A business either resides in harmony or in dissonance with itself. There is either congruence across its ecosystem, or there’s misalignment. Amazingly, some businesses that reside in dissonance, have made peace with this status quo and continue to function at a level of normalcy, within the disharmony. The businesses that are intentional about normalizing harmony and, at the same time, realistic about the need to embrace constructive disruption, tend to run enviable races.
The businesses that are intentional about normalizing harmony and, at the same time, realistic about the need to embrace constructive disruption, tend to run enviable races.
To me, a business that’s running an enviable race is one that is obsessive about “doing things well.” There is an overarching desire to reject any road that does not lead to greatness. This is a business that’s prepared to reject toxicity in any form, avoid wellness poverty, prevent employee burnout, pre-empt irregular human resources practices and discontinue practices that are at the expense of customer happiness. Whew!! This sounds like an implausible crusade doesn’t it?
This is a business that’s prepared to reject toxicity in any form, avoid wellness poverty, prevent employee burnout, pre-empt irregular human resources practices and discontinue practices that are at the expense of customer happiness.
Here’s the thing. The businesses that are undaunted by these targets are unbothered by the loftiness of the intentions. The focus is on being the best at key indicators that include a connected employee community, a green internal climate, respect for environmental impact, happy customers and ultimately, commercial growth that is not at the expense of reputational excellence.
On the other hand, when a business lacks alignment, it will lack congruence. Its decisions, operations, culture and propensity to create and sustain positive momentum will be diminished. Its overarching workings become incongruent, sliding between efficient and exceptional in some departments, satisfactory in others and sub-par in the worst cases. It becomes at war with itself.
When a business lacks alignment, it will lack congruence.
There is a way out of this impairment though.
A good start would be to institutionalize excellence and make it a way of life. I encounter many businesses that have not considered imbedding excellence co-ordinates into their day-to-day operations. When a business fails to establish and enforce excellence as an incontrovertible feature of every task, action, idea, activity and process, arbitrariness and fire-fighting become the default modus operandi, with a high tolerance for irregularity and lack of uniformity thrown in for good measure.
Business congruence should be a deliberate intention. Ensure that the governing framework comprising the purpose, vision, mission and values, is clearly articulated and converted into a “working credo.” This credo has to be paired with behavioural adjacency by the leadership team, meaning that the team should be active promoters of the credo and, in particular, should be champions for “living the values of the business.”
When a business fails to establish and enforce excellence as an incontrovertible feature of every task, action, idea, activity and process, arbitrariness and fire-fighting become the default modus operandi, with a high tolerance for irregularity and lack of uniformity thrown in for good measure.
Continuous improvement has not gone out of style. There is a lot of buzz around disruption these days, but if a business has normalized a culture of curiosity and innovation, where every process, activity and system is always being scrutinized, then disruption may only be needed under extraordinary conditions.
Additionally, when a business sits in a constant state of evolution, employee resistance to change is reduced significantly, because change would have become a constant companion and defining fixture of the environment. Because of this, if a major disruptive event occurs by force or by necessity, employees may be more resilient, because of having lived through the drill of continuous improvement.
Whenever I lead service transformation projects, the continuous improvement methodology is generally more impactful and less invasive during the early phases of the interventions. Simply because successive and sustained wins tend to be more lasting than the “big bang” experiences.
Finally, businesses that function in harmony with themselves, boast leaders who have resisted the urge to weaponize power and authority. Instead, these leaders function as allies who cause the business to thrive and not as opponents who cause cultural calamity. In fact, they apply their influence in ways that build a transformational cadence within the business.
Businesses that function in harmony with themselves, boast leaders who have resisted the urge to weaponize power and authority. Instead, these leaders function as allies who cause the business to thrive and not as opponents who cause cultural calamity.
When a business that is at war with itself, decides to arrest this situation, it is declaring that leadership will begin to display unity as opposed to porosity at the top, that interpersonal rancour will end and that operating shakiness will cease. It means that human growth, customer growth and commercial growth will no longer be casualties of war.
We are in the season of strategic planning and setting of strategic directions for the upcoming year. It’s a good opportunity for businesses to be as resolute in setting internal growth targets, as they are in setting targets for commercial growth. Without this balance, the perennial problem of mixed business results will persist.
It’s also a good idea to remember that while every business has its flaws, some flaws turn fatal if left unchecked.