Leadership, Power and Ethics – Huh?

So by now we’ve all heard about the scandal with retired general and former head of the CIA, David Petraeus. Some of my European colleagues have balked that we can be a bit uptight in the U.S. when it comes to mixing business and personal – and that may be the case. However, as that is the culture in which we live (and lead) - those in positions of power need to conduct themselves within certain boundaries. Obviously someone failed to have this conversation with David Petraeus or former Lockheed Martin CEO, Christopher Kubasik.

As an organizational development and leadership practitioner - I often work with C-Level executives and Military and Civilian leaders. Sometimes the work is focused on them - leadership development and coaching - though often it is focused on the organizations they lead and helping them to improve in one way or another. Regardless, I often stress to leaders in positions of power that their actions, ethics, values, and behaviors have a direct impact on the attitudes and behaviors of those they lead and thus on the organizational culture. Those impacts can be positive or negative.

As Ken Hultman and Bill Gellerman say in their book, Balancing Individual and Organizational Values, ethics are standards of good/bad or right/wrong behavior, and morals are standards for avoiding or minimizing harmful or bad behavior/wrong behavior. Thus, a moral is also an ethic, but not all ethics are morals. They are internal to a person. Organizations as such don’t have values and ethics, but since they are comprised of human beings, their cultures are shaped by the values and ethics of those human beings. If those human beings at the top – leadership – commit unethical behaviors - what kind of message does that send to those they lead?

In the recent cases of David Petraeus and Christopher Kubasik - did their unethical actions have a negative impact on their respective organizations? Kubasik’s actions “did not affect the company's operational or financial performance," the company has stated. Though damage control has already begun, I think time will tell. I do give Lockheed credit – they have a written code of ethics for employees, when they found out their leadership violated this code, they forced his resignation. The CIA and the government on the other hand, have been a bit slower in taking corrective actions.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” - Lord Acton

As an OD practitioner I was once told something by a mentor that still sticks with me today, you may not be able to make people change their values; however, you can help them see the wisdom of changing their behaviors.  As Cameron & Quinn state “An organization’s culture is reflected by what it values, the dominant leadership styles, the language and symbols…” Interviewing 1709 CEOs from 64 countries and 18 industries, (from September 2011 to January 2012) IBM identified that the top organizational attribute to draw out the best from their workforces was ethics and values (65%). So what does it say about the culture of an organization when those selected to lead it have somewhat sketchy values and ethics?

Values and ethics are important, and apparently power does corrupt.

“Values (and ethics) are the fuel which drive the engine of desire to make vision a reality…” – Broholm

What kind of reality do you want for your organization?

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions - an Organizational Improvement & Strategy firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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CEO to Commander in Chief: Do The Same Skills Apply?

Achieving the leadership status and title of the Commander in Chief – President of the United States of America - is the highest appointed leadership position one could achieve.  Sure – being a CEO is also a great achievement and the role is also intricate and complex. But leading a group of employees is much different than leading an entire nation.

I mean…they don’t call the President the Commander in Chief (CIC)  for nothing!

With an election happening next week, leadership qualities are coming to the forefront.  One candidate was a former CEO. So - putting on my organizational development practitioner hat - politics aside, left or right or red or blue, this raises an interesting question.

Just because someone was a CEO does that mean they have the leadership skills to be Commander in Chief (CIC)?

Some may argue that good leadership is good leadership –- whether you’re managing kids at home, serving as the CEO of a company, or as the Commander in Chief of a nation.  (for more on our take on good leadership, feel free to see some previous articles on the topic  including  one relating to politics)

Can CEOs run the U.S. equally or better than a candidate with a traditional political background?  Various articles and studies have been done on this topic. The reality is, that though many leadership roles do require similar traits, they may also require different decision making processes and application of those skills and traits. Just because you may have certain skills and traits to be a success in one leadership role doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skills and traits to be successful in another.  Even if you do - can you execute actions using those skills and traits in a way that will contribute to success in the same way for  two different roles.

“…. 56% (of CEOs surveyed) also believe maintaining voter confidence is more difficult than securing the support of shareholders and directors as CEO.”

– Korn/Ferry CEO Survey Aug. 2012

Let’s take a look at some key leadership traits, and considerations, from the perspectives of CEO and the Commander in Chief:

Accountability

• CEO – CEO’s and the CIC often have a different view on accountability. Though CEOs are hired, they are not often elected to serve the people, but to serve the shareholders. Since CEO’s are mostly accountable to boards and shareholders, decisions can often be driven by money, and not what is in the best interests of those they lead.  A CEO is often more accountable for balance sheets than the welfare of their employees.  This can often prohibit them from putting the interests of their people ahead of that of finances.

• CIC – Though the balancing of financial matters and people matters is a shared struggle to an extent - the CIC is elected by all the people, not just appointed by a select group of peers - and thus is accountable first and foremost for the well being of those who elected him/her.  One could argue that level of accountability includes commitment to balance sheets, though, when looking at financials, the CIC is most often doing so from the perspective of what is best for the people.  In addition, the CIC is required to make life and death decisions, not just financial decisions. The CIC is accountable to serve the people who elected him/her, and not shareholders, in financial matters and matters of life and death. Most CEOs are not.

Transparency

• CEO – CEO’s don’t often see a need for transparency. They very rarely share personal information – which they may not want to share publicly. The job of a CEO doesn’t require corporate citizenship or social responsibility in leadership. Though more CEOs are making the choice to be socially responsible - it is not a mandate of the job.  Besides very specific legal mandates and policies - nothing requires that a CEO be transparent (though those that are not will most likely see a negative  impact on performance.) The CEO’s leadership often tends to be extremely secretive as CEOs often think personal information is not in the domain of those they lead.

• CIC – The CIC knows that not even the most intimate moments are off limits. The CIC is required to think through decisions, beyond profit and loss statements, and to consider all available points of view. When communicating his/her decision, the CIC is often required by law to do so in a transparent manner. Of course politics is politics, scandals are scandals. Not every CIC chooses to be or can be transparent about every decision -whether personal or legislative – however, the expectation of transparency tends to be more prominent both from the CIC perspective based on the expectation from constituents. The general public, as often supported by law, can demand much more transparency from the CIC than employees can from a CEO.

Engagement

• CEO – Engaging in authentic communication is an imperative trait for any great leader if they wish to have supportive and trusting followers.  Though it is important for a CEO to be a tough, no-nonsense, competent negotiator, it is also easy for a CEO to take a ‘my way or the highway’ view. This view will often alienate followers, not engage their support. If someone doesn’t like what the CEO is saying, then as the head honcho, it’s often too bad. CEOs don’t often invite disagreement. They can feel little need to explain or justify their thoughts and decisions and this view can often negatively impact followership engagement.

• CIC – Can the CIC also take a ‘my way or the highway’ view to communication and decision making?  Sure they can.  However, they will often get little accomplished in doing so (particularly reelection). It is often the support of the constituency that helps the CIC drive their agenda through the legislative process. The CIC needs to take a different view on engagement if they intend to govern in the best interest of the people. This view not only includes being a competent negotiator, it also includes a certain leavel of diplomacy and the ability to engage with those they serve to gather varying opinions and information, and adjust decisions accordingly. These are skills many CEOs don’t often choose to exercise as they often see no need.

Now – to be clear I’m not saying that it’s not possible that leaders of corporations can make good leaders of government and vice versa. And I'm also not saying that all CEOs and all CICs are the same. What I’m saying is they tend to look at things a bit differently, thus even if sharing the same skill set, they often take different actions motivated by those different views and experiences. It's less about the debate of having the skills (assuming one does) and more about the ability to apply them in a given situation. Thus, being a good leader at one job is not necessarily synonymous with being a good leader at the other.

Leadership ability is often the deciding factor as to whether something succeeds or doesn’t – in business and in politics.  Whether you’re debating who to vote for or who to work for – take a hard look at their leadership skills as related to their work, and ask yourself – do they have the skills to succeed in this role? Am I ready to follow their lead?

NOTE: This article is not intended for political debate and does not endorse a specific candidate. It is simply to raise the question of leadership qualities, and if in fact they translate from one position to another, using a real time example of such an instance.

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions - an Organizational Improvement & Strategy firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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Do I Really Want To Work Here? What Are You Doing To Keep Me Engaged?

Many of us have experienced that moment - that moment when the excitement of a new job or new role begins to wane and we feel less than enthusiastic about going to work every day – the engagement decline.

When you get that “Ugh, I so don’t want to come to work today…” feeling, often the catalyst can occur for many different reasons.  It could be changes within the organization, or the impact of outside environmental factors. Perhaps a lack of feeling challenged due to poor skills to role match, leadership changes or managerial style played a part, or maybe a technology or cultural change was the catalyst. Regardless, employee engagement has begun to decline.

“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”
~ Anne M. Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox

So – what can be done about the decline in engagement before it gets worse?

Building a successful business requires more than just saying you value employee engagement – it requires creating a culture of high engagement. If you want people to be engaged they need to feel valued, heard, and appreciated. They need to see where they fit into the organization, feel that what they are doing is making an impact to overall organizational performance, and feel as though the opportunity exists for ongoing learning and development. Simply put – they need to enjoy coming to work every day (ok, almost every day) and be inspired to give 100%.

So how do you prevent that moment when the excitement begins to disappear - the engagement decline – and show those working within (and with) your organization that you do in fact have a culture of high engagement?

High level – we’ll offer a few qualities that may trigger an engagement decline and a few that help create cultures of high engagement.

Low Engagement	High Engagement
Unclear performance goals and expectations	Clear performance goals and expectations
Non merit based pay and promotion	Merit based pay and promotion
Lack of leadership interest in employees	Leadership takes interest in employees
Minimal opportunities for learning and development	Ongoing opportunities for learning and development
Un-collaborative environment	Collaborative environment
Not all people feel equal and valued	All people feel equal and valued
Poor communication and feedback(voices not heard)	Frequent feedback and open communication (voices heard)
No recognition for performance	Recognition for performance
Lack of alignment of values and culture	Alignment of values and culture
Minimal interest in customer satisfaction	Concerned with customer satisfaction

Organizations are quickly recognizing that having a strong and committed workforce is a key success factor for creating a high-performing organization. Yet many are still uncertain about where to start designing employee engagement and recognition programs.

So how do you create an organization of high engagement?

For starters, here’s a thought – ASK YOUR PEOPLE! Many organizations have not actually elicited employee feedback regarding these types of programs. What do your people think – have you surveyed the workforce on their thoughts? Successful engagement and recognition programs require employee input. If you’re a leader, have you asked your employees what motivates them? If you’re an employee, has leadership in your organization asked what motivates you? If yes, has the organization taken your feedback and turned it into actions?

Short answer – use the 3 steps below to develop and excel in the “High Engagement” qualities listed above.

• Ask your employees what they want, listen, and take action. What types of knowledge and learning opportunities can help them better perform their jobs? What types of knowledge and learning opportunities make them feel challenged as individuals?  Why are the highly engaged so engaged? Why are the low engaged not more engaged? What would make them more engaged? Collect the data and act on it. Offer options based on employee input. One of the quickest ways to increase performance is to increase engagement. One of the quickest ways to increase engagement (or at least so we’ve found) is to make sure your employees feel heard, valued, and appreciated.

• Provide opportunities for learning and development. Brown bag lunch and learns, webinars – take advantage of various formats available for employees to share knowledge and interests with others who may benefit– to challenge others and feel challenged. Providing employees the opportunity to transfer knowledge increases an employee’s communication skills. This is an easy way to provide recognition, which contributes to making employees feel valued and heard, increasing engagement.

• Hire people who fit your culture and share your organizational values. When hiring people don’t just hire based on skills and experience. Hire also based on cultural fit. All people are different, some may excel in certain cultures and some may not. If you’re a creative entrepreneurial organization that doesn’t have an overly rigid structure, then hire people who thrive on that type of environment, not people who thrive in a more overly structured environment. Values alignment is imperative. Hire people who share the values of your organization not those who may be in conflict with them. Many tools and technologies are available to help in the assessment of cultural fit of new hires.  Once you hire people, who are skills and cultural fit, communicate early and often. Let people know where they fit into the organization, and make sure they understand how and what they are doing is making an impact to overall organizational performance.

• Understand your needs and admit you don’t know what you don’t know. If specific learning and development or organizational changes are requested by employees, and are of value to the organization and customers, and you don’t have the capability in house to deliver then look outside. Partner with other organizations or outside resources on learning and development, organizational communication and change, and leadership development and coaching offerings (not to toot our horn, though c’mon it is our blog, Tolero Solutions can help with designing learning and development programs and delivering employee engagement recognition strategies – contact us for more info)

“You shouldn’t be looking for people slipping up, you should be looking for all the good things people do and praising those.”
~ Richard Branson, founder of Virgin

Here’s hoping that most of you desire to have a culture of high engagement –and strive to create and maintain an organization where people really want to work!  What triggers your engagement decline feelings? What do you think are the impacts, if any, of not focusing on engagement and retention?

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions - an Organizational Improvement & Strategy firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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Diversity Matters to Your Bottom Line

If you read our article: Do I Really Want to Work Here: What Are Your Diversity Practices Telling Me? ...  you may be thinking (well, or at least so some of you have told us) , “valuing diversity sounds great, but it takes work. How is embracing diversity going to increase my organizational performance?”

A few thoughts, on why embracing diversity is not just the right thing to do, but is imperative to organizational success…

Companies that diversify their workforces have a distinct competitive advantage over those that do not, especially in the coming years as the diversity of our population increases as does globalization in business. There are several predominant factors that motivate companies to see the importance of having diverse workforces. A recent report from the Society for Human Resource Management identifies six key reasons embracing diversity should be part of an organization’s strategic goals and objectives:

1) Greater adaptability and flexibility in a rapidly changing marketplace

2) Attracting and retaining the best talent

3) Reducing costs associated with turnover, absenteeism, and low productivity

4) Return on Investment (ROI) from various initiatives, policies and practices

5) Gaining and keeping greater/new market share (locally and globally) with an expanded diverse customer base

6) Increased sales and profits

In a quick search, we've found several other studies on the importance of diversity in creating a high performing organization:

• Leveraging Diversity to Improve Business Performance


• Diversity Initiatives  in the Workplace


• The Effects of Diversity on Business Performance 

Here’s hoping that most of you desire to be part of an organization that embraces diversity –and strive to create and maintain an organization where people really want to work!   What do you think are the impacts, if any, of not valuing diversity?

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

Do I Really Want to Work Here: What Are Your Diversity Practices Telling Me?

Have you ever walked into an organization and just got that “Uh, why does everyone look the same” feeling… I know I have. You may have heard the expression, people are like snowflakes, and no two are the same – that's diversity folks. In today’s ever diverse business environment, for organizations to excel, they must pay attention to - and show they value - the diversity of employees and customers.

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations – Vulcan proverb

 

Many of us know from the first time we enter into an organization, whether as an employee or a consultant, that what they say is not what we see – or feel.  So, what are some things that may trigger your “where is the diversity…” feeling?

If you want high engagement, people need to feel as though they can “bring their full selves” to work! We realize it can occur because of many different factors – however - we are intrigued by organizations that don’t pay attention to diversity. Perhaps they just don’t notice what a negative impact lack of diversity appreciation can have?

Regardless, building a successful business requires more than just saying you value diversity. It requires creating and espousing the traits of an organization that embraces diversity, so employees, vendors, and stakeholders can feel safe and comfortable and “bring their full selves” to work –an organization that is respectful, appreciative, trusting, understanding and engaging.

So what won’t trigger that “where is the diversity” feeling and show those interacting with your organization that the organization does in fact value diversity?

High level – we’ll offer a few qualities that may trigger that “where is the diversity” feeling and a few that help create cultures that embrace diversity.

Doesn’t Embrace Diversity	Embraces Diversity
People don’t “bring their full selves” to work	People “bring their full selves” to work
Pay and promotion of one group over another	Equal pay and promotion based on performance
No visible diversity at all levels	Visible diversity at all levels
No diverse recruitment strategies	Diverse recruitment strategies
Homogeneous mentoring and coaching	Cross cultural mentoring and coaching
No supplier diversity programs	Dedicated supplier diversity programs
All people don’t feel equal and valued	All people feel equal and valued
Practices Oppression	Values Equality
Poor Engagement	High Engagement
Exclusive	Inclusive

 

So how do you create an organization that values and embraces diversity?

...for starters, begin with diversity in recruitment, we often use and customize, our Recruitment and Retention Lifecycle™ with our client’s.

Short answer – use the 3 steps below to develop and excel in the “embraces diversity” qualities listed above.

Policies and Initiatives: The first step in creating an organization that embraces diversity is for leaders and employees to create diversity policies Leaders and managers within organizations must incorporate diversity policies into every aspect of the organization’s functions and purpose and create specific diversity strategies’ and initiatives. Diversity needs to be defined broadly and should encompass a wide range of policies and initiatives that meet the diverse and changing needs of employees and customers – ranging from recruitment to engagement and retention. Leaders and employees should take active roles in defining and implementing these diversity policies and processes which, in order to succeed, should be fully aligned with the organizations strategies’ and objectives. In order to develop and maintain effective diversity policies, leaders should view employee participation as a necessary part of any diversity initiative. Diversity policies must support employees in learning how to effectively interact with and manage people in a diverse workplace. Policies should recognize and encourage employees to continue to learn new skills in dealing with and managing people. They should also recognize the impact that diverse clients will have upon the success or failure of the organization. Diversity policies should promote learning and education, equality, and appreciation.

Leadership Commitment: The next step to creating an organization that embraces diversity is to obtain leadership commitment. Accountability for achieving diversity goals and objectives needs to be directly tied to incentives and pay increases. The degree to your diversity initiatives will be successful relies on the involvement and commitment of leaders. Organizations which have leaders who are actively involved in implementing diversity initiatives create cultures that embrace diversity by inspiring their employees. Committed leaders champion diversity by infusing it into all organizational processes and ensuring that diversity is integrated into the core values of the organization. They recognize diversity as an important goal, and position the responsibility for meeting diversity goals not merely with human resources departments or diversity offices, but with top-level and senior executives – and themselves. Leaders that are committed to diversity provide the visibility and time and resources to make diversity happen. These leaders view diversity as both a top priority and a personal responsibility.

Engagement: The third step in achieving creating an organization that embraces diversity is - always focus on the people. We’ve said this before, and we think it so important we’ll say it again, organizations can’t exist without people. People make the difference in every business. Once you have diversity strategies and initiatives in place, and accountable and committed leadership, you need to engage employees in your diversity practices – and get them to engage with one another. Design ongoing communication systems to create and reinforce the workplace diversity commitment and practices to all employees with an emphasis on why it is important and what it means to the organization. These communication systems should encourage peer to peer learning and knowledge sharing increasing diversity awareness amongst employees. Additionally, training and empowerment initiatives provide a foundation, for all levels of the organization, to foster the accomplishment of diversity goals. These can include cross cultural mentoring and coaching and employee led learning events. Another way to engage employees in sharing and embracing diversity is via affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs). These groups can be groups of people with common interests, identities, and issues like African American, Women, LGBT or even more defined in scope as aligned to your specific organizations products and functions - such as Women in healthcare, Young IT workers etc. It is also helpful to keep the workforce engaged in diversity initiatives by developing organization-wide assessment and evaluation systems to monitor diversity progress throughout the organization.

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together. - Malcolm Forbes 

Here’s hoping that most of you desire to be part of an organization that embraces diversity –and strive to create and maintain an organization where people really want to work!  What triggers your diversity “gut check?” What do you think are the impacts, if any, of not valuing diversity?

Stay tuned for more articles in our “Do I Really Want to Work Here…?” series!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

 

Do I Really Want to Work Here: What’s Your Culture Telling Me?

Have you ever walked into an organization and just got that “hum something just doesn’t feel right feeling”… I know I have (more times than I’d like to count). Many of us know from the first time we enter into an organization, whether as an employee or a consultant, that what they say is not what we see – or feel. The ever so important “gut check” we shouldn’t ignore.

“Corporate Culture can have a significant impact on a firm’s long-term economic performance.” – John Kotter

So, what are some things that trigger your culture gut check?

• We realize it is probably because of many different factors – however - we were intrigued that more  people are not interested in how to create a high performance culture. Perhaps they just don’t notice what a negative impact poor culture can have? Regardless, building a successful business requires more than just saying you have a good culture, it requires creating and espousing the traits of a high performance culture so employees, vendors, and stakeholders can see you “mean what you say” –a culture that is open, honest, trusting, transparent and engaging.

So what makes a high performing culture?

High level – we’ll offer a few qualities that may trigger your “gut check” and a few that make for a high performing culture.

Poor Performing Culture	High Performing Culture
Poor Communication	Open Communication
Secrecy	Transparency
Mistrust	Trust
Abuse of Power	Socialized Power
Inflexible Structures	Flexible Structures
Uninventive	Innovative
Unclear Strategy	Defined Strategy
Practices Oppression	Values Equality
Poor Engagement	High Engagement
Rigid Processes	Flexible Processes

 

So how do you create a positive and high performing culture?

...for starters, check out our whitepaper on the topic titled: What is a High Performance Culture? Creating a culture that supports long term growth and sustainability.

Short answer – develop and excel in the “high performing culture” qualities listed above – you can get started in 3 steps.

Direction: The first step in creating a high performing culture is defining your direction. An organization cannot achieve a high performing culture without having a clearly defined direction - a detailed strategy, including a clear mission and a defined vision statement. The strategy should help determine who you want to be, where you want to go, and how to chart the course to help you get there. The strategy should answer several imperatives, including but not limited to: what can we do best? Do we have flexible processes and structures in place to support execution of our mission? What motivates our people the most and how do we provide that to them? What is essential for our financial stability? And how do we exceed customer expectations and define and measure success?

Communication: The next step to achieve a high performing culture is communication; frequent, transparent, and authentic communication amongst leadership, employees, stakeholders, and customers is a necessity. To keep audiences engaged in your products and services, and committed to the organizations’ strategy, mission and vision, they need to know what is going on and why (within reason).  If you want to create a high performing culture, it is not enough simply to communicate; methods for receiving and acting on feedback received from target audiences must also be developed.  Develop communication plans and processes to ensure that all audiences (internal and external) are reached with the content vehicles and frequencies appropriate for them to remain interested and engaged.

Engagement: The third step in achieving a high performing culture - always focus on the people. We’ve said this before, and we think it so important we’ll say it again, organizations can’t exist without people. People make the difference in every business. To achieve a high performing culture, you must recruit, engage, and retain the right people for your culture.  Many things bring employees through the front door, but bad work environments drive them out. To not drive them out you need to build a highly engaged and committed workforce. Let employees know they and their ideas are valued and that they work in a culture where their voices can be heard. Creating this type of environment increases employee motivation and retention and reduces employee turnover. This type of positive environment helps people reach higher levels of productivity. Success depends on knowing and understanding your workforce and valuing each employee's satisfaction, motivation, well-being, and development. People are the company. High performing organizations recognize and embrace this fact.

"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."    

 -Niccolo Machiavelli

Here’s hoping that most of you desire to be part of a high performing culture –and strive to create and maintain an organization where people really want to work!  What triggers your “gut check?” What qualities or strategies do you think make the difference between a poor culture, and a high performing culture?

Stay tuned for more articles in our “Do I Really Want to Work Here…?” series!

About Scott Span, MSOD: is President of Tolero Solutions Organizational Development & Change Management firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more responsive, focused, productive and profitable.

Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Facebook

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*All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, publication, and all other use of  any and all of this content is prohibited without authorized consent of Tolero Solutions and the author.

 

The Domino Effect – Don't Play Games With Your Organizational Success

Have you ever played dominos?  If so – you know how long it takes to set up the pieces in whatever pattern you choose.  Yet regardless of how long it took you to set up the pieces – once you push that first piece over – it takes seconds to cause a change reaction that brings everything to the ground.

 (Today’s Millennial’s probably have an app that does it digitally for them…)

Dominos are actually a learning lesson when it comes to business.  An organization will spend months, if not years, setting up the pieces together in a pattern that yields growth.  Then at one point – someone  adjusts or replaces one of those pieces and that change inadvertently knocks over the other pieces  – and it causes a chain reaction - the domino effect. This occurs when a small change causes another similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. It typically refers to a connected sequence of events or linkages within systems.

Organizationally, the domino effect can be caused by the replacement or addition of new technology; it could be an acquisition, or downsizing of the organization.  Regardless - the catalyst that sets the dominos in motion is some type of change – businesses need to navigate these changes carefully and be sure the changes, or the people making the changes, aren't like a bull in a china shop.

"Everything affects everything else in one way or another. Whether you are aware of that or not does not change the fact that this is what is happening. That's why I say a business is a system. This systems perspective reminds us that this is what is going on. And when you see it this way, you can manage your business better. You appreciate, for example, that any action will reverberate throughout the entire company. This causes you to pay more attention to what you do, and learn the right lessons from your experience." - John Woods

Unfortunately that’s not how most businesses approach changes – with a systemic focus - most actually don’t take into consideration all the interconnected parts of the organization that could set the domino effect into motion, impacting the success of the change, productivity and profitability.

Want to make sure your company doesn’t go through the domino effect? 

 Follow these simple steps:

• Plan for Change: Don’t forget organizations are interconnected systems. Change in one area has a direct impact on other areas. Learn how to successfully plan for change, implement, communicate, and create employee involvement and commitment, and measurement systems during change. Remain flexible and open to adapting the structures and processes as needed.

• Develop a Strategy: Have a developed and detailed change strategy, including a clear mission and a defined vision statement. The change strategy should help determine why you are taking on the change, where you want to go, and how to chart the course to help you get there. Does it answer organizational imperatives? Can leadership clearly communicate the strategy? Do employees understand why the changes are happening and how and where they fit into making them successful?

• Engage your People: Organizations can’t exist without people. People make the difference in every business. To achieve a high performing culture, you must recruit, engage and retain the right people for your culture.  Build a highly engaged and committed workforce. It is people who measure the organization’s progress and steer its direction. It is the people and their capabilities, individually and collectively, that ultimately determine if changes are successful. Always put your people first – both daily and during times of change. Challenge them, engage them, and support them. Provide for your people and they will provide for you.

"General Systems Theory … says that each variable in any system interacts with the other variables so thoroughly that cause and effect cannot be separated. A simple variable can be both cause and effect. Reality will not be still. And it cannot be taken apart! You cannot understand a cell, a rat, a brain structure, a family, a culture if you isolate it from its context. Relationship is everything." - Marilyn Ferguson

So, organizations are interconnected systems. Changes in on area have a direct impact on changes in other areas. Even though the pieces to your business aren’t actually dominoes – you should treat them as such.

 Because once the dominoes start to fall – it takes a long time to set them back up.

About: Scott Span, MSOD is President of Tolero Solutions - an Organizational Improvement & Strategy firm.  He helps clients to facilitate sustainable growth by developing people and organizations to be more effective, productive, and profitable.

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