Organizational health is the biggest advantage for any organization. Many organizations can’t believe something as simple as org health is so important. But it’s not beneath us. It’s too important.
To be successful:
- Be smart (This is stuff like strategy, marketing, finances, etc.)
- Be Healthy
A healthy organization has a minimal of politics or confusion, and a maximum of morale and productivity.
These two aspects of success should be 50/50, but most organizations invest time 99/1. That’s because the “Smart” side is objective and measurable. It’s easy. But “Health” is subjective and hard. The reality is, though, that Health is the multiplier of Smart.
4 Disciplines to Build Organizational Health
- Build and Maintain Healthy leadership. The Leadership must be behaviorally and intellectual aligned.
- Create Clarity (Pat offers 6 clarifying questions in his book)
- Over-communicate clarity
- Build basic human systems to reinforce clarity
How do I make a Healthy, Cohesive team?
1. The most essential element is Trust
This isn’t “predictive trust”, a trust based on repeated, consistent performance. That’s essentially reliability. This is Vulnerability-based Trust. It’s getting emotionally naked with the team we lead.
One person can and will poison & limit our organizations. Help them to become vulnerable or manage them off the team.
To build this trust, the Leader has to goes first.
Whatever “product issues” we see are downstream issues of lack of vulnerability. We’re tempted to try to fix them, but unless the Trust issue is addressed, nothing will get better.
People will walk through walls of fire for a leader who’s vulnerable and human.
2. Embrace Conflict
When we can’t be honest with someone, we discredit them privately, which always eventually comes out. We owe it to each other to disagree. When we don’t disagree on an idea, it ferments around a person. We end up saying, “Now we’ve crushed her spirit, but at least we didn’t disagree with her idea!”
When there is trust, conflict is nothing but the pursuit of truth. Without trust, conflict is politics.
Make sure people aren’t holding back their opinions.
3. Commitment
Force clarity and closure.
4. Accountability
On great teams, peers hold each other accountable. This is not firing someone. Firing is the final act of cowardice.
If I love somebody, I owe it to them to enter the danger and hold them accountable.
5. Results
Focus on Collective Outcomes.
Follow-Up Interview with Andy Stanley
Q: How do you use this book with a Leadership Team?
A: Read the introduction quickly, then work through the rest in chunks.
Q: What’s the First Action Step?
A: Get out of the office for 1 1/2 days and workshop the book.