Number 4
Dear Client:
Where do
you stand on the four concepts below for running your organization?
More important, where do you want your organization
to stand in the future?
The concepts go to the heart of how organizations get things
done…how they articulate purpose, mission, what they
must do to reach goals, what goes in their annual plan, what competencies
they need to accomplish the plan and measure success.
First
concept: Nurture the means and the results will take
care of themselves.
The concept assumes a desirable end result will emerge naturally as
a consequence of nurturing activities of employees and suppliers in
a human manner. It’s about the way the work is organized into
a natural, living system.
Experience shows it’s sure-footed…witness
Toyota which lives by it.
But it’s controversial. Many executives
believe that what gets measured gets done.
Near-term results are critical to their holding on to their jobs. So
they embrace Activity Based Costing and Balanced Scorecards. Current
practices and beliefs would have to be scuttled to embrace the nurturing
concept…and that sort of change is difficult.
Still, leading gurus applaud the approach.
The constant use of process drivers, measurements and stretch goals
can cripple an organization in the long run, wearing people down. So
says a 2002 article in Booz Allen Hamilton’s quarterly magazine.
Besides, say the gurus, the
measures don’t capture what’s really happening
in important parts of an organization. Peter Drucker is one who concedes
this point.
Does this mean all measures should be thrown out the window?
No. But the nurturing concept ought to be the dominant
focus in all organizations…until research proves otherwise.
Which
makes paying attention to this second concept so important…
Identify and preserve a strong inner core and adapt everything else
to a changing world. That’s the only true reliable source of stability
over time…research says.
A strong inner core means knowing the organization’s core
values, purpose. It means understanding what
the passion is and identifying the right economic drivers.
There is no “right” inner core or ideology. Certain themes
show up often…integrity, respect for the individual employee,
service to the customer. But no single item shows up consistently. Authenticity
and sticking to the core count more than content.
With a strong inner core in place, team members
know what’s inviolate…whether nurturing trumps
results or the other way around.
Which
is a good segue to the third concept...Your people
are volunteers, not assets.
It’s this premise which helps make the case for nurturing the
organization.
When they sign up, they like to know there’s a strong
inner core. While some volunteer for money, others volunteer
for a sense of inner peace and accomplishing meaningful work that impacts
the lives of others. That’s how they decide whether to stay and
for how long. They look at what constitutes your inner core to help
them decide.
Getting and keeping the right people is about what the volunteers
want and need, as much as it is about an organization’s
wishes. It’s about keeping from de-motivating people as much as
it is about motivating them. Fresh hires start already motivated.
Create
a culture that is worthy of the respect and dignity of those you want.
That includes giving people a large opening to enlist, make commitments
to strategies and tactics. Volunteers appreciate the monumental difference
between enlisting support and giving orders, between gaining commitment
and commanding obedience.
Creating
such an environment…the fourth concept:
Transformations can’t be extracted, made,
delivered or even staged; they can only be guided. A corollary:
People don’t mind change; they mind being changed.
Lasting efforts occur step-by-step. Revolutions, dramatic
change programs, wrenching restructurings create more turmoil than lasting
change.
Hence, the need for process, tools,
practices which best facilitate ideas, conversation, decisions…and
allow teams, departments, companies, communities to reach their goals.
Yours very truly,
Principal, Conbrio
For more about our processes, tools and practices – including our visual tools – visit our website at www.conbrioamericas.com, e-mail me at bbancroft@conbrioamericas.com or call me at 214-941-8199.
