Companies are increasingly being put to the test: they have to efficiently manage their core business with its strong turnover and at the same time drive radical innovation and change. This creates an area of tension: on the one hand, the preservation of vested interests, safeguarding results, efficiency optimization and incremental development. On the other hand, it is about exploring new business models, radical innovation with sometimes disruptive potential. The ability of an organization to deal with this ambidexterity has a name: Ambidexterity. This is not a sure-fire success, as both “orientations” require very different and sometimes contradictory ways of working, methods and cultural characteristics. In the established mode of the core business – known as “exploitation” – routine, zero errors, perfection, standardization and efficiency are required. While the highly innovative mode – known as “exploration” –requires a willingness to take risks, a pioneering spirit, experimentation and a culture of error.
In order to provide managers and organizational developers with a tool and orientation aid, I have developed a simple, abstract model called the Magic Triangle. The model is based on the geometric figure of the triangle, which symbolizes a hierarchical organizational structure. Four basic success principles of ambidexterity describe the model, the so-called four “A’s”:
1) Ambition is the company-wide understanding, the common motivation for ambidexterity. This also includes supporting and mandating the company management.
2) Autonomy: Highly innovative projects must be separated from the core business so that these teams can develop their own (agile) way of working. The so-called Explore teams need their own KPIs, their own funding and their own methodology. As a rule, these are not spin-offs, but independent teams within the parent organization.
3) Assets: The Explore projects are dependent on the support of the core business. This includes financing, expertise and know-how, access to existing customers, input from specialist departments such as Purchasing, Legal, HR.
4) Ambiguity: The cooperation of the two “worlds Exploit (core business) and Explore can cause friction and acceptance problems. It requires tolerance of ambiguity, i.e. the ability to deal with ambiguities and contradictions.
The “Magic Triangle” model serves as a model for working on the essential levers in workshops. I can provide the Migic Triangle and the accompanying canvas free of charge at any time. Write me an email. Done.
