Corporate Success

Introduction A physical therapist once told me that she worked at two different organizations the past five years; a local hospital and an elementary school district. Her job descriptions at both locations were very similar and were focused on her professional services. There was no reference to either the hospital’s or school district’s strategy or related goals. I asked if she had any knowledge of the strategy of both organizations. She could only point to a poster on the wall with some strategy related information on it. Since my conversation with her, I have approached several CEO's, and they shared similar experiences. One CEO walked through the building and asked random employees if they knew what the company’s strategy was. Responses varied from, “I have no clue”, to a brief reference to some presentation or poster. When asked how they personally contribute to the strategy their responses were even more telling. They related that by doing their perspective jobs “as good as I can” that they will promote the strategy. The CEO also inquired if there was any mention of the strategy in their job descriptions? The overwhelming reaction was “no”. I suggested that the CEOs add an additional question. They had to ask employees to explain to them how the new strategy was reflected in their performance reviews. They all came back with the stunning finding that except for the 1% executives in the organizations, there was no link between the employees’ performance reviews and the strategy. What will happen if you go and ask similar questions in your organization? What do you anticipate the responses will be? Will you also be surprised to learn that the strategy, that is so critical to you as the CEO, board member or executive is fundamentally disconnected from the rest of the organization? LeBoeuf wrote “you get what you reward”. (LeBoeuf 1986) If the strategy is not a reality in people’s minds and not reflected in their job descriptions and performance reviews it is no wonder that the strategies point into one direction, and the organization is maintaining the direction perpetuated in the workers job descriptions and performance reviews. No wonder the vast majority of new strategies failed to deliver the intended results. For the past several years, I explored the reasons why strategies outright fail or fail in delivering the intended results. I concluded that in many organizations the strategy is not connected to the individuals in those organizations. Employees have to know what their organization’s strategy is and how their day to day activities are supporting the organization’s strategy. This connection can only be developed and implemented in a change-enabling-milieu. This is an organizational environment that embraces change through meaningful engagement of those impacted by the strategy. Organizations have the responsibility to their employees accountable for the support of the strategy through their actions. Organizations should anchor strategies in the workers job descriptions and performance reviews. These connections when developed and maintained will significantly increase the odds that the strategy will deliver the intended results. Organizations can no longer afford to squander valuable resources due to their inability to successfully develop and implement a strategy. I will address these issues in detail. A brief discussion related to organizational strategy is followed by an in-depth discussion on how to adjust the current organizational milieu into a change-enabling-milieu. The remainder of the book is spend on the discussion of the three critical connections that drives the adoption of an organizational strategy; the psychological, structural and contractual connections.