl, he writes, lies in implementing Seven Conversations, a series of ongoing, intentional conversations that have the power to align, reimagine, and upgrade the “social system” in which people work. These conversations are a template for creating and sustaining high-performing teams capable of:

• Aligning in a purposeful and deeply human way
• Designing customer focused business systems
• Leveraging conflicts as sources of insight and innovation
• Creating the conditions for competitive advantage
• Building high-performing companies

Hawkes’ insights will help organizations break free of the Swirl – whether they are facing good news, like a new market opportunity, or bad news, like increased competitive pressures. Navigate the Swirl provides a roadmap for wielding influence in the complex, adaptive social systems of today’s organizations.

Praise for NAVIGATE the SWIRL

“Move your organization from lots of conversations going nowhere to the right conversations moving in the right direction. Richard’s book is essential for leaders navigating an ever-changing environment.”
—Hank Izzo, GM and CMO, Mars Inc.

“All change is disruptive. This book helps you understand how the complex systems in your organization influence each other. With it, you get not only context, but also a ‘leadership tool kit.’ Check out the glossary!”
—Barry Sagotsky, consultant, executive coach, speaker, author

“With 100% buy in we were able to introduce the concepts and ideas through to the next level of management.”
—Nigel Lange, CEO and Managing Director, OncoSil Medical

“For leaders faced with the ‘Red Queen Principle’ – where all run faster but get nowhere – here is a valuable toolkit to realign for growth.”
—Ravi Aron, PhD, Professor, Senior Fellow, CT Bauer College of Business, University of Houston

“I’ve built three companies using Richard’s framework. His practical advice is as simple as it is uncommon. The results: 5-year annual compounded growth in excess of 55%. And everyone is infinitely more productive and just plain happier.”
—Joseph Koffman, Founder and Chairman, Abe’s Vegan Muffins

“A clear-headed guide that can help scientists become entrepreneurs and build businesses. Our conversations with Richard brought clarity and focus to our teams, driving 26% growth annually over 10 years.”
—Steve Sun and Amy Liao, Co-founders, GENEWIZ (now part of Azenta Life Sciences)

“My first year as a CEO, I was caught in the Swirl, and Growth River came to my rescue. Engage in the Seven Conversations and watch a glorious future unfold.”
—Randy Jordan, CEO, NC Association of Free and Charitable Clinics

“Richard’s roadmap is pragmatic and accessible for leading companies through uncertainty.”
—Robert A. Preti, PhD, Co-founder and former CEO, Minaris Regenerative Medicine

“Navigate the Swirl sets the tone for teams to accomplish more, waste less, and achieve tremendous success.”
—Frank Pindiak, Executive Director, St. Catherine’s Center for Children