The organizational fitness guide is presented to help you think about your organization as a living organism aiming to thrive in its ecosystem.
There are tools for assessing and upgrading performance in three broad areas of organizational capability:
- Orienting tools – to make your company more aware of what’s happening in your business ecosystem.
- Thinking tools – to build the capability to use the information available to best effect.
- Action tools – to build the organizational skills to act effectively on your plans.
These tools are helpful in assessing your organization’s fitness level---applying them thoughtfully will give you a clear picture of how well prepared your company is to pursue its ends.
The issues discussed in each section are meant to be illustrative and provocative, rather than exhaustive.
You may identify other issues or conditions that help your people think about your enterprise.
Don’t let what is written here put limits on your creativity.
The ultimate goal of these tools is to help you and your people build the muscles and polish the skills needed to create a fitness level that enables the success your company seeks in the marketplace.
If you’re observant, smart and skillful, you will thrive.
Get Clued In – Gain An Edge:
The organization, as a living entity, must possess the ability to observe and gather information about critical events, changing conditions, even the subtle nuances occurring in its ecosystem, if it is to adapt, adjust and thrive.
There are a number of sensory problems that limit today’s organizations trying to survive in the business environment of the 21st century.
17. Dealing With Too Much Information
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Tool Preview: Identify the signs of an organizational sensory overload, and recognize the factors that contribute to this problem. Develop action steps for addressing the issues. [Read Now]
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18. Dealing With Inaccurate Information
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Tool Preview: Identify the signs of an organization struggling with inaccurate information, recognize factors that contribute to this problem and develop action steps to address the issues. [Read Now]
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19. Dealing With Insufficient Information
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Tool Preview: Identify the signs of an organization struggling with insufficient information, recognize factors that contribute to this problem and develop action steps to address the issues. [Read Now]
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Summary of Information Issues:
All three of these---too much, inaccurate, or too little information--- arise out of a tendency for becoming enamored with your own point of view. If you measure yourself against only yourself, you are asking for miscalculations. If you refuse to expand your worldview, or are too slow at giving up old assumptions and outdated processes, you will develop blind spots. You will miss events occurring in the periphery of your vision.
Gain An Edge Through Your Thinking Skills:
The smarter the organization, the more effective it is. In order to be smart it has to gather intelligence, understand it, consider it and make good decisions as a result of those considerations.
It’s insufficient to have bright people doing this individually, although that’s better than dumb people thinking individually. In order to be sharp, the organization as a whole must be able to carry out these thinking processes with a high level of skill.
20. Becoming An Aware Company
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Tool Preview: Help your people see themselves as responsible for gathering intelligence. Create a process that gathers and shares intelligence in a timely, targeted manner. [Read Now] |
