Though I’ll talk more about communication in You Talking to Me?, I’d like to emphasize how Tony’s structure often creates a good flow of information both up and down the organization chart. Tony has made sure all his people understand the psychology of this structure. In other words, they all recognize that they’re linked together like climbers on a mountain, and that if one falls off, they all fall off. Even the lowliest associate generally feels connected to his peers, his boss, and the family as a whole. Tony’s behavior models how he values these connections. Even though Junior is a pain, Tony bends over backwards to accommodate him. Even though he knows Richie is psychotic, he treats him fairly until Richie pushes Tony too far. Because Tony’s attitude and actions toward everyone are based on their positions within the overall structure, that structure garners respect.
As a result, information and ideas generally flow freely. People feel too connected to other people in the family to hide important information, though there are some exceptions—Paulie recently has become disgruntled and is more reticent around Tony than he had been. Still, there’s a remarkable openness, not only in terms of sharing good news but sharing bad news as well. It’s why season in and season out, Tony’s crew seems to prosper when others do not.
TONY ON THE NEED FOR OPENNESS AND HONESTY
"Why don’t we put our cards on the table."
If you’re like most executives, you occasionally become frustrated because knowledge becomes "stuck" in various corporate corners. An individual believes he’ll be better off if he hoards ideas, sharing them only when he feels such sharing will benefit him the most. Members of a team keep their research and discoveries to themselves because they fear a competing team will capitalize on their hard work and come up with a solution before they do. Or a particular department absolutely refuses to communicate consistently and openly with another department based on years of mutual antipathy. Unfortunately, information sharing is not part of the culture or the individual mind-set in most organizations.
While Tony’s structure doesn’t eliminate the tension between various factions or individual selfishness, it does help minimize it. Most of the time, Tony’s people recognize that they’re better off communicating important information quickly to the individual below or above them. They may not always like sharing, but Tony makes sure they know that they’ll like the alternative even less.