Don't Only Work in Higher Maturity Orgs

If you work, especially early in your career, only on high-maturity organizations (e.g., teams, projects, departments), you miss out a lot on learning how to build and sustain a high maturity organization. Working on that "red program" or in that struggling department forces you to really understand things like process, goals, tracking/coordinating, task management, effective planning, etc.

I found huge value early in my career being in a Lockheed Martin leadership development rotational program for engineers, where I got to move around various projects, which were all over the maturity map. I saw some great programs, and appreciated that the great leaders aren't the ones working late Friday night -- instead it's the ones who build a program that runs so smoothly they don't have to work long hours. It was powerful to see very different leadership styles, and realizing that there isn't a single, cookie-cutter best leadership style. I also learned so much by seeing the teams that pushed against the pressure from clients and senior leaders to move quickly early on, when instead more planning and analysis is needed before moving out (Lockheed did a great job illustrating this point in one of our leadership conferences -- see Are you Running in the Right Direction?).

This thought was inspired by Nathan King's (a friend of mine, but no relation to me -- but what a great last name!) recent LinkedIn post.

See also my presentation to enterpreneurs on how to grow business value, with a big focus on maturing your organization:  How to Grow Business Value