PART VII

ORGANIZING BEYOND SEVENS

Every once in a while, a question comes along that stops us in our tracks. Alain Nöel, when he was a doctoral student at McGill before joining École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal, asked me such a question. Having read an early draft of the original version of this book, Alain asked: Was I playing jigsaw puzzle or LEGO with these pieces? In other words, were they meant to be assembled into a few established forms, or to be used to create new ones (as LEGO was, before it added so many three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles to its product lines).

I realized that I had been playing jigsaw puzzle but should start playing LEGO. All those “anomalies” that didn’t fit a form, or even a hybrid of them, could become opportunities to see beyond the forms. Hence I created a file called “LEGO,” into which I put the misfits. The final part of this book celebrates this misfitting. Why stop at seven?

From Pat to Playful My dictionary defines a puzzle as something difficult to understand. Therefore a jigsaw puzzle is not a puzzle, since it is easy to understand, no matter how difficult it may be to assemble. In a jigsaw puzzle:

1. The pieces are supplied.

2. Each is clean cut.

3. They fit together perfectly . . .

4. to make the picture on the box.

This is pat, not puzzling. In contrast, here are the characteristics of a true puzzle:

1. The pieces have to be found, or created.

2. Each appears as an obscure fragment.

3. Seldom do these pieces fit together neatly; somehow they have to be connected.

4. With no box in sight, the picture has to be concocted from these fragments and connections.

To solve such puzzles, we have to be playful, not pat: open ourselves to the creative construction of novel structures—for our organizations and otherwise. Hence this final part of the book is titled “Organizing Beyond Sevens.” Chapter 20 describes how organizations open up their boundaries, and Chapter 21 discusses how they can open up the process of designing their structures.