You’ve likely heard some iteration of the 70% statistic—that 70% of change initiatives fail to deliver the intended business impact. Research sheds various shades of light as to why this occurs. As a practitioner, working with hundreds of clients in the recent years, I have the perspective that almost always, the failure rate can be traced back to clarity and alignment—most often at the leadership level. Why are clarity and alignment so critical? Recently, I had a client whose performance had slid over recent years. They were still profitable, but under-performing. The reality was that they had been under-performing for quite some time, and this had gone relatively unchecked. What were the symptoms and issues that were dragging down the levels of performance?
- Disparate priorities across functional groups
- Weak systems of management (ineffective performance reviews, ineffective or non-existent one-on-one meetings, and inconsistent and ineffective team meetings)
- Conflicting messages from senior leadership (depending on who employees asked, there were very different answers to the question: What is most important right now?)
- Words and actions didn’t match. Executives would express specific priorities, and then emphasize, measure, and drive initiatives and efforts that were not aligned.
The result of these symptoms?
- Organizational confusion
- Frustration, as a result of the confusion (what should I be working on right now? Why did my resources get pulled from this effort to be put on that effort?)
- Increased levels of disengagement
- Regrettable attrition
Here’s the deal—do you want high levels of organizational performance? I mean, do you REALLY want that? Are you willing to GIVE what is needed to get that high performance? Because most people say they want it, but don’t display the commitment, grit, and consistency to really get it. Here’s the recipe (SIMPLE in writing, REALLY hard in execution):
- Establish a clear vision—across the organization
- Develop business unit, departmental, and individual visions, strategies, and goals that link directly to the overarching vision (see above).
- Define success metrics that PROVE the organization is living into the vision and goals.
- Establish systems of management that provide the opportunity to have regular dialogue on the team’s performance against the metrics—and opportunities to learn, iterate, and continuously improve individual and organizational performance (more to come on this in my next blog)
Above all else, there needs to be an organizational culture of transparency, trust, humility, and commitment to learning and performance as a way to drive business results. Put in the work. Live it with all your heart, in every interaction. Grow Regardless! Andrew Freedman, Principal at entreQuest, specializes in helping eQ’s clients grow by creating well aligned company cultures and strategies that result in remarkable client and employee experiences.
