Organizations usually begin when some individual takes an idea and through the effort of a small group of people develops a successful enterprise serving some limited group of customers or clients. Through sheer energy and passion, the organization begins its journey on the growth curve. As the organization grows it adds more people and eventually becomes encumbered in policies and practices and beliefs about "the right way to do things." It develops its own best practices and adopts them from other organizations, but at some time in the future those practices can constrain thinking processes. The rules of the game become institutionalized. Those core competencies and capabilities that built the organization soon become counterproductive.
How did the organization get into this box? Provides a model for discussion of how we get into the box and how we can get out of it. Thinking, motivation, knowledge, and experience feed the box with the expectation of some type of output. Organizations begin with some level of thinking, they are motivated to accomplish some objective, they have most of the knowledge required in the various disciplines, and they gain experience through their activities and provide an output. That output may be positive or negative. Various processes intermingle within that box and over many years become interconnected to the point where they no longer add value. In many cases they constrain the organization’s ability to compete. Even though new knowledge and new experiences may have been gained, they have been acquired through the same thinking patterns. There’s nothing wrong with institutionalizing ways of thinking or processes as long as they don’t inhibit performance. Unfortunately institutionalizing leads to developing a comfort zone where the tough questions related to the future of the organization are not welcome.