PBL Participant Toolbook

DCOM
Introduction
Although the leadership skills discussed in this toolbook emphasize
day-to-day performance, effective leadership also resides in a
broader organizational context. In fact, effective leadership and
organizational management requires a focus on two broad levels
within the organization. These levels are:

• The organizational infrastructure

• Individual and team behavior and performance

At the organizational level, there is a need for a well-planned, well-

considered, and well-designed infrastructure to assure that the
organization’s resources are properly aligned and that they support
9
its vision and mission. Historically, this infrastructure has been the

DCOM
organizational structure (reporting levels, job descriptions, and
levels of authority) and the bureaucratic systems designed to make
the structure work.

However, unconventional environmental pressures that require the

removal of walls, the enhancement of innovation, and the
encouragement of renewal are challenging this traditional, fixed
structure. With these emerging requirements for fluidity and
adaptation, there remains the need for control and accountability
that is simultaneously dynamic and resilient.

Description
DCOM (Direction, Competence, Opportunity, Motivation) is an
acronym for the four components of high-performing, flexible
organizations. These components provide the basis for a flexible
and adaptive organization capable of high, steady rates of
organizational performance. The DCOM components are the

 2002 CLG
 PBL Participant Toolbook

building blocks for long-term, leveraged organizational performance

and are the determining factors in high-performing companies.
Specifically, they are:

• Direction—the “operationalization” of the vision, mission, and

values, resulting in clearly defined and understood focus and
priorities, and the alignment of all employee group efforts.

• Competence—the individual’s and the organization’s

capabilities for managing and conducting work and work
processes.

• Opportunity—the acquisition and availability of resources

such as technology, process design, time, and empowerment.

• Motivation—the effective use of consequences, which creates

an environment where people “want to,” rather than “have to,”
perform at high levels.

10
10 The following sections examine each of the four DCOM
components in detail.
DCOM
DCOM

Direction

Direction provides a clear focus on the letter and the spirit of the
organization’s purpose and goals. It can be further broken into the
following seven elements:

• Vision—a description and definition of what the organization

can be, and of the value created for the organization’s
stakeholders. To be effective, the vision must be
communicated to and understood by all employees.

• Values—a clear statement of what the organization believes are

its underlying principles for leadership and management
practices. To be effective, these values must be operationalized
(i.e., defined in terms of specific behaviors so that people will
know when they are doing it and when they see it).

 2002 CLG
PBL Participant Toolbook

• Measures—selected yardsticks that reflect the value-adding

chain of the organization’s work processes and the increasingly
specific definition of supporting yardsticks in the value chain.
These supporting yardsticks provide a line of sight between
employees’ performance and the delivery of value to the
organization’s stakeholders.

• Priorities—a clear statement of the two or three things that

are truly important.

• Clarity—the critical few measures that allow people to focus

on and to understand the purpose behind their efforts.

• Coherence—mutually supportive and consistent measures and

priorities aligned with the value-adding processes.

• Constancy—staying the course in the pursuit of the key factors

underlying the organization’s success.
11
Competence

DCOM
Competence is the capability to perform. It can be further broken
into the following four elements:

• Technical skills—the basic work-related skills necessary to

fulfill an individual’s or unit’s role.

• Work management—the knowledge and skills necessary to

understand and manage the workflow of the unit and the value
delivered to the “customer.” These include skills in workflow
management, problem solving, process improvement, decision
making, etc.

• Interpersonal skills—the skills necessary to manage

interpersonal conflict, to perform collaboratively, and to
mutually reinforce the values and achievements of others.

 2002 CLG
 PBL Participant Toolbook

• Economic literacy—basic knowledge of financial and

operating measures and their interrelationships, and
knowledge of how changes in individual and team performance
can impact results.

Opportunity

Opportunity is the availability of support for seizing an initiative and

for eliminating obstacles. It can be further broken into four
elements:

• Resources—the necessary time, technology, tools, place,

people, information, money, and materials.

• Authority—the freedom to act, the appropriate level of

responsibility, and the accountability for actions and results.

• Boundaries—clearly defined limits and parameters within

which the individual and the team can and should operate.

12
12
• Processes—well-defined work processes that deliver value to
DCOM
DCOM

the customer and that are not impeded by traditional

organizational structures. Process also refers to the removal of
historical and functionally autonomous systems, procedures,
and consequences that create barriers to effective performance
and innovation.

Motivation

Motivation is characterized as the driver for performance. It can be

further broken into three elements:

• Pinpointed behaviors—clearly defined behaviors that

indicate how people are to perform.

• Measurement and feedback—real-time, nonjudgmental

information regarding how well people are performing.

 2002 CLG
PBL Participant Toolbook

• Consequences—formal and informal events that happen to

people when they demonstrate and sustain the right behavior
and achieve high levels of performance.

Perspective on the Components

Direction, Competence, and Opportunity define the organizational
context for leadership and can serve as the basis for a fluid but
resilient organizational infrastructure. The fourth element,
Motivation, is the focus of our coaching. It becomes the “glue” in
the infrastructure and serves as the personal basis for effective
leadership.

Motivation ensures that people “want to” perform at high levels,

and the other DCOM elements help link this motivation to existing
management processes for leveraged organizational performance.

Key Points 13

DCOM
• Leveraged organizational performance is built with the four
cornerstones of Direction, Competence, Opportunity, and
Motivation.

• DCOM is a model for a fluid organizational infrastructure that

provides an environmental context for high and steady rates of
performance.

• Direction is the context for performance.

• Competence is the capability to perform.

• Opportunity is the availability of support for people to seize the

initiative.

• Motivation is the driver of performance.

 2002 CLG