Maintianing Good Organisational Health

The most interesting part is the new way that people are now managed and communicated with. With many organisations we have either spoken to or worked with, the changes required to deal with 21st century leadership issues were never really planned but have moreso have been thrust upon them. This is simply because of Y generational issues and that older management principles cause lack of productivity, lower profitability and higher employee turnover.

The expression 'you can teach people skill but you cannot teach attitude' has never been more relevant than it is today. The cause and effect principle is simply this - the health of your organisation is directly proportional to your ability to be able to perform and ultimately be successful.

Whilst it is very true that skill, ability and the capacity to be able to compete are critical to success, an organisation in poor health will simply never capitalise upon these attributes and therefore never reach its full potential.

Pat Lencioni in his business bestseller "The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Leader" relates the simple principles that transform an organisation into something great! Pat developed his philosophy and a leading US consulting practice after seeing his father work for 40 years in an organisation in which there was no respect for people and which was wracked with dysfunction and chaos.

Creating a healthy environment is a brave and gutsy move for most organisations. The reason for this is that it often requires the most senior people to assess their true leadership abilities. There are four steps in the process:

1. Build a Cohesive team. Without a cohesive team nothing will stick! When the team is aligned decisions are easier to make, buy-in is simpler and people are happy to be accountable and take 100% ownership.   

2. Create Organisational Clarity. Clarity about what the organisation's purpose, vision or overarching objective, critical success factors and behavioural boundaries. This will create a benchmark from which all strategic decisions are made, and provides a 'points north' to absolutely clarify direction.  

3. Over Communicate Clarity. Simply put, talk about where, why and how every day! It should be included in every meeting, group conversation, interview and newsletter. Whilst the message can never be over communicated it can definitely be under communicated!

4. Build into human Systems. Every 'human' system including recruitment, induction, review, performance counselling - and even 'happy talks' should contain organisational clarity. This helps to sustain and maintain good health.  

When organisations are behaviourally strong and cohesive, growth and success become a process rather than a frustration or a mystery.

As in life, good health in organisations is difficult and has to become a discipline. Poor health on the other hand is simple and requires little or no change. Organisations in peak fitness however consistently out perform their competition and over time will become unstoppable.