What managers see, what they advocate and what they ultimately decide are influenced by the map of the world they carry around inside their heads.

Having delivered this unarguable view, the authors go on to describe how the consideration of five guiding ‘GRASP questions’ can help ensure that: the ‘goals’ of the organisation and its stakeholders; its ‘resources’ (whether value-driving or enabling); its ‘actions’; its ‘structures’; and its ‘people’ (who bring the organisation to life) can be effectively linked and synergistically aligned. These five elements fit together to form a comprehensive, dynamic and easy-to-communicate ‘GRASP map’ of the whole organisation, offering leaders – and others – help in understanding it more clearly.

Referring to over a decade of field research and citing a wealth of case examples – large and small, European and American, for-profit and not-for-profit, and governmental – the authors show how to identify and correct managers’ mental models to move their organisations in the desired direction and achieve their goals. Full of exhibits offering tips on making best use of the questions, the article is aimed at giving professional managers of complex systems tools with which to achieve more effective leadership and improved performance.

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