1. Introduction

Every so often we hear of a group of people who unite under extreme pressure to achieve seemingly miraculous results. In these moments human beings transcend their personal limitations and realize a collective synergy with results that far surpass expectations based on past performance. Anyone hearing a fine symphonic or jazz group hopes for one of those "special" concerts that uplift both the audience and the performers Perhaps less frequent but often more spectacular are examples in sports such as the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team a group of talented amateurs who stunned the world by winning the gold medal against the vastly more talented and experienced virtually professional Russian and Finnish teams. These occurrences. although unusual are much more frequent in American business than is commonly suspected.

People recall these experiences vividly. There is a sense of sustained exhilaration. a moment of peacefulness in the midst of frantic activity when time seems to flow in slow motion. Maximum effort is extended and things come together effortlessly and in astonishingly effective ways that could never have been planned yet at the same time with a sense of predestination. There is a feeling of unity with everything and everyone from which deep personal relationships grow. Most yearn to relive the experience and some find it so transforming that life becomes a search for duplicating it.

The results can be equally remarkable in an industry with a traditional product. development time of two to three years we have seen the development of a quarter million dollar system from scratch to prototype in six months with stable volume production in another five. Midnight marketing sessions yield brilliant strategies but no one recalls who did what. A division with a four year record of losses turned around in a few months to produce a pretax profit in excess of twenty percent while reducing absenteeism and turnover and maintaining them at the lowest levels in the corporation.

4: Although the emotional peak may fade the high level of performance can be maintained for a long time. In the performing arts the Boston Symphony Orchestra delivered inspiring performances for years under Serge Koussevitzky. In professional basketball, the renowned Boston Celtics won eleven world championships in one thirteen­year period, while no team since has won two in a row. In business, the high­tech industry may be especially conducive to outstanding performance and personal satisfaction, yet companies in nongrowth industries also maintain these qualities over many years. Organizations that cultivate this level of performance transform the way they operate in the world. blot only do they produce outstanding results. they provide a deep sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. They are unfettered by circumstances and look instead to creating the future and determining their own destinies.

There now exists a small but significant number of American corporations engaged in daring experiments in organizational innovation. They fundamentally alter our understanding of how a group of people can work. They are committed to the highest in organizational performance and human satisfaction, often seeing themselves as microcosms of how society could work toward the fulfillment of all,

We have come to call these pioneers "metanoic organizations" from the Greek word metanoia, meaning a fundamental shift of mind (meta transcending; noia mind).. Simply stated, these organizations operate with the Conviction that they can create their future and shape their destiny. Individuals in metanoic organizations tend to expand their definition of self. They do not give up their personal identity for an organizational one, they transcend it. Who they are becomes inextricably linked to a higher purpose to which they and their organization are committed. An organization infused with this kind of commitment operates with a fundamentally different idea of itself and of its relation to the environment. Beyond preoccupation with its own survival, it exists to realize its unique contribution to a better world.

How widespread are organizations with this shift in viewpoint? What do they have in common, and what principles underlie their growth? The following framework is culled from the wisdom of many of these innovators and helps in understanding and encouraging these much needed experiments.

· The term was used extensively in early Christian times to describe the reawakening of intuition and personal vision associated with a profound revisioning.

II. The Metanoic Organization-An Analogy

The elements of a metanoic organization are similar to those of a championship crew. Obviously, one starts with talent, people who have mastered the skills and developed the power to excel as individuals. But good rowers are not enough. Winning next week's race might motivate better than average performance, but it you want great performance you must have a great goal. as championship performance comes only from striving for the championship. To excel the team must have a purpose or vision that is challenging and lasting in order for peak performance to develop over time.

Moreover, the rowers must row together. Translation of the individual's commitment and resources into collective accomplishment requires alignment of individual energies. Many people with individual talent find rowing with others a difficult and frustrating skill. But when the crew starts to gel, something very exciting happens. Each individual is aware of a new dimension or feeling, as all eight blades strike the water in unison. There comes a rush of power as everyone recognizes how much more he can accomplish collectively. As alignment strengthens. individuals find themselves progressively more aware of and attuned to each other, sometimes to the point during peak per10rmance where each experiences himself mystically as the entire team.

Talent, vision, and alignment still aren't enough. The most talented rowers, no matter how committed and aligned they may be, won't win many races in a leaky boat. A well designed shell is a fourth element necessary for a championship crew.

This analogy points to what we believe are tour vital elements of metanoic organizations,

Purposefulness and vision,

Alignment,

Personal ability and mastery, and

Attention to organizational design, particularly in relation to how it performs as a system.

Individuals in metanoic organizations are capable, they have a deep and clear sense of shared purpose, around which they become highly aligned. They appreciate their organization as a whole rather than a collection of parts, so they design and develop organizational systems and policies that effectively transform their energies into collective results. Beyond this they exhibit a fifth characteristic, the

Reintegration of Intuition and rationality.

Together, these five characteristics precipitate a shift to the metanoic viewpoint.

The metanoic organization's ultimate strength is its belief in the creative power of highly aligned individuals. The vast majority of organizations simply do not work so well as people would like. Disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and ineffective use of human resources are generally accepted as normal-"Things don't work, and there is nothing I can really do about it. I'm dissatisfied, but I'm stuck in a system too big, too unresponsive, and too complex to influence. Our sense of powerlessness stems from this point of view, which permeates most institutions and easily becomes a self­fulfilling prophecy, it not an "absolute'' truth.

The essence of metanoia is the individual's realization of the extraordinary power of a group committed to a Common vision. In metanoic organizations people don't assume they are powerless. They know and believe in the power of visioning, the power of the individual to determine his own destiny. Through responsible participation they empower each other and ultimately their institutions and society, thereby making life meaningful and satisfying for everyone.

III. The Elements of the Metanoic Framework

A. PURPOSE AND VISION

Beyond outstanding performance, the most striking characteristic of metanoic organizations is a deep, driving sense of purposefulness in everything they do. The organization often appears to have a "noble mission" or "cause" that not only directs all of its activities but pro vices a sacred sense of identity.

/7 Some organizations attempt to capture this underlying purpose in a carefully worded, widely disseminated mission statement or charter. Others provide a shared sense of identity among participants through catchy mottoes that serve to instill a strong culture in an organization. The purpose of a metanoic organization is distinguished by sense of nobility-a purpose fully worthy of members-that engages their spirit as well as their intellect.

The deeper purpose of organizations is generally intangible and difficult to talk about. Consequently, techniques are developed to enable people to talk about these intangibles. The most powerful such vehicle adopted by metanoic organizations is a vision of a desired future. While the notion of vision has not been common in management parlance, the painting of a compelling vision summons an enthusiasm and spirit which empower the entire organization.

Each organization's vision is unique. It might be abstract, such as excellence, service, or creativity-for example, creating an organization in which the "spirit of freedom, equality, mutual trust, respect, and even love prevails." Alternatively, the vision can be concrete. One computer manufacturer seeks to build a computer that never breaks down. Another organization sees an entire neighborhood of a decaying city beautifully restored and populated with happy, responsible people. Yet another seeks products of the highest quality that also con. tribute to the aesthetics of a profession.

A realizable vision strikes a crucial balance between challenge and practicality The vision must provide some stretch and afford a genuine challenge, not too easily achieved. It is likely to include some five principles such as quality, excellence, or service, since such high aspirations led people to inspired performance. At the same time the vision must be workably grounded in reality, for otherwise there is no compelling reason to embrace n.

The discrepancy between this vision and actual conditions is a healthy tension within the organization.

Note: We have seen great Political leaders instill society with visions. Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. for example A similar process occurs in organizations Initially the leader articulates his or her vision so that others might enroll in it. Eventually each person is caught up in and develops his own personal vision of the future 11 becomes increasingly less important that everyone hold an identical picture in mind as it is for each person to have his own picture The interplay and discussion around these various visions. "Visioning" catalyzes the discovery of the more fundamental purpose of the organization

Structural Tension

This structural tension"* essential to the creative process can be resolved in one of two ways. Either conditions Can rise to meet the vision or the vision can be lowered to coincide with reality. Emotional response to structural tension (anxiety frustration unworthiness) often drives people to resolve it as quickly as possible. which generally compromises the vision in favor of current conditions. Consequently most organizations settle for an "amiable mediocrity" far less than what they really want.

Conversely metanoic organizations hold the image of the future they desire. Their choices are determined by what they wish to create, an internal reference as opposed to inherently uninspiring attempts to make do with what life offers them. This firm commitment to the vision infuses the entire organization with a sense of direction. The tension seeks resolution toward the vision. Each person is able to make decisions locally that are more consistent with the direction of the whole while not necessarily knowing the details of activities in other parts of the organization.

The Apollo Moon Project was an excellent example of the power of vision. In the beginning there were overwhelming obstacles to a manned lunar landing by 1969. Yet the vision was firmly held in the minds of many in the project and was no doubt the sole unifying force among the many varied tasks and contributors. It allowed for enormous creativity and resulted in an astounding array of technical and logistical breakthroughs that might never have occur red otherwise.

B. ALIGNMENT

A great deal of time and effort is being spent by organizations today in reaching agreement on goals and objectives. But how many times have you left a long meeting having achieved this end only to find a few weeks later that even though the agreements are being kept things still aren't working? Agreements are valuable but in and of themselves they do not make for inspired performance. Metanoic organizations implicitly seek an even greater power than agreement the power available to a group who work truly as a unified whole. We have chosen the word ''alignment'' to describe the condition wherein people act as part of a whole and recognize their commitment to a common purpose It is similar to the use of the word in international politics to describe nations that are aligned around a common ideology or philosophy Here however it denotes commitment to a higher purpose not just philosophical or ideological agreement.

The best place to begin understanding the notion of alignment is on an individual level. Let us postulate the existence of personal purpose in life. Of course, it is probably impossible to prove such a thing exists, but in discussing alignment it is useful to adopt as concept. Many philosophers [Huxley 1945] have suggested that personal power and fulfillment come from acting consistently with one's personal purpose or higher self. In this manner, people often develop naturally the required abilities to manifest this purpose and thereby their own mastery and power. Discovering one's personal purpose and acting in accordance with it precipitate alignment at the individual level.

*We are indebted to our partner Robert Fritz for this concept of creative "structural tension."

There is an analogy on the organizational level. In being true to themselves, people naturally desire to look for ways to express themselves, further. One way is through an organization whose purpose is aligned with an individual's personal purpose wherein by expressing themselves people further the manifestation of organizational purpose. And concomitantly by taking those actions which are consistent with the organization's purpose individuals are furthered in achieving their personal purpose.

It is at this point that the individual's concept of personal identity begins to expand so that in effect. he becomes the organization as well as being an individual. Abraham Maslow described a state that might be reached in which

... the task problem or purpose was totally interjected by everyone in the situation; that is to say that the task or duty was not any longer something separate from the sell. something out there outside the person and different from him but rather he identified with this task so strongly that you couldn't define his real sell without including the task [Maslow 1965].

This state of identification with something greater than oneself is quite different from sacrificing oneself to the organization. Although alignment can be developed in this way as it sometimes is in military combat units self sacrifice Is not essential. In tact alignment elicits the lull creative expression of individual freedom and responsibility. The consequence of each individual's manifesting results consistent with his own true nature and purpose is deep fulfillment. Seeing yourself as part of a larger whole you also see that you are not so different from other people. you begin to feel far less separation and you enjoy a more natural relationship with others in the organization. The organization itself takes on the qualities of a well working partnership and the potential for personality conflicts diminishes greatly.

At the same time, a new potential emerges for the creative conflict of ideas. Highly aligned organizations often have more open disagreement and apparent conflict than less aligned organizations. In tact a high degree of alignment is really a necessary condition for creative disagreement since the quality of interpersonal relationships in a highly aligned organization allows people to argue about ideas withal fearing loss of acceptance or descending to damaging personality contacts.

The transition to the aligned state releases previously wasted energy that is immediately capable for the work of the organization. Increases in performance can be spectacular. We have seen organizations increase gross sales sixfold in nine months after committing to a common purpose. In effect. the organization empowers itself. It becomes naturally resilient and manageable. People are empowered by their participation since their personal power Is actually amplified through it. They come to work enthusiastic and leave each day feeling enriched and vitalized. Moreover the development of individual abilities contributes directly to the organization. By contrast in an unaligned organization developing the individual's power often exacerbates underlying conflict and thus undermines performance.

Alignment is a natural by-product of focusing on a lofty result; it is unlikely to be achieved by trying to become aligned In the past we have observed a number of groups that have focused on team development with the expectation that good results would naturally follow. In side by­side comparisons we have consistently seen that those teams that focus on their vision and the tasks at hand and who have the desire to be aligned achieve both the results and the alignment. Those that focus instead on creating alignment or teamwork often achieve neither this nor the results. The process seems to work in much the same way as the process of trying to gain satisfaction in life. Individuals who focus on their own personal satisfaction often become locked in a self-reinforcing search for an ever more elusive target.

Personal Responsibility for Total Organizational Performance

The creation and maintenance of alignment allows individuals to accept personal responsibility not only for their own performance but also for that of the organization as a whole. It is no longer possible to operate with the attitude "I'll get my part done and leave the rest to some one else." While personal responsibility requires an individual to discharge his local duties it also demands a broader viewpoint. Individual initiatives are seen as part of a larger whole: "I'll get my part done! and make sure that we all get the whole project done."

Personal responsibility for total organizational performance has power and influence far beyond a role or position. Individuals who have chosen to be true to themselves to support the purpose of the organization and to play the game together rather than separately develop a deep sense of personal power that comes from owning the whole game.

C. TALENT AND MASTERY

There is a deep humanistic commitment within metanoic organizations to each individual and to his ability to achieve the quality of life he desires. It is assumed that overall performance rises and tails according to each individual's performance. Consequently, there is a basic need to develop talent. Although traditional methods are used (and in this respect metanoic organizations appear for the most part indistinguishable from others). their locus and the assumptions behind them may be unique. Whether explicit or not an environment is sought in which each person feels vital. Expectations are high but realistic and people are placed in positions in which they must exert themselves to succeed. There is an attempt to discover the true potential of each individual bring those qualities that make him unique to the surface and allow this true nature and purpose full expression in the organization. In this way the inherent power of personal alignment is tapped. In most cases conditions are created that gently and continuously stretch people thereby eliciting more and more personal mastery. The individual feels fully employed and is remarkably satisfied and motivated to grow and accomplish as much as possible.

Metanoic organizations seek a strong task orientation, individually and organizationally. They trust that. by a structural tension analogous to that described earlier, the individual who focuses on what he wants more than the methods of getting it will be drawn relentlessly toward his desired goal. Managers have long known that concentration on results is vital to performance, but at the same time they have often become mired in the processes that produce the results. This inappropriate attachment to the means used to reach the ends undermines an individual's or an organization's inherent power.

A dominant focus on results does not imply that processes are ignored, but rather it allows people to divorce themselves personally and organizationally from old habits. Focusing first on the goal and then on the methods permits experimentation in selecting those processes that might ultimately bring about results more expeditiously.

D. ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND SYSTEMIC THINKING

Managers seldom devote the time required to understand the complex systemic relationships that make up the structure of their organization, even though many studies have shown the usefulness of this type of understanding. [Forrester (1967, 1971) and Robens (1978)] Although generally not formally trained in holistic or systems thinking, people in metanoic organizations treat their organization as a complex system in which anything can, and often does, influence anything else. They appreciate that key interrelationships among policies can put forces In motion that are far more influential in determining organizational performance than any Individual or team. They learn how to work with these forces rather than against them.

A system may be defined as a web of interrelating elements that work together for some purpose. That the structure of a system influences performance independent of the individuals involved is well recognized and evidenced by the attention management has traditionally paid to designing the best possible (often meant to be "perfect") organization with, as a result, one reorganization after another. Most organizations have learned to their dismay that reorganization does not always produce lasting changes In performance, for there remain unchanged deeper structures Involving such things as physical relationships, informal and formal information channels and the traditions, values, strategies, and decision making policies that determine how information is translated into action. System structure thud subsumes the traditional reporting relationships of the organizational chart and goes much further.

System theorists have discovered a number of common properties across a wide range of social and biological systems, two of which are of particular interest to managers In metanoic organizations. The first has to do with the tendency of a system to resist attempts to change Its performance even when those changes would be "for the better." This characteristic is at the root of many failures of our well intentioned efforts to upgrade our organizational performance and explains why so many of these efforts produce a short term improvement, only to be met by a redoubling of the effort in other pans of the system to thwart the initial effort and bring system performance back to the initial, undesirable condition. Managers are all too aware of this quality: the harder you push. the harder the system pushes back.

At the root of this phenomenon is a quality carted "compensating feedback '' Consider a growing organization whose salesmen are out taking orders, which go into a backlog eventually to be profitably filled, thus producing revenues that allow the hiring of more salesmen..

*This model was conceived by Jay Forrester and explored in depth in his article "Market Growth as Influenced by Capital Investments. Industrial Management Review V IX, No. 2. Winter 1968.

Were this organization operating in an unlimited market with no financial or other constraints, it would grow forever.

This is unrealistic, of course so let us factor In one of the limits such an organization might encounter. As backlog goes up relative to a fixed production capacity. it will take longer and longer to deliver to the customer. Alter some time the customer will be increasingly dissatisfied and the effectiveness with which each salesman takes orders will diminish.

Orders will tall off since the effect of this right hand set of relationships is to limit orders to the fixed production capacity (although it may be possible for some short period of time to book orders greater than production capacity Since it may take some time for the customers to find out about and to take action on the increasing delivery time.)

If you were to imagine the company so large that nobody knows what's was going on everywhere else In the organization, you could conceive a situation where the vice president of sales would define his problem as "falling sales effectiveness." (Even if lengthening delivery times were recognized as the source of the problem, there might be little he could do about it, and he would tend lo take those actions which are within his control.) The likely response to restore sales effectiveness would be training sessions, increased incentives, bonuses. promotions. advertising, and the like. But notice that while an effective implementation of any of these actions increases sales effectiveness and allows the booking of more orders, it subsequently increases backlog, further lengthens delivery delay, and ultimately reduces sales effectiveness still further. The well intentioned effort to increase performance by boosting sales effectiveness is fully compensated for by the system as a whole, such that although there Is short term improvement, the long term qualitative behavior of the system remains unchanged. Unfortunately, the short term improvement probably convinced everyone that training (or incentives or promotions) do in fact work, so that in the ensuing decline there is strong pressure to locate blame elsewhere than in the "proven" program, thus encouraging the organization to repeat the pattern again.

This brings us to the second vital characteristic emerging as common to many social systems: "leverage points." In our example above, the problem or, if you wish, the "symptom" just comes to our awareness in marketing and is defined as falling sales effectiveness. The cause of the problem, however, is an entirely different part of the system, production. And n is here that the leverage to produce qualitative skills in performance is found, In fact, it's obvious in this simple example that the road lo improvement lies in the policies through which the organization increases its production capacity. But notice the characteristics of leverage points. First, they are generally in a part of the system distant from the first manifestations of symptoms. And even more troublesome, It may be quite some time before actions taken at this leverage point precipitate the desired long term improvement.

AII this is fairly obvious in this simple model. Organizations, however, are hopelessly more complex. There are many thousands of such interconnected compensating relationships that over time tie the organization into a stabilizing equilibrium, a homeostasis quite analogous to that of the human body. Because each of these compensating relationships is connected to others, most of our organizational problems are manifested as multiple symptoms of dysfunction. Not only do we experience falling sales effectiveness, it is accompanied by other things such as falling morale, increased turnover, reduced market share, etc., which, when taken all together, overwhelmed people and leave them feeling powerless in the face of all the complexity.

Note: It is precisely the stabilizing balancing relationships that keep the internal body temperature, for example, within a couple of degrees of normal when the range of environmental conditions may vary by as much as a hundred degrees.

**Again the analogy to a sick body can be made Rarely is there only one symptom of illness.

The amount of complexity needed to overwhelm most people can easily be achieved by the relationships between tour or 1've key variables. Fighting complexity with complexity (more information systems procedures etc.) is futile. Instead metanoic organizations tend to promote simplicity as an effective approach to increasingly complex situations. They frequently utilize small autonomous work units in which everyone understands the system and his role in it. People operate under a few simple widely understood and agreed upon goals and rules whereby everyone knows where he is and where he's going and accepts responsibility for himself and for others allowing a more entrepreneurial spirit to flourish in the organization.

Contrast this with the large complex system in which no one knows everybody else and there are many goals. rules regulations and procedures which are impossible to remember and may even contradict each other. Creativity freedom and acceptance of personal responsibility are stifled..

Organizational design may be the most poorly understood dimension of management. Most "captains of industry" see themselves as navigators who chart the organization's course. But what if the ''ship" takes three days to make a turn or turns to starboard when the captain says port? Responsibility for designing the ship is often neglected because 1) there is relatively poor visibility and credit in this aspect of leadership 2) changes in performance generally lag structural modifications and 3) there may be great uncertainty over the consequences of different designs. Underlying all of the above is a general lack of understanding of the nature of social systems in an organizational context.

Recall the championship crew. Small differences in shell design can be critical in a highly Competitive race. While in organizations there is a physical dimension to structure a systemic orientation recognizes more than the mechanical relationships between tangible elements. In a human system structure includes the policies that guide decisions. For the crew one such policy concerns the coxswain's use of the rudder. When it is in the water ~t creates drag. which slows the shell and so it must be used sparingly to control direction. Good coxswains insert the rudder only when it's absolutely necessary to change direction and. even then only during the stroke. The oarsmen or, each side vary the power of their stroke as the principle means of adjusting direction. Together. crew and shell constitute an elegant and complex feedback system that ~s continuously processing information about :he current. the course the wind direcl~on the speed. and the synchronization of the stroke that propels the shell against these variables toward its destination.

In metanoic organizations people realize that the structure of the system although abstract and difficult to observe is vital to performance. They understand that average points in complex systems can be terribly nonobvious and tar removed from the observed symptoms. They appreciate that out of the many hundreds of things that might be done to combat a certain undesirable set of circumstances perhaps only two or three really have the power to cause systemwide. long term improvement and that once found it is often necessary to manipulate them in a way that defies common sense to gain long term improvement. The search for leverage points draws people into a systemic view of the organization which differs fundamentally from the symptom response orientation.

But if only a very few of the hundreds of things you can do in a given situation are actually of high leverage and if these things are nonobvious and distant from the symptoms then how do you find them? How do you find something that may be too complex lo deal with rationally? And how do you explain that great leaders who never studied system theory and nonetheless produce consistently outstanding performance? The answers to these questions draw us into area five, intuition

Note: This is again analogous to sports, where you have a few clear goals, roles, and rules. Imagine football played with thousands of people in hundreds of positions with rule books as vague and voluminous as most manuals o, policy and procedures. Armies recognized the folly of this approach thousands of years ago and subdivided into small autonomous units with overall coordination,

E. INTUITION

3. Once vision and purpose are generated talented people are in place alignment is estate fished. and effective structures are designed the championship organization or team is distinguished by its intuitive ability to extemporize a quality not easy to describe. By intuition we mean knowledge gained by means other than the senses and deductive reasoning. Unfortunately, we often use the term to describe our initial feelings before thinking a situation through When a manager says "Intuitively I know the solution is such and such " he is generally describing his understanding before any serious thought or analysis.

Yet studies in scientific inquiry and creative management have repeatedly emphasized intuition as that vital resource which guides the creative rational analysis of the most gifted

­ scientists. In a recent interview Nobel Laureate physicist Steven Weinberg said that the development of intuition represents a key advance underlying his capacities as a scientist. He described how he has come to rely strongly on hunches in his research in addition to pure rational analysis. Other great scientists have reported similar orientations.

5f6?A recent fortune article (Rowan 1979) describes how successful businesses trust intuition more than they usually admit. David Mahoney chairman of Norton Simon observes that "the chief executive officer is not supposed to say 'I feel.' He's supposed to say 'I know.' So we deify instinct by calling it judgment.'' Professor Henrv Miritzberg of McGill University concludes from extensive study that the top CEO is a 'wholistic intuitive thinker who ... is constantly relying on hunches to cope with problems far too complex for rational analysis.

Intuition is the key to creativity and its development is vital to a metanoic organization. In general. western education systematically thwarts this development through its emphases on factual information and rational analysis so that intuition indeed becomes a second­class intellectual capacity. Metanoic organizations reverse this imbalance. They create an environment that nurtures intuitive development. They recognize intuition's vital role in personal vision alignment and systemic thinking.

5S intuition and vision. The source of a captivating workable vision is in the underlying purpose of the enterprise combined with insight into the future; intuition mediates this purpose and insight. No one ever created an emotionally compelling vision solely with his rational mind and one's true purpose can certainly never be fully determined rationally. Rather one progressively develops the capacity lo recognize which of a variety of possible activities is most consistent with it. Just as the scientist's intuitive sense guides his choice of a particular line of research people can sharpen their intuitive sense of the consistency between alternative objectives and personal purpose. The intuitive capacity to see accurately into the future has often been attributed to highly successful business leaders In an oft­cited test of senior executives precognitive powers conducted at Newark College of Engineering [Dean and Mihalasky 1974| researchers found that eleven of the twelve company presidents who had doubled sales in the previous four years scored abnormally high in recognition A group of presidents from companies with more modest records exhibited no such special skills.

Philosophers have suggested that it is only through our intuitive connections with our higher self that we contact those goals and actions which are right not only for ourselves, but also those around us and ultimately for all mankind. For a vision to be truly embraceable by many, it must embody the quality of natural rightness.''

Intuition and Alignment. Intuition is inherent in a highly aligned group. As individuals deepen their intuitive awareness of each other activities fall into an easy almost unconscious synchronization Diverse projects come together In a natural and extraordinarily efficient way that simply couldn't be planned rationally. as if each individual knew what's going on in the rest of the organization and executed his pan. unconsciously maximizing the efficiency of the whole

To explain this phenomenon we could hypothesize that people are connected at a level only intuition can comprehend that allows the seemingly magical ability to operate as a unified whole. Huxley [1945] calls this undercurrent of human consciousness the "perennial philosophy," a common thread in all religions and philosophies.

Each of us has probably experienced this transcendent state of alignment at one time or another but probably more frequently in athletics or the performing arts rather than in an organizational selling. Such experiences are nevertheless valid sources of insight into the phenomenon and the role of intuition.

As a member of the world championship Boston Celtics basketball star Bill Russell [1979] describes the experience of alignment:

Every so often a Celtic game would heat up so that it became more than a physical or even mental game and would be magical. That feeling is difficult to describe and I certainly never talked about it when I was playing. When it happened I could feel my play rise to a new level. It came rarely and would last anywhere from five minutes to a whole quarter or more. Three or tour plays were not enough to get it going. It would surround not only me and the other Celtics but also the players on the other team and even the referees.

At that special level all sorts of odd things happened. The game would be in a white heat of competition and yet somehow I wouldn't feel competitive-which is a miracle in itself. I'd be putting out the maximum effort straining coughing up parts of my lungs as we ran and yet I never felt the pain. The game would move so quickly that every take cut and pass would be surprising and yet a nothing could surprise me. It was almost as it we were playing in slow motion. During those spells, I could almost sense how the next play would develop and where the next shot would be taken. Even before the other team brought the ball in bounds, I could feel it so keenly that I'd want to shout to my teammates. "It's coming there!"-except that I knew everything would change it I did. My premonitions would be consistently correct and I always felt then that I not only knew all the Celtics by head, but also all the opposing players, and that they all knew me. There have been many times in my career when felt ­ moved or joyful, but these were the moments when I had chills pulsing up and down my spine.

Sometimes the feeling would last all the way to the end of the game and when that happened I never cared who won. I can honestly say that those few times were the only ones when I did not care. I don't mean that I was a good sport about it-that I'd played my best and had nothing to be ashamed of. On the five or ten occasions when the game ended at that special level, I literally did not care who had won. If we lost I'd still be as free and high as a sky hawk.

As an organization opens up to intuitive modes of comprehension, alignment can develop In ways appropriate to business For example people may leave a lengthy meeting in which a number of important problems were addressed unable to remember what was said or who took what position. The feeling of teamwork was so keen who contributed what was irrelevant.

Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of metanoic organizations is the conviction that ­­ people can create the world they want. The vast majority of organizations simply do not work so well as the people in them would like. Disillusionment, dissatisfaction, nonalignment, and ineffective use of human resources are accepted as normal. Usually attributed to lack of commitment, talent, and communication, these conditions actually reflect a damaging viewpoint people hold in their private lives as well as in organizations, namely in the extreme that .'Things don't work, and there's nothing I can really do about it. I'm dissatisfied, but I'm stuck in a system too big, too unresponsive and complex to influence, much less control." Many people are no more conscious of the damage done by these hidden beliefs than they are of pollutants in the air they breathe. The beliefs quickly and easily become a negative self-fulfilling prophecy.

The shift to a viewpoint of workability is sell fulfilling in a positive sense. For example, the viewpoint that flight is impossible was rendered untenable by man's first flight. It might be difficult, there may be a great deal that is unknown, but flight is definitely not impossible. Previously every failure had been one more debilitating "proof" that it was. Failures then suddenly became useful as learning experiences. They revealed the flaws In design that needed correction. Metanoic organizations develop a remarkable tolerance for error and adopt an experimental posture vis a vis internal policies and external activities. They recognize that outstanding achievement is an inherently uncertain process that requires continual course correction to reach the final destination. Planning is valued but is subordinated to concerted. flexible et. tort to produce results.

Values. Once people begin to realize their deepest desires, they recognize the depth of their collective creative ability in personal and organizational terms. They begin examining more earnestly what they really want. High aspirations become natural. Quality, excellence, truthfulness, integrity, compassion, and caring are the ideals of metanoic organizations because, in the words of one CEO, "Would we not be hypocritical to shoot for anything less?" Commitment to these ideals becomes not only expected but natural.

In many, it not all, of these organizations, people seek an environment wherein everyone can get what he wants, where everybody wins, This orientation is a critical complement to alignment and actually extends to the organization's dealings with vendors, customers, and to the competition. No naive, pollyannish, do good outlook, it is a managerial philosophy of aggressive competition in which one competitor may win more than another, but both come out ahead. It is beautifully described by Roben Galvin, chairman of Motorola, which has a campaign "to win against the Japanese." "The Japanese know," he said. when we say that, we don t mean they will lose, but that we'll both come out ahead. They understand this better than many within our own organization. But give us time, we'll eventually learn." He goes on to describe how the metanoic viewpoint extends into the organization's relations with its environment:

Generally in an industrial society, we are simultaneously suppliers and customers, licensors and licensees. We can't do without each other. Each of us is better off that the other survives. We must and do compete vigorously. At times, one of us will be a little better than the other, providing the opportunity to win on that occasion. A next time the other may be the winner. Each competitor is important to the market and to each other, for we need multiple sources. The world re quires diversity. The American society, to be dynamic and strong, needs the aggregate of all the ideas and all the efforts.

Personal responsibility is demanded of the individual operating from the metanoic viewpoint. As one sees oneself creating the future. it is essential to do so responsibly. People in these organizations are expected to have their whole life in order; it is simply not acceptable to sacrifice one's family, for example, in order to participate in the organization. This requires people to recognize that they are themselves the source of satisfaction and fulfillment in their lives, and that no one else, including the organization, can provide this. Finally, people are expected to play the game in earnest, energetically, and to participate with their entire being while they are "on the field." There are no sideline positions for observers.

IV. CONCLUSION

Significant organizational innovations are currently under way in American corporations. They ,? have been explained in terms of new organizational designs, but it is obvious that there is something more profound happening than simply redesigning reporting relationships. As we come to work consciously with vision, alignment, systemic thinking, and intuition, our faith in the nature and purpose of organizations begins to change. Just as an individual with a clear sense of purpose and alignment operates in a fundamentally different way from an individual who does not yet have a sense of personal destiny, organizations that have developed a clear vision are fundamentally different. They embody the metanoic viewpoint and evolve new organizational structures almost effortlessly out of the desire to realize that vision, rather than a perceived need to solve the problems created by outdated organizational structures. In essence, they begin to operate as a higher form of organism.

q/To those who have not seen it in practice, the metanoic organization remains a noble ion al best, but more likely a romantic dream. The pioneers who have successfully discovered and implemented these principles take it more seriously because they have seen and profited from the results.