Does your organization suffer from any of these issues?
- Departments or data systems are siloed.
- Cross-functional communication is lacking.
- Decisions take too long to make.
- Lack of trust in the accuracy of the ERP data.
Think it Forward is a business novel that provides a roadmap to address these issues and demonstrates the positive outcomes when employees consider the impact of their actions on the people, systems, and information within the organization.
Think it Forward introduces the 3 Nodes of Knowledge, a practical methodology for aligning an organization, top to bottom, department to department, system to system.
Who are your internal customers and suppliers within a business process? In the 3NoK triangle, they might be the vertical levels in the organization, or the horizontal functional groups, or the diagonal node of people, systems, and information involved in that process.
3 Nodes of Knowledge
What if the key to solving your organization’s problems was three deceptively simple questions every employee, in every department, at every level in the organization, should be able to answer.
What do I do?
Who do I impact?
Who impacts me?
Every activity takes inputs, processes them, and produces outputs that affect others in the organization. Understanding and discussing these impacts across departmental lines, up and down the organization, from staff to executive levels, is imperative to improving communications, breaking down barriers, and creating a collaborative work environment. This leads to effective business operations, higher customer satisfaction, and sustained company success.
In any process or decision, people impact each other. The primary entity is known as Node 0. Who Node 0 impacts is the internal customer. Who impacts Node 0 is the internal supplier.
This is an excerpt from the business novel, Think it Forward.
Andre looked at the diagram, then turned it back to me. “Tell me more about each of these nodes.”
“People need to know how to do their work, what their responsibilities are, and what processes they’re involved in. This is node zero, and most people focus their energy here, on themselves.”
“We’ve got plenty of that way of thinking,” Andre replied wistfully.
I continued. “To improve flow, they need to ask themselves, ‘Who do I impact?’ In other words, who is downstream from me? What do they need from me, and how do my actions affect them?”
“Their internal customer. Give me an example.”
I took a drink of tea. “Manufacturing needs to understand how they impact the sales team’s ability to promise our customers a delivery date. It’s expanding their mindset from ‘I need to meet the schedule’ to ‘A customer is waiting for this bike.’”
“Interesting.” He pointed at the napkin. “So, if I’m node zero, what do I need to know about the internal supplier?”
“I need to know who impacts me. Who do I depend on to supply me, and what do I need from them? How do their actions affect me?”
“Let me see if I’ve got this.” Andre rubbed his hands together. “When everyone knows their three nodes, processes flow smoother. But when people only think about Node 0—their own job—we end up with disconnection, miscommunication, and chaos.”
“That’s it. 3NoK is based on the principle I call ‘Think it Forward.’ Being mindful of our impact on others. What can I do—what can I improve—to make others’ work easier and more effective? If we all practiced that, who knows how far we could go?”
3 Nodes of Knowledge is applicable to goal setting, business process improvement, and ERP utilization across the organization. It reframes every role, handoff, transaction, and cross-functional relationship around the concept of internal customers and internal suppliers, revealing the interconnectedness among all entities in the company and the importance of them working together.
3 Nodes of Knowledge recognizes that vertical, horizontal, and diagonal alignment between entities in a business process is vital.
- Vertical represents hierarchical levels in the organization.
- Horizontal encompasses functional groups in a process.
- Diagonal addresses people, systems, information (PSI).
Jim McNeil spent forty years navigating the real-world chaos that Think it Forward brings to life—missed goals, siloed teams, systems that don’t deliver their promise—along with the satisfying work of building organizations that actually function. His career spanned global supply chain, customer service, and business analysis roles in pharmaceutical and medical device companies, from lean start-ups to multinational corporations. He wrote Think it Forward because he believes organizations can do better—and that the right framework, applied with patience and respect for people, not only transforms how a company operates, but improves how people feel about coming to work.
We offer educational seminars, workshops, and speaking engagements to bring the 3 Nodes of Knowledge to your organization.