My 24th wedding anniversary just occurred, and my husband is a wonderful reminder to me of the meaning of life. He is truly my partner and best friend, and always reminds me that it is the journey that is important, not the end result. Results are important, but secondary to the choices and decisions we make along the way. Having a relationship that values the journey has been a lifelong pleasure.
So how do we incorporate these same values into our work life and work relationships? How do we find a company we want to have a 24 year relationship with? Think about it – how many different organizations have you worked for in the past 10 years? And why did you make a change? If it wasn’t downsizing, it was probably because: A) You got a better opportunity, or B) You were unhappy with some aspect of the organization and felt you had no power to change the situation. Finding a company with leadership that incorporates Covey values into the organizational culture is really a treat also. I feel like I have struck gold and found an organization I hope to have a 24 year relationship with.
Having authentic, stated, explicit, well-understood organizational values and goals is the tao. Without this declarative guidance, people will be left to their own devices – a myriad of conflicting personal agendas clouding the culture. Alternatively, given this kind of guidance, people align to the goals, adopt the values, and can produce amazing results. Organizations that have a leadership team that has been thru a mission/vision/goals exercise as part of strategic planning tend to be more aligned and better able to execute on their business processes. Seeing the big picture is essential to understanding an organization and leading it into the future. Communicating and reinforcing the organizational vision, goals, and values is the primary purpose of the leadership team.
I want to explore this concept of an organization as an artificial person. I had touched on that in a previous post. A natural (human) person is a complex being, with many dimensions, and enough variation as to render us unique. An organization is just as complex. It is a blend of the collective experiences and values of its members and the approach it takes to execute its business processes. The organizational leadership style has a huge impact on the shape the organizational culture has. And organizational culture is really a representation of the organizations “character” or “personality.” One of these organizational characteristics is decision-making. Does the organizational culture support measurement and evidence-based decision-making, or do anecdotal stories and “gut” feel rule the decision-making process? Can the roots of a decision be traced backed? Is there transparency? In a performance management culture, evidence and accountability are important, and actually sought after. I am creating some dashboards now to help make this goal alignment and transparency visible to leadership. Next time I’ll explain how strategy maps can help keep leadership hone their communication. Until then, keep thinking good BI Thoughts!
Tricia Wilcox Almas 