The last thing a fish is likely to discover is the water it's swimming in. Like the fish, we take context for granted, even though it's decisive in sustaining who and what we are.

In recent years, managers have become well aware of the need to understand and keep in touch with changes in the external environment shaping their organizations. The importance of this aspect of context seems well understood. But they have been far slower in recognizing the significance of internal context and how it shapes almost everything they do. True, there is more attention being devoted to corporate culture, but culture is just one element of context.

When managers create organization structures or develop job descriptions and reward systems, they are creating context.

When they urge the adoption of new business ideas or try to develop a new sense of vision or mission, they are creating context.

And when they are ponderous and indecisive, dodging difficult issues, or communicating unintended messages to their staff, they are creating context.

Context-making is the fundamental art of management. It is performed for better or worse throughout the working day. Yet for the most part, it is sorely neglected and misunderstood.

Formal theories of leadership and management style are partly to blame. They usually focus attention on the personal qualities of the leader or manager, or on managerial behaviour. For example, leaders are urged to "take firm control," "be collaborative," "manage by walking around" or whatever is in vogue. The focus is on the figure of the leader, rather than on the ground that he or she influences and thus helps to create.

Use of programs and techniques encounters the same problem. Attention tends to focus on the program itself, rather than on how it will be eventually shaped and interpreted by the context in which it is introduced. When programs designed to enhance factors such as customer service, quality or empowerment are introduced into bureaucratic contexts they become bureaucratized.

It's stating the obvious. But the obvious is usually ignored.

• You can't empower people in a bureaucracy without changing the bureaucratic mindsets and structures that sustain the old form.
• You can't expect exceptional customer service, or a genuine commitment to quality, if employees are preoccupied by the measures and influence of internal controls.
• A manager can't get close to his employees if he's perceived as manipulative or authoritarian, even if he's read all the latest books. on human relations techniques

In management, context always rules.

Effective leaders and managers are skilled in the art of managing context:

• They know they can really influence 15 per cent of the context in their organizations, so they use this limited influence to create environments in which desirable initiatives can flourish.
• They don't drop new projects into old settings. They find ways of creating new situations that will maximize the chances of success.
• They pilot and experiment, and master the art of creating successes that can set the stage for further successes.
• They learn how successful "15 per cent initiatives" can snowball to create large transformation.

Properly used, this skill gives us an advantage over the fish. It allows us to change the water in which we're swimming.

Gareth Morgan is Distinguished Research Professor in the Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto, and author of Imaginization: The Art of Creative Management.

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