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Sales mistakes and wheely orgs

This is an article in Entrepreneur on the subject. Also in the magazine this month there's a cool little blurb about this guy who has what he calls a "wheel management system." The piece would be interesting reading for anyone who's in the business of designing a staff model. The photo shows the org chart which is wild, and looks like--you guessed it--a wheel.
His system is based on a chart that identifies all employees based on their skills and expertise. The chart is constructed so that if, for example, an environmental scientist requires additional materials during subsurface drilling, he immediately knows whom to call and has the authority to do so. "There is no hierarchy," says Vigneri. "The goal is to keep the project moving forward."
The thing I find interesting about all these small business articles I read is how applicable their processes are to associations and other nonprofits. Empowerment issues like these are really important when you have a small staff, whether or not you're in the business of making lots of dough.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention, Signal v. Noise has the second in its series on starting your own business up. It's great advice.

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