what is MMEO?

The Maturity Model for Building Enduring Organizations©, or MMEO, is a conceptual framework of insights and practices for building an enduring organization. MMEO has been developed based on the experiences of many small and large organizations around the world; the lessons learnt have been curated both as broad principles and specific processes.

MODEL: MMEO is a theoretical construct that represents the reality embedded in an enduring organization. Much like the model of a house that an architect uses to demonstrate its key architectural elements, the MMEO is a rendition of how an enduring organization ‘looks and behaves’. Functionally, MMEO blends learnings from various domains in a holistic and integrated manner, making it easier for an organization to address its broad needs instead of being stuck in silos of management solutions. Specific domains of knowledge that are embedded in MMEO include: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Human Capital Management, TQM (Total Quality Management) and Product Management.

REPOSITORY OF BEST PRACTICES: MMEO contains best practices which an organization must interpret, contextualize and implement for it to successfully transform itself into a high-performance organization, and to eventually morph into an enduring organization. ‘Best’ is being used to refer to practices that have consistently produced superior results compared to others; by no means does “best” imply a lack of potential for further improvements in these practices. The best can, and should, continuously strive to become better. We could also use descriptors like ‘good’ or ‘effective’ to convey the same sense.

FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT: MMEO is a catalyst for organization change and development. Not only does it offer practices that an organization can implement, but it also describes practices that need to be culturally assimilated. MMEO works on the premise that practices for delivering high-performance, and for building an enduring organization, will not survive unless they are an integral part of the organizational DNA and culture. These cultural changes provide much of the MMEO’s power for implementing lasting improvements and distinguish it from other change management approaches.

MATURITY FRAMEWORK: The concept of organizational maturity is at the heart of MMEO. It is defined as the collective capability of the organization to engage with its internal and external environment, and its potential to consistently produce desired results. Like how it is applied to humans, assigning a high maturity level to an organization means associating it with a higher order of self-awareness and an enhanced ability to be effective. In MMEO, the route to becoming an enduring organization traverses through five distinct stages of organizational maturity (called Maturity Levels). Each maturity level builds on the success of practices at preceding levels, and introduces greater sophistication

in activities that the organization needs to undertake. Instead of overwhelming organizations with a deluge of best practices, the well-curated maturity framework ensures that the organization applies a laser-sharp focus on a few vital few practices that have the most bearing given the organization’s status and desired goals. It prevents behaviours of “shooting in the dark” and “flavour of the month”, wherein the organization usually burdens itself with a somewhat disconnected set of strategies and actions.

COMMON VOCABULARY PROVIDER: MMEO provides a common language to discuss the concepts involved in building enduring organizations in a manner than has hitherto not been possible. The vocabulary of MMEO (e.g. characteristics of enduring organizations, five maturity levels) helps develop awareness of the broad principles of organizational transformation and their implications in everyday actions. Additionally, the curated structure of MMEO reduces the need to re-invent the wheel – it saves precious management time and organizational resources, who no longer need to sort subjective views or worry about ambiguous interpretations of fundamental concepts.

AN ASSESSMENT TOOL: Often, an organization’s sense of its true capabilities is clouded by subjectivity, external perceptions, special-interest stakeholders, or quite simply, not having adequate information. Without a reliable mirror to accurately reflect organizational strengths and improvement areas, organizations often go astray in their market strategies or internal plans. The MMEO puts an end to this guessing game. Its well-defined maturity levels and assessment tools enable an organization to take periodic “health checks”. These checks help shape its vision, as much as they provide valuable ongoing feedback on what’s working, and what’s not, in areas such as strategy, planning, customer delight and people engagement. Just as the accuracy of the “You are here” pointer on the GPS defines how successful, or frustrating, your drive is going to be, an unbiased organizational assessment is critical for meaningful commitment to action. The staged architecture of MMEO presents some easy-to-comprehend milestones in the organizational transformation journey. With the common vocabulary, and reliable health checks, it becomes easier to paint a clear picture of what the organization aspires to be in the future; what the leadership deeply cares about and what the organization looks like when the vision is achieved.