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You Are Here: Home - Newsletters - "Get Organized" - Article
Those of you who are in leadership positions face the daily challenge of having to know (almost) EVERYTHING of what's going on in the organization. The higher up the chain of command, the more there is to know. A chief executive officer typically needs a 360 degree view of the entire company; a vice president of product development needs to be on top of pretty much every aspect of the product development cycle; a vice president of sales needs to understand the dynamics of the team, how they operate, how they interact with their customers, how and what they forecast, what products are coming down the pipe, what marketing is working on etc. How do you MANAGE?
GETTING A GRIP
This is one of the main reasons why we have PROCESSES (i.e. a routine set of procedures) and REPORTING in place -- to make sure everyone takes the right step and action at the right time. But we all know that every now and then we get hit by something that was not anticipated. Sometimes (if we're lucky) we can quickly fix the problem. Sometimes damage control is possible but has an impact on the organization's performance. And sometimes -- this is what keeps you awake at night -- damage is beyond repair and serious consequences are the result.
MAXIMIZING YOUR CAPABILITY
And while your organization may be doing 'okay', you may not always be convinced that your organization is working at full CAPACITY. This is often a 'gut feel' but we may find it hard to come up with supporting evidence. One way to get a better grip on your organization is to do organizational ASSESSMENTS. There are many assessment methodologies available and if used wisely, they can provide a great level of insight and actionable data.
WHY WORRY?
Here are the top 3 reasons for doing assessments:
SUCCESS ORIENTATION
This is at the business planning level and looks at whether the various units are aligned with the corporate MISSION, vision, direction, and goals. Are they well-communicated and well understood throughout the entire organization?
ASSIMILATION
Are roles, job descriptions clearly DEFINED, communicated and understood? Are skill sets, training and development aligned with the goals of the organization?
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Makes sense, right? We live in a performance-based society and your organization is probably no exception to that. And you may be personally held ACCOUNTABLE; all the more reason for performance management! Yet I find that many organizations do not have some kind of (serious) performance management system in place. Yet they wonder why it is so hard to stay in control. Some of the areas to assess:
PROCESS MANAGEMENT
For sure, we have processes in place -- often lots of them. But are these processes yielding the RESULTS you are looking for? Or are they getting in the way of getting 'real work' (e.g. serving customers well) done? I typically look for the following:
DEPARTMENT EFFECTIVENESS
When working with organizations, I always find it fascinating to see how some departments work really WELL and others don't. To find out why requires a deep understanding of these organizations, their workings, and people. Assessing these groups may identify the major bottlenecks and provide management with 'real world' data points they can use to ELIMINATE the blockages.
EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT AND MOTIVATION
Some are real heroes when it comes to this, while others, well, could use some improvement in this area. I have seen the best and the worst (e.g. absence of, or biased) examples of how employees get RECOGNIZED for performance. The 'when' and 'why' of recognition becomes clear once you have assessed it. You will find out whether it is systematic or ad- hoc (the latter can backfire real fast...)
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, AND CLIMATE
An assessment in this area would deal with things like:
COMMUNICATIONS
We all like to believe we communicate well, and perhaps we do. But again this is an area I frequently see people STRUGGLE with the most. Managers and their subordinates alike. Assessing 'Communications' would include:
TOOLS
And finally, under 'tools' come things like technology infrastructure, adequate hardware, and software applications, networking (accommodating the latest trends in workforce deployment). While good tools and infrastructure can be huge productivity boosters, poor systems are often real (hidden) INHIBITORS to performance and success.
SO NOW YOU KNOW...
Once you have gone through (some of) these assessments, you need to come up with a SOLUTION for each area that needs to be fixed. For the individuals, for the teams and for the company as a whole. After all, a company is a 'living organism' and we need to take care of every aspect of it, so that it may function as a whole.
Arnold Adriaanse has more than 25 years of experience developing and managing global Sales, Marketing, Professional Services and Product teams for companies including Oracle Corporation, Aspect Communications, Novell, and eGain Communications. Throughout Mr. Adriaanse's career he has consistently improved revenues, netting improvements that range from 30 to 70%. Mr. Adriaanse can be reached at . Would you like to reprint this article in your publication -- or distribute it to a wider audience? Click here for reprinting instructions. Want to receive these kind of articles via e-mail each month? Sign up for a free newsletter subscription. Click here to return to "Get Organized" -- May 2005... Add this page to your Bookmarks!
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