Climbing your way to the Top?

Think you know the way, look again.

It was our management school professors who told us all about corporate life and that is why we studied hard each year as we worked to score good marks and join the corporate rat race.

While we were youngsters we all dreamed about rope ladders and tree houses and during the rainy days stayed indoors and played snakes and ladders.

Did we grow out of that?

No, not really, it’s just that our ladders got redefined. From snakes and ladders, we now played on the corporate ladder.

Those were the easy days, the corporate ladder would stare you in the face and you would strive hard each year to go up the next rung.

The Corporate ladder was steep, you would run into the occasional snake and falter but it was clear. The way forward was up.

Then life changed, the ladder disappeared and your corporate race changed its rules.

The way forward is no longer up, the way forward is no longer using the ladder, but the way forward is now dictated by, what I coin, the “Corporate Trellis”.

Yes, you heard me right, the corporate race today is not on the ladder but has been replaced by the Trellis. The way forward is sideways.

Corporates hire and value cross department exposure and this is fast becoming the HR department’s new toy to play with. How you move using the Corporate Trellis dictates when you will reach the top. This cross-functional movement brings fresh energy and innovativeness hitherto much sought after into the Boardroom.

“If you’ve not been there, how can you understand it yet alone lead it”, said one management guru.

So throw away the notion of the corporate ladder and bring in the concept of the Corporate Trellis. This relieves boredom, ensures sustained retention, gives many executives a way forward and creates managers who are more aware and with far greater perspective.

The Author is Director for Cultural Markets with Environics Research Group.