By now the benefits of collaborating across organizational departments are pretty obvious. Cross-functional teamwork is viewed as the elixir that enhances innovation, productivity and employee engagement. No wonder companies embrace any structure or strategy that reduces organizational ‘silos.’ What is less obvious but more insidious is the downside: When we too tightly embrace the ideology of the ‘boundary-less organization’ we unwittingly sow confusion and ambiguity.

A great candidate for the dustbin of discarded business jargon is the term ‘transformation.’ Correctly used by caterpillars transforming into butterflies or by dictatorships into democracies, the word has been appropriated by executives and consultants to signal ‘BIG CHANGE.’ Yet most of the time the change in question is not even close to transformative. Reducing cycle time in a factory or making more customer-centric decisions are not transformative regardless of how expensive or tricky these changes might be. This came to mind recently when I was invited by the senior managers of a thriving regional insurance company to advise them about ‘transforming’ the culture of their underwriting function. The 100-year-old conservative company was enormously successful even in these uncertain times. Their success was based on strict underwriting standards and by acquiring and quickly integrating smaller insurers into what they called ‘the mother ship.’ At the time I met with them, the company was experiencing growing pains. They had gotten so large through acquisitions that their regional underwriting structure had become overly costly and was seen as a limitation to growth.  Their larger customers were growing too. They expected to be treated more as national accounts than as regional customers, with

Linda, the CEO of a technology oriented firm, told me her company’s pending merger with a logistics company was a ‘match made in heaven.’ The two companies were complementary, not identical, so it wasn’t about cutting cost (or jobs); it was more about synergy and growth. She said that Dave, the CEO of the smaller logistics company, was a great guy who agreed it was best for him to report to her in the combined company as COO, with Linda as CEO.  After all, Dave had less experience with Boards and raising capital, but had lots of experience making complex operational strategies succeed. Linda and Dave were planning the first off-site meeting for both of their executive teams, and asked me to facilitate.  I was surprised that in the months of planning the merger that their teams had not gotten together sooner. Dave told me that some team members had interacted in one-on-one meetings, but the teams hadn’t yet had a chance to connect. When I interviewed the team members to prepare for the off-site, I was struck by their differences. But I was more taken by how they resembled two unique and interesting families. Linda’s team was comprised of

When I wasn’t quaking in my waterproof shoes walking across a swaying footbridge high above a lush rainforest in Costa Rica, I was listening intently as our guide described the complex eco-system of the forest. Jose told incredible stories about how plants, animals and even the atmosphere compete and cooperate to sustain the delicate balance of life in the forest. One story in particular stood out, perhaps because of its sobering relevance to my own practice as a facilitator of organizational change. When the Hanging Bridges tour was opened, well-meaning guides were motivated to provide visitors with a memorable experience. Specifically, people wanted to see wildlife and especially, monkeys. Yet a rainforest is not a zoo. Monkeys and other fauna are not just hanging around waiting to entertain us; they have other priorities. So in order to satisfy tourists’ desire to see wildlife, guides inconspicuously dropped banana pieces on the trail, which monkeys found irresistible (just to be clear, bananas are not a natural food for monkeys regardless of how many Curious George books you have read). Here is what happened when pregnant monkeys ate the bananas – the high level of potassium in the bananas led their fetuses to