All the wood behind one arrow

To achieve goals, you, your team, company or organization have to put

All the wood behind one arrow

Which in fact means that in order to achieve exceptional results, all team members have to to focus and work in the same direction towards a well defined goal.

There's also a Dutch expression for this:

All noses in the same direction



But is it really true that if all noses are in the same direction, results are best?

Vector Algebra
Let's compare people in a organization or a relationship with vectors as in vector algebra.
A vector is like an arrow, with a starting point (were you begin), a direction (the way you work, your progress) and an endpoint (your goal).
The sum of all the individual vectors (team members, or you and your partner) adds up to an integral sum-vector. This sum-vector stands for the direction the company (or the relationship with your partner) is heading for and the goal it achieves.



Now it's clear that if there's a clear company mission and every team member works in the same direction, the sumvector is has the largest length, it has the greatest power.
In a static situation, this is the most powerful concept. Every team member (employee) offers his own personal goal for a higher company goal. The success of the company is the success of the employee.

But reality is different. There are some real pitfalls in this ideal static model:

• The external environment changes continually. This urges for a continuous changing organization and goalsetting. But no team member picks up this new direction, because everybody is focussed on the (old) goal.
• Every team member has different qualities and therefore has a natural need for developing in a different direction, with a different goal.
• Because every team member thinks in the same way, there's too little necessary tension and creativity that is needed for achieving exceptional results

The Composer
So in reality as a manager (composer) it's often better to set a clear company goal and compose your team members in such a way that

• The total quality-power of your team members sums up to the company goal
• Team members can be specialists in their own professional area and are stimulated to learn from each other and to enter their college's professional domain
• Team members are bringing in changes and developments from the changing outside world
• Team members are rewarded (financial, motivation, compliments) in a personal way

By building a company in this way, it is less vulnerable to environmental changes so that continuity is granted and stakeholders are happy.

Wood you mind?

In fact this organizational approach resembles the structure (grain) of wood(cells) in nature.

Now, compare this wood-structure to the organizational structure of a company by looking at properties as strength, stiffness and structure. The natural dynamic structure of the wood-cells and the wood grain contribute to its strength and stiffness and chance of survival.

So after all it is better to have all the wood behind one arrow than all the noses in the same direction.

Therefore appreciate the differences between you and your colleges, but keep in mind the company target.

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