MEALER Model

The MEALER model by Peter Burow, is detailed in Stephen Drotter’s latest book, ‘The Performance Pipeline’ and describes the pulse of horizontal and vertical communication within an organisation.

Whatever information (narrative) not outlined by leadership is ‘invented’ by employees – above, beside and below them.  Nature abhors a vacuum.

The temptation is for leaders to focus horizontally rather than both horizontally and vertically.  This temptation results in horizontal silos that cannot relate to each other and the greatest learnings within the organisation become quarantined to the lower levels.

When employees at the coalface understand the meaning behind a strategy and their role and engage in action that support it, discretionary effort significantly increases.  Discretionary effort therefore is significantly impacted by the effectiveness of the information flow. In other words, communication between layers is the lifeblood of the organisation. 

Without it the organisation cannot deliver on the company’s strategy.  This flow of information (both horizontally and vertically) is what enables a Learning Organisation to emerge.

New learnings about how, why and when to do the work become embedded in the culture as BAU practice as the communication pulses throughout the organisation.

To learn more about the Mealer model contact us or email Zane Harris