Transcript www.denisonconsulting.com

Culture Snapshot
Levers for Change
Leader Name
January 19, 2012
Understanding Low Scores and
Potential Levers for Change
The Potential Levers for Change is a tool to help you and your team
better understand the meanings behind your Snapshot scores. With that
understanding in hand, you can plan actions to take on the most
important issues revealed by your Snapshot.

Identify your areas of greatest interest/concern using the Making
Sense of Our Snapshot Findings worksheet (page 2 in the Team Action
Section);

Using the Levers for Change (following pages), explore the possible
connections between quadrants, factors, scores and root causes;

Identify options for action that are likely to have the most meaningful
impact on the performance climate of your operation;

Work with your team to narrow the list and focus your efforts;

Measure and test the impact of actions against their intended results;

Adjust actions based on outcome metrics and feedback;

Continuously act, measure and test, and adjust. Celebrate success.
2
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Vision
1. We have a shared
vision of what the
organization will be
like in the future.
 Our operation does not
currently have a
cohesive vision of our
future state.
 With your leadership team, create a clear vision (purpose and
mission). Cascade that vision down through your operation
using an iterative process.
 Gain input, alignment and ownership at each level;
 Repeat yourself often when it comes to vision. (Say it is the
rationale for XX action.)
 The environment and
marketplace are in flux
and employees are
uncertain how today’s
vision applies to the
future.
 Articulate short and long-term perspectives for your operation.
Clearly communicate those perspectives and their relevance to
today’s (and tomorrow’s) environment and marketplace.
 Our operation has not
communicated what it
will look like in the future
 Cascade the vision: Communicate the vision throughout your
operation using an iterative process:
 Start with your senior leaders and develop talking points;
 Train their direct reports in the use and communication of
the vision and talking points;
 Gain input, alignment and ownership at each level;
 Continue to communicate the vision, even when it feels ad
nauseum.
 Our senior leadership
may have a vision, but
there’s a lack of
communication from the
top (could be an
oversight, but also might
stem from a concern
about being challenged/
questioned or losing
control.
 There may be a lot of communicating at the top, but they may
be several layers removed from the “doers” in the
organization. Necessary preconditions to a shared vision
include:
 Focus on the development of communications skills among
top leaders;
 Intentionality of communication, with a structured plan;
 Interlocked, repeated communications of different
types/media with a measured cadence (use visuals to create
symbols/more universal understanding).
3
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Vision (cont’d)
2. Our vision creates
excitement and
motivation for our
employees.
 Our vision is not
communicated to our
employees.
 Cascade the vision: Communicate the vision throughout your
operation using an iterative process.
 Start with your senior leaders and develop talking points;
 Train their direct reports in the use and communication of
the vision and talking points;
 Gain input alignment and ownership at each level.
 Our vision for the future
is not compelling – for
employees and/or
analysts.
 Convene a team to strengthen the vision:
 Includes your operation’s top leadership, and representatives
of each level of the operation, to identify what is working and
not working about the current vision;
 Be sure to include people who have the courage to challenge
leaders and the status quo, as well as people who are
connected to the customer and/or those who are qualified to
report customer wants and needs;
 Adjust the vision to be compelling, then cascade the vision
using the iterative process (outlined on previous page).
 Our employees were not
asked for their input
regarding our vision –
we may not have
captured their
connection/excitement,
nor their understanding
of what needs to happen
in order to be successful
in our marketplace.
 Effective leaders spend time with their front-line employees.
Doing so:
 Causes them to feel valued, increasing their informationsharing;
 That information-sharing increases the effectiveness of vision
and strategy development, creating a more compelling,
approachable sense of the future;
 Leads to a 2-way conversation that makes it more likely that
the front-line employees will understand how the vision
connects/translates to their work.
4
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Vision (cont’d)
3. We are able to meet
short-term demands
without
compromising our
long-term vision.
 Our short-term priorities
are not clearly linked to
the long-term vision.
 Using the operation’s vision as the guiding principle, conduct a
”Stop, Start, Continue” analysis with a multi-level
representative sample of your operation.
 Follow the analysis with appropriate action to adjust work.
 Consider all consequences to balance action, including
potential unintended consequences.
 Communicate to and involve all employees in planning
responses and implementation;
 After conducting the “Stop, Start, Continue” analysis identify
ways to continuously link short-term demands and work to
the long-term vision. Remember, sometimes you have to do
whatever it takes to “keep the lights on” in the short-term in
order to survive to the long-term.
 We are so preoccupied
with short-term
demands that we are
unable to think about
the long term.
 Using the operation’s vision as the guiding principle, conduct a
”Stop, Start, Continue” analysis with a multi-level
representative sample of your operation.
 Follow the analysis with appropriate action to adjust work.
 Consider all consequences to balance action, including
potential unintended consequences.
 Communicate to and involve all employees in planning
responses and implementation;
 After conducting the “Stop, Start, Continue” analysis identify
ways to continuously link short-term demands and work to
the long-term vision. Remember, sometimes you have to do
whatever it takes to “keep the lights on” in the short-term in
order to survive to the long-term.
5
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Vision (cont’d)
3. We are able to meet
short-term demands
without
compromising our
long-term vision
(cont’d).
 Our short-term activities
either contradict or
undermine our long-term
vision.
 Using the operation’s vision as the guiding principle, conduct a
”Stop, Start, Continue” analysis with a multi-level
representative sample of your operation.
 Follow the analysis with appropriate action to adjust work.
 Consider all consequences to balance action, including
potential unintended consequences.
 Communicate to and involve all employees in planning
responses and implementation;
 After conducting the “Stop, Start, Continue” analysis identify
ways to continuously link short-term demands and work to
the long-term vision. Remember, sometimes you have to do
whatever it takes to “keep the lights on” in the short-term in
order to survive to the long-term.
 In our current economy,
this can be symptomatic
of a training and
development issue.
When things get tough,
companies often pull the
plug on programs and
initiatives that may be
vitally important to
successful longer-term
vision and strategy.
 Invest in people and their development – when that happens,
people feel like they’re invested in for the long-term. This will
help counter-balance feelings of risk or fear – it helps keep
operations stable during turbulence.
6
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
 Goals & Objectives
1. Leaders set goals
that are ambitious,
but realistic.
 Cascaded goals lack meaning or
relevance for employees. Business
goals are not linked directly to
employee work.
 Assess current mechanisms for 2-way
communication around goals, and identify ways to
improve or augment them.
 Continuously communicate and demonstrate the
link between employee work, goals and the
achievement of business goals;
 Invite employee input into the definition of work
goals.
 Our Financial goals may be overly
ambitious given the realities of the
business climate.
 Seek out opportunities to align your team around
business realities and goals.
 Develop new potential targets, then overdeliver;
 Communicate course correction to top
leadership.
 Goals may be so numerous (and
potentially, conflicting) that
achieving any of them becomes
challenging.
 Identify the highest-priority areas of performance.
 Explore where people may have become
disconnected from their goals;
 Narrow and/or set more appropriate goals in
those areas, remove barriers to achievement,
and then monitor/support delivery.
 Communicate course correction to top
leadership.
 Business goals may be more short term/reactive to competitor activity
than focused on our business
strategy.
 Continuously calibrate your operation’s goals with
the broader organization’s strategic and business
goals. Articulate the importance of anchoring
short-term activities in long-term needs and
strategies.
7
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Goals & Objectives (cont’d)
1. Leaders set goals
that are ambitious,
but realistic (cont’d).
 Leaders (and other employees) may
be cynical about our ability to reach
goals, or believe that only scary
goals will motivate people.
 Create appropriate, business strategy-driven,
achievable goals;
 Continuously communicate and demonstrate the
link between employee work, goals and the
achievement of business goals;
 Then over-deliver.
 The managers may have spent time
with their teams identifying goals
that could work, and are accepted by
their team as appropriate. They then
may have been challenged by their
bosses, who dictated establishing
unreachable goals. (Even when
challenged, those more senior
leaders that established unrealistic
goals may shun efforts to betteralign them with employee beliefs
about their own performance
capabilities.)
 The most motivating goals for performance are
those that are realistic, but contain “stretch”.
Goals that are unrealistically high can cause
employees to unplug and give up. To provide more
comprehensive context for those conversations
with senior leadership:
 Middle managers need to do their homework,
connecting with the team to gather facts and
observations;
 Shape that information into a compelling,
cohesive picture of current performance, areas
of opportunity, inhibitors and
enablers/accelerators;
 Work with senior management to build reciprocal
understanding, offer doable alternative goals
that still address top leader concerns (including
newly-identified ways of measuring
performance).
8
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Goals & Objectives (cont’d)
2. We continuously
track our progress
against our goals.
 Organization lacks consistent metrics
to monitor process and progress
toward goals.
 Create interim, inter-connected metrics to
measure progress toward goals.
 The focus of the organization seems
to primarily be on activity, as
opposed to gauging progress against
the goals.
 Continuously ask the question, “Does this activity
take us closer to achieving our stated goals?”
 The organization may lack
consistency in tracking/posting
results; possibly including little
emphasis on interim reporting/
accountability, and/or communicating
about progress toward goals.
 Develop a reporting and communication strategy
to share progress toward goals. Then implement
and keep using it. In order for goals to be
effective, the ongoing expectation of reporting
results must be communicated.
 We trust people to perform, and see
measuring and monitoring
performance as disrespectful or
disempowering.
 Explore with your team how failing to hold people
accountable does a disservice to both them and
the organization.
 We have “sacred cows”—legacy
activities that are not
productive/directly related to our
stated direction.
 Using the company’s business goals as guiding
principles, conduct a ”Stop, Start, Continue”
analysis with a multi-level representative sample
of your operation.
 Use this analysis to identify the “sacred cows”;
 Commit to addressing/improving the ineffective
and/or previously protected areas or processes;
 Adjust the team’s goals to reflect the “Stop,
Start, Continue” analysis.
9
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Goals & Objectives (cont’d)
2. We continuously
track our progress
against our goals
(cont’d).
 Our organization may create initial
enthusiasm, but when things “go
south”, leaders don’t want people to
know they’re having issues (“we only
post positive results”).
 We may suffer form a form of “company ADHD”.
The real work may be to continue to emphasize
the importance of goals when the “newness”
wears off, and/or when accomplishing those goals
suddenly becomes more difficult.
 Leaders may spend too much time in
their offices.
 Develop a regular “traffic pattern” in your
operation, asking employees how they’re doing
against goals.
10
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Goals & Objectives (cont’d)
3. People understand
what needs to be
done for us to
succeed in the long
run.
 Focus has been on short-term
financial outcomes, rather than
investing in the future.
 Ensure short-term goals and achievement are
continually tied to the long-term strategy and
bigger picture.
 Meeting the business’s needs (often
related to cost control and reducing
complexity) is the primary focus of
the business
 Communicate the importance of meeting shortterm needs of the business, challenging your team
to focus on activity and goals that support and
enhance the organization’s long-term strategy.
 The new business climate makes it
very difficult for us to understand
what will drive future success.
 Have honest conversations, include brainstorming,
with your team about the changes in the business
climate and what likely will not drive future
success. Then “rebuild” by looking for
alternatives.
 There is a difference between being
told what needs to be done in order
to succeed and true understanding.
Do we have a dialogue about this, or
do we give speeches?
 Foster participation and input by:
 Asking people what they think needs to be done
to support long-term success;
 Working with them to identify practices that
potentially undermine that success;
 Once enough thoughts have been shared to
inform an hypothesis about what will make a
difference, informally test it with colleagues in
individual and group settings;
 Finally, as findings are more formally shared,
identify and thank all those involved in the
process, and invite additional (and ongoing)
feedback and input from all present.
11
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Strategic Direction & Intent
1. Our strategy leads
other organizations to
change the way they
compete in the
industry
 Strategy and performance
are not linked in a way
that is readily visible,
internally and/or
externally.
 Continuously seek to understand how performance goals and
objectives support long terms strategic goals;
 Test understanding with boss, key stakeholders, peers and
direct reports;
 Communicate that understanding broadly (to all levels within
your operation).
 Employees (and/or
analysts) don’t understand
how the organization will
succeed in the future.
 Communicate the organization’s message about strategy and
success frequently. Link the work of your operation to that
strategy and the organization’s success.
 Our outcomes may not be
enviable enough to inspire
imitation.
 Work with your team to articulate an end point where we would be
enviable to others—then work backwards to create the plan.
 Our company may be so
focused on short-term
results that we don’t have
a strategy others will
change/chase.
 Lead, instead of following. Stay close to the customer,
understanding their wants and needs.
 We fail to distinguish
between “winning” and
“losing” strategies. In
effect, we place bets on all
the horses in the race,
instead of on those with
the best odds.
 Take a hard look at the business and the realities of our climate:
 Some customers require so much from us that we either don’t
make money on them, or don’t have the potential to do so in the
future. Be willing to walk away from bad customers;
 Some areas of our business have less promise for the future
than others. As difficult as it may feel, walking away from
unprofitable or non-strategic areas of the business can help our
organization refine its focus and “win” in the more robust
and/or relevant areas.
12
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Strategic Direction & Intent (cont’d)
2. There is a clear
mission that gives
meaning and
direction to our
work.
 The Purpose/Mission of
our organization is not
clear to employees, or is
not congruent with their
daily work.
 Gain a personal understanding of the Purpose or Mission of the
organization. Communicate the connectedness of the work of
your function/operation directly to the organization’s purpose
or mission, e.g., “XXX cannot achieve YYY without our
operation’s contribution of ZZZ.”
 We don’t connect Mission
to continuous
improvement, or other
internal actions or
strategies that make it
possible to fulfill our
Mission on an ongoing
basis.
 Sometimes we fail to recognize this important connection. To
counter-balance:
 Communicate with a focus on connecting Mission to annual
process/continuous improvement;
 Take a regular look at our operations, and identify ways to
continue to increase our effectiveness, durability and
longevity;
 Gain first-hand feedback from key stakeholders and external
customers about what they observe, as well as what is
important to them;
 Repeat annually, highlighting gains and redoubling efforts on
missed targets.
13
Mission
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Strategic Direction & Intent (cont’d)
3. There is a clear
strategy for the
future.
 Our organization’s
strategy is not clearly
spelled out and/or not
communicated broadly.
 Test your understanding of the organization’s strategy:
 With your leadership team, develop a strategy for your
operation that supports the organization’s strategy;
 Test with thought leaders throughout the organization (up,
down and sideways);
 If adopted, define metrics, communicate them broadly and
frequently, and ask for ongoing feedback;
 If not adopted, adjust strategy appropriately, test again
then follow adoption process.
 Our strategy does not
clearly demonstrate how
all functions, levels and
employees contribute to
the success of our
organization.
 Based on your operation’s strategy, link daily work and
performance goals directly to strategic goals for all levels of
employees. Continue to communicate about, and manage to,
those goals.
 If our company has a
vision, and even has
goals aligned with that
visions, the strategy for
daily execution may
seem obvious to top
leaders (and not even
communicated to those
who must implement).
 To help connect the dots for your operation:
 Start with no assumptions about what people should be able
to interpret, based on your guess at what they know;
 Focus on making it safe for others to identify what you don’t
know that they don’t know;
 Ask lots of questions (the non-leading kind);
 Make explicit to others what may be implicit for you and your
colleagues;
 Stay aware of changes in your external and internal
environment, and adapt the message as needed;
 Once you feel you’ve communicated enough, double it, being
sure to ask questions along the way.
14
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Organizational Learning
1. We view failure as an
opportunity for learning
and improvement.
 We focus our priorities and
actions on creating success
from standard operating
procedures, and may punish
those who step outside of
standard procedures.
 Seek to understand why standard procedures are in
place. Identify which still serve the organization, and
what may be holding the organization back.
 Conduct a “Stop, Start, Continue” analysis and
adjust procedures accordingly;
 Create performance and rewards systems for your
operation that, while holding employees accountable
for performance, allow for failure around innovation
and change.
 We have a culture that
expects perfection.
 Leaders model desired behavior by acknowledging
their own shortcomings and celebrating “mistakes”.
 We are so challenged to
perform at needed levels and
have such as strong sense of
urgency that we don’t see
failure as an option, much
less an opportunity for
learning and improvement.
 It’s not what happens that matters, as much as how
resiliently we respond to what happens:
 In every successful project, there can be many
failures. The key is to acknowledge them early, and
take lessons and course-correct as needed;
 A “forced march” can lead to tragic mistakes –
check periodically to be sure that we are
understanding the implications of a chosen direction
(and, indeed, choosing to take that direction);
 Tying a series of challenges together may take away
our ability to recover from the cumulative impact of
failure – try to discern where true interconnections
exist, and where we can uncouple components to
allow better adaptation to changing
requirements/circumstances.
15
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Organizational Learning (cont’d)
1. We view failure as an
opportunity for learning
and improvement.
(cont’d)
 We see failure as a deviation
from an ideal that what
carefully crafted therefore
deviation represents a lack of
discipline.
 Create a “skunk works” or laboratory that is separate
from operations in which experimentation and failure
is encouraged and even celebrated. Document
learnings and translate those into to operational
improvements.
16
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Organizational Learning (cont’d)
2. Innovation and risk taking
are encouraged and
rewarded.
 Our organization may see
innovation as a diminishment
of our best work/”sacred
cows”.
 Create “skunk works” to safely test new ideas away from
the day-to-day operations.
 Our way of doing things is
prescriptive/structured, not
leaving a lot of room for
improvisation.
 Celebrate failures and risk-taking that lead to learning
(from both successes and failures). Consider regular
celebrations, possibly monthly or quarterly.
 We are in a conservative
and/or risk-averse
organization. Our emphasis is
placed on “what we have to
lose” rather than “how we can
win.”
 Conservatism may have served the company well during
difficult times:
 Conduct a structured and realistic risk analysis. Work
with your team to identify the current/future risk of not
innovating , while fostering an open, honest selfappraisal of the operation and its performance;
 Be thoughtful and planful about innovation
emphasizing innovating around customer need, not our
guess at what they may care about.
 New ideas and innovation are
met with resistance from
leadership because of past
failure (or success).
 Encourage dialogue around innovation and continuous
improvement:
 Have the team discuss innovations (in our, or any
industry) that they admire the appeal of the
innovation, and speculate about what conditions might
have made the innovation possible (other than
generous funding – e.g., difficult business climate,
struggling organization, etc);
 Ask each team member to challenge one existing
practice that might compromise our ability to reach a
short-term goal, or a longer-term strategic objective;
 Brainstorm “solutions” that require innovation; look for
successes in other companies and industries.
17
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Organizational Learning (cont’d)
3. Learning is an important
objective in our day-today work.
 Our organization sees
learning as a cost-related
item.
 Create a practice in your operation in which each
employee identifies and acknowledges what they
learned each week. Share most impactful learnings
across the operation.
 Managers see learning as
something we can’t afford to
do today rather than about
targeting performance
improvement.
 Identify root causes of problems, through fact and
data develop new approaches to correct problems.
 Our organization focuses
primarily “on what has
worked in the past will work
for the future”.
 Demonstrate the risk to the business of not learning.
Show that the business can’t afford to NOT learn.
 We have a mature workforce
that does not understand the
importance of continuous
improvement/learning (or
they define learning as
participating in training).
 Partner with HR to create the business case for
continuous improvement and learning.
 Create forums in which employees at all levels share
their personal stories of the benefits of personal
development on-the-job experiences;
 Model and share your own development
experiences.
18
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Customer Focus
1. Customer input directly
influences our decisions.
 The past success and/or
internal focus of the
organization reduces the
influence of the customer’s
needs and wants. “We know
what the customer wants and
needs.”
 Identify ways for your operation to “invite in” the voice
of the customer.
 Have employees ask their family and friends what
creates an outstanding customer experience, and be
sure to learn about what causes less-than-satisfactory
customer experiences;
 Compare and contrast responses and ask employees to
identify how this information changes their decision
making and actions;
 Have teams create business cases for change based on
this information.;
 Take action based on the results.
 We may not listen to and/or
take lessons learned by our
employees as they serve our
customers.
 Survey or hold focus groups with customer-facing
employees to learn “the good, the bad and the ugly”.
Identify needed changes and take action.
 We risk losing focus if we
respond to each and every
customer want/request.
 Be clear on the mission and vision of the organization.
Use those as well as the organization’s values as a filter
to determine the viability of the response. Additionally
conduct a risk analysis as well as create a business case
that demonstrates the advantages of acting and the risk
of not responding to the customer want/need/request.
 Our customers don’t
understand the complexity of
our business and while
customer satisfaction is
important, profitability is also.
 Be clear on the mission and vision of the organization.
Use those as well as the organization’s values as a filter
to determine the viability of the response. Additionally
conduct a risk analysis as well as create a business case
that demonstrates the advantages of acting and the risk
of not responding to the customer want/need/request.
19
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Customer Focus (cont’d)
2. All members have a deep
understanding of
customer wants.
 Customer wants (and needs)
may take a “back seat” to the
knowledge and expertise of the
organization.
 Work first with leaders, and then with employees at all
levels, to identify the difference between decisions and
actions based on the “expertise” of the organization and
a direct understanding of the wants and needs of the
customer.
 The organization doesn’t spend
time or resources to ask
customers what they want (or
need).
 Form teams comprised of customer- and non-customer facing employees to gather internal information about
what the customer wants (or needs).
 We don’t know what we don’t
know about current and
potential customers.
 Repeatedly ask ourselves, “How can we know what we
don’t know?”, and “How do we find out?”
 Reach out to other groups outside the operation to ask
“What are we missing?” Those groups may include,
customers, peers in the organization, strategic
partners, vendors, family members and friends.
 Employees’ job requirements
don’t create the opportunity for
customer contact (productivity
and profitability could be
impacted negatively).
 Arrange for coverage from another shift or group of
workers and give “back room” workers the opportunity to
shadow customer contact roles.
 What has worked in the past
is still “working” for a number
of customers.
 While some things staying the same isn’t necessarily a
bad thing, people, including customers, often settle for
the familiar without questioning if there is something
more satisfactory or that better meets their needs.
Actively asking customers what would make their lives
better/easier could draw out hidden innovation
opportunities.
20
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Customer Focus (cont’d)
3. We encourage direct
contact with customers
by our people.
 We make an assumption that
previous success = customer
insight.
 As the leader, reach out to current and potential
customers and listen to what they want and need:
 Ask for others in your operation to do the same;
 Expand the conversation to explore what causes
people to both want and not want to do business
with your company;
 Work together to identify blind spots and take
corrective action.
 We are so big that our
employees may be several
levels removed from direct
customer contact.
 Renew customer contact:
 Create teams to reach out to the customer and
listen to them;
 Have the operation identify the customer, and ways
that they can be in direct contact with them, in
order to listen to what they want and need;
 Consider findings, listening carefully to suggestions
for improvements;
 Develop a collaborative approach to providing
insights to areas of the organization that will benefit
from this knowledge.
 Our experience shows that
direct customer contact (for
non-contact employees) is a
distraction from their
responsibilities, and the
information doesn’t translate
to their work.
 Customers are the reason to be in business. Start by
ensuring that the goals and objectives of all
employees have a direct line of sight to the goals of
the company and, therefore, to the customer).
Redefine work so that the customer is at the center of
the value chain for every role.
21
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Creating Change
1. The way things are done
is very flexible and easy
to change.
 The organization has been
very successful in the past,
based on its standard way of
operating (and therefore
resists efforts to deviate).
 Demonstrate respect for the past and what has
worked. Let current performance/financial data do
the “heavy lifting” and make the case for change.
 Even when we’re in pain, we
tend to stick to the same
highly structured ways of
doing things.
 To simplify or increase flexibility in your operation:
 Focus on the areas where the organization is
experiencing the most pain and/or could see the
most dramatic or rapid gains;
 Work with your team to identify targets for
simplification, and a rationale for doing so.;
 Develop an inclusive change effort with input from
employees at multiple levels;
 Stick with the change effort, even when it gets
boring or your operation becomes distracted by
new challenges or priorities.
 The complexity or potential
risk of what we do doesn’t
allow us to change easily.
 Identify areas where lack of ability to change easily
create more risk than it mitigates. Create systems
and processes to facilitate change and flexibility in
these areas.
 Our company works like a
well-oiled machine, our job is
to operate, not deviate.
 Scan the environment and understand the risk
inherent in lack of flexibility and ability to change.
Make the business case for addressing that risk.
22
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Creating Change (cont’d)
2. We respond well to
competitors and other
changes in the business
environment.
 The organization has an
inward focus and is not
aware of (or chooses not to
seek out) information /data
from the external business
environment.
 Identify external forces affecting issues and concerns
raised within the business and link them. Reference
competitive and other concerns you have heard from
the organization and champion change efforts of the
team that will address and solve these issues.
 We have cumbersome tools
and processes that don’t
allow us to adapt rapidly.
 Create small teams to examine tools and processes.
Teams conduct “Start, Stop, Continue” analysis on
tools and processes. Adjust tools and processes
based on recommendations. Collect feedback
continuously and adjust continuously.
 We may not see our
competitors as the threats
they represent, due to our
long history of success
(and/or misplaced pride).
 Collect competitive data, conduct analyses about what
it means for your business, and share potential future
impacts with your organization.
 Because of the business we
are in, we are slow to react
to changes in the business
environment.
 When the business is a bit slower paced, it’s
important to be more nimble than competitors.
Create an awareness of the competition and its ability
to react and make sure your group is sufficiently
nimble.
 We take a conservative
perspective because
sometimes problems fix
themselves, and sometimes
our competitors just do
“crazy things”.
 Continuously scan the marketplace and the
environment to ensure that you are choosing when to
take and when NOT to take action. Even the choices
not to take actions should be based in a business case
that includes vision, mission, current strategy and
profitability.
23
Adaptability
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Creating Change (cont’d)
3. New and improved ways
to do work are
continually adopted.
 The focus on standard
operating procedures inhibits
(or prohibits) the investment
of time and energy needed to
find new and improved ways
to work.
 Form teams to examine standard ways of operating
for ways we get in our own way. Ask them to design
the change efforts and champion the change.
 We have a number of ideas
for improving the ways we
work but are unable to
implement them.
 Examine why the operation has been unable to
implement change in the past. Identify the gaps and
address them. Remain focused on delivery of results.
 We are not strong at process
and trust everyone to do
their best.
 Identify a “burning platform” – a compelling case for
increasing efficiency/effectiveness. Emphasize the
importance of simplifying and streamlining, and hold
people accountable for both action and outcomes.
 We fail to perform “postmortems” on both successful
and unsuccessful initiatives,
thus missing crucial lessons
of experience.
 To create a more open, thoughtful approach to
performance improvement:
 Work with your team to create consensus about the
importance of hind-sighting;
 Identify a successful initiative, form a team of
people close to the work (from multiple levels), and
identify the actions and knowledge that fostered
success;
 Recognize people for their contributions;
 Then, do a similar analysis on a failed initiative,
emphasizing what can be learned, rather than
assigning blame;
 Reward well-intentioned behavior, despite the
outcomes.
24
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Empowerment
1. Information is
widely shared so
that everyone can
get the information
he or she needs
when it’s needed.
 Assumptions are made
that everyone “knows”
the context and reasons
for corporate or
operational decisions and
actions.
 Share not only decisions , but also include the reasons and
thought processes behind those decisions, as well as the link
to strategic goals. Gauge whether long tenure breeds a sense
of the “obviousness” of context.
 Information is shared on
a “need to know” basis
only.
 Try to understand why information is shared on a “need to
know” basis.
 Determine real concerns versus “sacred cows” and other
things about the culture that can limit communication
(“that’s the way we’ve always done it”);
 Work with your leadership team to create a more open and
sharing environment;
 Understand that how your team reacts to failure will directly
influence others’ willingness to take risks.
 We may have an
operation that is
culturally Introverted,
and we don’t recognize
(or underestimate) the
importance of
communicating with
others across (or down)
the organization
 Learn more about our Introverted style and its impact:
 Have the Extroverts in your team share their experiences
trying to obtain information from more Introverted people;
 Have the Introverts talk about how they feel when others
demand more information than they are comfortable sharing;
 Repeat with key stakeholders to your operation, with an
emphasis on recognizing their legitimate need for more
information (and, if possible, in advance of when they may
potentially need it);
 Help those who demonstrate an more Introverted leadership
style understand that in order to meet the communication
needs of others, they may need to do what feels like “overcommunication”.
25
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Empowerment (cont’d)
1. Information is
widely shared so
that everyone can
get the information
he or she needs
when it’s needed
(cont’d).
 Our information systems
don’t “talk with each
other”, or we have
similarly limiting
constraints.
 This is a topic that will take significant exploration to define
and correct. Consider having a multi-level brainstorming
meeting to gauge the breadth of the issue, with the potential
to tackle more comprehensively, based on findings of need.
26
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Empowerment (cont’d)
2. Everyone believes
that he or she can
have a positive
impact.
 Rewards and recognition
for positive contributions
are not in place, or are
not consistently
delivered.
 Individual performance
goals are not linked to
the operations’ strategic
goals.
 There may be a history
of people attempting to
provide input or bring
about change, only to be
thwarted or have their
suggestions not be
adopted.
 Recent challenges in the
marketplace may have
demoralized the
workforce, causing them
to “unplug” or feel
helpless to respond.
 Create, or activate, a rewards and recognition program that is
clearly tied to the strategic goals of the operation.
 Link individual performance goals to the operation’s strategic
goals, and continuously communicate and demonstrate that
link.
 Invest in developing a deeper understanding of historical
precedents:
 What business issues were they concerned about?;
 Why wasn’t action (or the desired action) taken?;
 What internal conflicts or misalignment may have
contributed to inaction?;
 What were the extenuating circumstances? (and do those
circumstances exist today?)
 This can be especially problematic in large corporations, where
employees may be several levels from both the customer and
senior leadership:
 What do they think we should do to positively respond to our
challenges?;
 What is within their own power to do?;
 What requires your support and/or additional resources?;
 Identify a few key actions or initiatives that can help return
them to a sense of connectedness and impact?
27
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Empowerment (cont’d)
3. Business planning is
ongoing and involves
everyone in the
process to some
degree.
 The demands of day-today work are so great
that business planning
is continuously pushed
aside.
 Begin with the end in mind:
 Carve out time to conduct business planning, and then do it.
Only through ongoing planning can day-to-day activity be
focused and prioritized, and initiatives funded, so that the
business functions in a sustainable manner;
 Have the team get input from their own operations, and
consider the ideas thoughtfully;
 Hold your entire leadership team accountable for planning
and executing to those plans.
 The operation’s leaders
do the business
planning without
involving others.
 Become more inclusive – senior leaders often erroneously
exclude valuable perspectives (particularly from those who
interface with the customer):
 Adjust your operation’s business planning process by
choosing to include employees from multiple levels;
 Model this for your team by including them in your business
planning;
 Drive decisions and follow-through actions to the lowest
possible level.
 The organization is
struggling and people
are getting side-tracked
by immediate concerns.
 Be proactive and a calming influence:
 Anxiety often causes people to work on what is immediately
in front of them;
 Identify planning as a priority activity for your operation, and
make it an “immediate concern”;
 Make time to listen to employees concerns, and demonstrate
you have heard them through your words and actions.
28
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Team Orientation
1. Cooperation across
different parts of the
organization is
actively encouraged.
 There is an erroneous
assumption that
employees know they
need to reach out across
boundaries to get work
done.
 Encourage appropriately reaching across organizational
boundaries to accomplish goals:
 When creating work teams, ask who else needs to be part of
the team;
 Be clear about your expectations for cooperation, and
specific in suggesting additional opportunities to do so;
 Model this desired behavior by visibly collaborating with your
peers and stakeholders.
 Barriers, such as work
volume, political
constraints, etc. , exist
that prevent employees
from crossing boundaries
to get work done
collaboratively.
 Actively seek out ways to break down barriers:
 Encourage employees to identify other individuals or work
groups who need to be included in work processes and
decisions, in order to get the best results;
 Recognize the contributions of those who operate crossfunctionally;
 Develop cross-functional teams to tackle major
issues/projects.
29
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Team Orientation (cont’d)
2. People work like
they are part of a
team.
 Employees are
rewarded, and goals are
set for, individual
performance only.
 Create rewards and recognition, from performance reviews to
incentive compensation, focused on team accomplishment.
Celebrate team successes.
 Teamwork has been
discouraged as a way to
achieve goals because of
past disappointments.
 Rebuild trust and teamwork:
 Learn more about past disappointments, and guard against
repeating;
 Encourage and model teamwork, even when it’s not
convenient to do so;
 Proactively reach out to team with others;
 Ask employees who else they should involve to accomplish
goals, and who might have valuable input that could enhance
their outcomes.
 Our organization is
under performance
pressure that fragments
our efforts to
collaborate.
 Identify areas where teamwork can enhance organizational
performance and speed, and ensure teamwork is used in these
areas.
30
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Team Orientation (cont’d)
3. Teamwork is used to
get work done,
rather than
hierarchy.
 The organization has
historically been
successful using a
hierarchical model.
 Encourage teamwork and boundary spanning work within your
own operation.
 Sponsor projects that require inputs from multiple levels and
organizational perspectives;
 Explore the risks and benefits of using a collaborative
approach to each new challenge;
 Make sure the contribution of each team member is
acknowledged and valued.
 The dominant style of a
top leader dictates a
hierarchical approach.
 Be practical and savvy:
 Be sure to meet the information and performance needs of
those higher in the organization;
 With your team, openly discuss the constraints (not the
people) that exist in the organization, and identify ways to
overcome them;
 Continuously encourage teamwork, and proactively team
with everyone (particularly with those who feel the need to
manage with a hierarchical approach).
31
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Capability Development
1. Authority is
delegated so that
people can act on
their own.
 A hierarchical political
climate exists.
 Communicate strategic and business goals to employees and
push decision-making down to lowest possible level.
 Hold leaders accountable to push decision making down and
create structure to hold all employees accountable for
decisions and performance;
 Create opportunities for bottom-up innovation and planning
(Ex., through an Emerging Leader process).
 Leadership doesn’t trust
employees to make the
best decisions for the
operation.
 Create a decision-making framework, and hold each level
appropriately accountable for their actions and decisions (and
recognize them for their contribution to the strategic and
business goals of the organization.
 Employees are rewarded
for doing what they are
told, rather than aligning
their work to achieve
strategic and business
goals.
 Further exploration is needed:
 Identify and troubleshoot inconsistencies and contradictory
approaches;
 Insist on ongoing conversation about how objectives are
collaboratively built;
 Adjust performance and rewards systems to reward, rather
than punish, decisions and work that contribute to, and align
with, strategic and business goals.
 Our operation is overlydetail-oriented (often
present when a high
proportion of employees
are in analytical roles,
like Engineering and
Finance).
 Help the operation develop a more balanced approach:
 Use delegation as a means of testing and developing people
in your operation;
 Advise your team that, in order for an assignment to be
developmental, there must be some risk of failure;
 Hold all employees accountable for performance outcomes,
but define their methods for them only when absolutely
necessary.
32
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Capability Development (cont’d)
2. There is continuous
investment in the
skills of employees.
 Budgetary, time and
other constraints limit
investment in employee
skill development.
 Partner with HR to create the business case for employee skill
development.
 In lean times, prioritize skills that will be most needed to
move the business and operation forward;
 Identify low cost development opportunities for skills
development such as job shadowing and mentoring and
integrate with work that needs to be done.
 Our risk-averse climate
limits innovation and
learning approaches.
 Identify a small number of key projects to employ innovation
and learning approaches. Demonstrate and communicate the
successes of those initiatives and the innovation and learning
approach, then continue to expand, based on success.
 We may think people
should already be fullydeveloped.
 Work to create more realistic expectations, and tell people
about your personal development priorities.
33
Involvement
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Capability Development (cont’d)
3. The capabilities of
people are viewed as
an important source
of competitive
advantage.
 Leaders have not made
the link between
employee capability and
competitive advantage.
 Partner with HR or other appropriate groups to demonstrate
the impact of employee capability on the bottom line, strategic
goals and competitive advantage. Share that business case
broadly, and continuously demonstrate the value of employee
capability.
 We tend to micromanage work in our
operation which deprives
employees of many
potential, work-related
development
experiences.
 Provide employees with the necessary training, information
and knowledge, then push decisions and work to the lowest
appropriate level. Hold employees accountable for
performance, and leaders accountable for delegation.
 We seem to have a
preference for hiring
external talent rather
than promoting
internally into “stretch”
assignments to build our
existing bench strength.
 Examine your succession management practices:
 Look for opportunities to provide stretch assignments for
internal candidates;
 When internal candidates are not selected for roles, provide
meaningful, actionable, developmentally-focused feedback;
 Consider creating a rotational leadership development
program to ensure high-potential talent gets the experience
they need.
34
Consistency Quadrant
Survey Item
What a Low Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Core Values
1. The leaders and
managers “practice
what they preach”.
 Employees see leaders
and managers acting
differently than they
ask their employees to
behave.
 Don’t just talk about needed actions and decisions,
demonstrate congruence between how you say people should
behave and what you, as a leader, actually do (or don’t do).
Ask your leadership team to hold each other (including you)
accountable for that behavioral consistency as well.
 Our leaders and
managers don’t follow
through on their
commitments.
 There may be very good reasons why leaders don’t implement
initiatives or deliver on promises. If that is the case, be sure
that the gaps between commitment and execution are
communicated (to the extent possible, based on complicating
circumstances such as budget cuts or layoffs).
 Definitions of
behaviors and actions
are not aligned,
causing employees to
believe leaders and
managers don’t
“practice what they
preach” while leaders
and managers believe
they are behaving and
executing consistently.
 Create and communicate common definitions for expected
behaviors and actions. Check continuously for alignment of
expectations.
35
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Core Values (cont’d)
2. There is a clear and
consistent set of
values that governs
the way we do
business.
 Companies often have
a set of written values,
but the actions and
decisions
demonstrated by the
organization don’t
reflect them.
 Gain agreement about the importance of the values in your
operation:
 Articulate the values and define desired behaviors. Test your
team for understanding, using scenarios as examples;
 Identify the importance of adherence to your values in your
operation;
 Challenge your employees to (anonymously, if necessary)
identify systemic ways that your operation may not live the
values (ex: poor customer service delivery, disrespect and
lack of collaboration between teams or areas, etc.);
 Demonstrate how you and your leadership team “live the
values”, in both matters large and small;
 Hold all employees accountable to live the values through
performance appraisal systems and day-to-day interaction;
 Develop recognition for employees who live and maintain the
values;
 Create a feedback loop for your team (from you, and upward
from your operation) that will cause ongoing examination,
and adjustment of, congruence between values and
behavior.
36
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Core Values (cont’d)
2. There is a clear and
consistent set of
values that governs
the way we do
business (cont’d).
 Written values are not
clearly defined through
behaviors.
 Gain agreement about the importance of the values in your
operation:
 Articulate the values and define desired behaviors. Test your
team for understanding, using scenarios as examples;
 Identify the importance of adherence to your values in your
operation;
 Challenge your employees to (anonymously, if necessary)
identify systemic ways that your operation may not live the
values (ex: poor customer service delivery, disrespect and
lack of collaboration between teams or areas, etc.);
 Demonstrate how you and your leadership team “live the
values”, in both matters large and small;
 Hold all employees accountable to live the values through
performance appraisal systems and day-to-day interaction;
 Develop recognition for employees who live and maintain the
values;
 Create a feedback loop for your team (from you, and upward
from your operation) that will cause ongoing examination,
and adjustment of, congruence between values and
behavior.
 We may be torn
between the values
held in our area and
those imposed upon us
by business partners,
or those in other areas
of the organization
 Discover why that area may exert such a powerful influence on
our beliefs and/or behaviors:
 Gain historical perspective from trusted colleagues;
 Identify the concerns of leaders in that area that may cause
them to “throw their weight around” with us;
 Examine how our past (or current behavior may trigger
theirs, and what we can do to be proactive in meeting their
needs and establishing a more balanced partnership;
 Hold our ground when the non-negotiable values are
punctured.
37
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Core Values (cont’d)
3. There is an ethical
code that guides our
behavior and tells us
right from wrong.
 The code of ethics
exists as a legal
requirement, not a
suggested guide for
behavior and
decisions.
 Articulate the code of ethics with your team, and specifically
define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
 Publicly share, and adhere to, the code of ethics yourself.
Hold your leadership team accountable, as well;
 Create a clear expectation that the code of ethics is a
definition of “how to operate”;
 Make it easy for employees to confidentially report possible
ethics violations;
 Hold all employees accountable to adhere to the code of
ethics.
 When the going gets
tough, we may put so
much pressure on our
employees for
performance that they
will “bend” their ethics
in order to deliver.
 Learn more about how we treat others during times of
difficulty:
 How do we react when we receive bad news?;
 Are people in our operation afraid of being punished or fired
when we make mistakes?;
 Do any of our leaders publicly berate employees for not
performing up to expectations?;
 Do we ever scapegoat other areas of the organization when
we don’t perform up to expectations?;
 Do we ever look the other way when people try to “massage”
their end-of-quarter or end-of-year numbers?;
 Responses to previous items will give you a sense of where
you may need to take further exploration and action;
 Most importantly, be sure to avoid doing the unproductive
things listed above.
38
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Agreement
1. When disagreements
occur, we work hard to
achieve “win-win”
solutions.
 Traditionally, the person
with the most power
“wins”.
 Within your operation, make decisions based on the “good of the
whole”, not what will benefit the most powerful faction. Model this
behaviorally, and hold everyone accountable for this.
 Create a system that rewards working together for a win-win
solution (and creates consequences for those who are looking out
for themselves). Remain steadfast in your beliefs and behaviors.
 Start with looking at risks and benefits of a new way to approach
work and the “how” to implement rather than the “what”.
 Due to business
pressures, each
person/department/
operation is out to make
themselves look good,
or come out on top.
 Don’t allow this way of thinking and behaving to infect your
operation:
 Be clear in your expectations for partnership – that in this
business climate, we can only afford to have “enemies” outside
our broad organization (perhaps our competitors?);
 Urge your employees to make the first move to build
relationships, and to resist succumbing to the invitation to
engage in win/lose interactions;
 When you hear words or tone of voice that seem destined to
create a win/lose dynamic, stop action and deconstruct the
conversation to get things back on track;
 Communicate your intent to your peers, and follow through –
consistently;
 Our culture doesn’t
recognize collaboration
as a winning approach.
 Seek to understand the history reasons the culture doesn’t
recognize collaboration as a winning approach:
 Identify collaboration as the optimal method for achieving goals,
with a recognition of the cost of win/lose and compromise
approaches to working together.
 Reach out and gain advocates for collaboration across levels.
 Require collaboration as a way of working, and hold all
employees accountable for using this approach.
39
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Agreement (cont’d)
2. It is easy to reach
consensus, even on
difficult issues.
 Each
person/department/
operation is focused on
their own objectives
without being aligned
to the overall
organizational
objectives.
 Regardless of the problem or issue at hand, begin each
discussion with the organizational goals and needs in mind
(perhaps even state explicitly). Continuously remind all of
these common goals through your words and behaviors.
 We are an operation
that values debate,
and believes that it is
the path to the best
outcomes.
 Time for a reality-check:
 Is it truly important for all points to be argued?
 What do we risk by not thoroughly exploring issues?
 What do we risk by too thoroughly exploring issues and/or
delaying needed action?
 A high degree of
complexity makes
agreement a
tedious/timeconsuming task.
 Redefine the desired outcome of the process as consensus =
general agreement and alignment, not complete one-for-one
agreement. Have faith that agreeing on high-level concepts
will make it possible to work through the supporting details
successfully (and at a later date, if appropriate).
 The organization is not
comfortable with an
80-90% solution.
 Create an atmosphere where the organization can move
forward from a partial solution. The remaining piece of the
solution is easier to manage as you move forward.
40
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score
May Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Agreement (cont’d)
3. There is a clear
agreement about the
right way and the
wrong way to do things.
 Each
person/department/
operation has acted in
their own best interest
in the past and each
therefore has their own
right and wrong ways to
do things.
 Develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics:
 What are the various definitions of “right and wrong”?;
 What past experiences may have shaped these differing
perceptions?
 Encourage employees to see beyond their sense of “rightness”
to understand how another approach may be valid and
appropriate to the situation;
 Work with your team to identify common goals/interests that
could prompt others to be willing to explore a hybrid or
collaborative approach;
 Maintain focus on the common goals and hold people
accountable to the notion that the best interest of the broad
organization is also in the best interest of the individual;
 Educate those who don’t seem to understand or support that
approach, and hold them accountable for behavior change.
 How we operate and/or
that values are not
clearly defined
 Articulate the values and define desired behaviors. Test your
team for understanding, using scenarios as examples;
 Identify the importance of adherence to these values in your
operation;
 Challenge your employees to (anonymously, if necessary)
identify systemic ways that your operation may not live the
values (ex: poor customer service delivery, disrespect and lack
of collaboration between teams or areas, etc.);
 Demonstrate how you and your leadership team “live the
values”, in both matters large and small;
 Hold all employees accountable to live the values through
performance appraisal systems and day-to-day interaction;
 Develop recognition for employees who live and maintain the
values;
 Create a feedback loop for your team (from you, and upward
from your operation) that will cause ongoing examination, and
adjustment of, congruence between values and behavior.
41
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Coordination and Integration
1. Our approach to
doing business is
very consistent and
predictable.
 Functions and units of
the operation have acted
separately, handing off
their work when they are
done. As a result, each
function or unit may
have their own set of
operating procedures.
 Create cross-functional teams in which everyone must work
across boundaries. By working together, processes and
procedures will need to become aligned and consistent in order
to perform.
 We tend to overreact to
“bad surprises”, having
a drastic responsive
action and/or looking for
someone to blame.
 As a leader, it is important for you to model resilience,
detachment and positive behavior that improves the
performance of the operation and the broader organization.
Instead of looking for someone to blame, look for the root
cause of the problem, and collaborate in its solution.
 We are “special” and/or
“process outlaws “,and
prefer to invent our own
ways of getting things
done (or use no
consistent process at
all).
 Form teams consisting of multiple levels, and across
units/functions of your operation, to examine the cost of the
lack of consistent process for high-priority initiatives. Charge
them with identifying best practices, and implementing them
uniformly across the operation. Measure the outcomes and
adjust where indicated. Communicate.
 Employees don’t
understand what drives
results.
 Clearly share what activities and deliverables drive
organizational results and then create a line of sight from
those results to front line activity and everything in between.
Hold all employees accountable for contributing to
organizational results.
42
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Coordination and Integration (cont’d)
2. It is easy to
coordinate projects
across different
parts of the
organization
 Each area of the
organization has their
own way of operating,
and has difficulty making
adjustments for other
areas.
 When creating cross-functional teams, communicate that a
common purpose is to create operating consistency across
units. Require that cross-functional “ease of movement” be
one measure of success.
 The dominant
areas/functions do not
compromise or
collaborate effectively on
issues and/or projects.
 Implement tools such as RACI charts that create role clarity
and accountability for deliverables and actions. Hold everyone
equally accountable for the outcomes and deliverables,
allowing no excuse-making or finger-pointing.
 We are geographically
dispersed, and may have
native culturally-defined
ways of teaming.
 Work with the team to identify potential cultural differences in
teaming approaches. Explore virtual collaboration tools that
encourage continuous, rather than sequential collaboration
and teaming.
 Goals and objectives are
not aligned across
different parts of the
organization.
 Create and implement structure, routine and systems that
support aligning goals and objectives across the organization.
43
Consistency
Quadrant Survey
Item
What a Low
Score May
Mean
Potential Levers for Change
Coordination and Integration (cont’d)
3. There is good
alignment of goals
across levels.
 Goals may not have
been created drawing
from, or in alignment
with, organizational-level
priorities, or the goals
may not exist at all.
 Establish aligned performance goals across the operation that
have a common line of sight to the organizational goals:
 Ensure that at each level of the organization, employees
understand how achieving their goals will impact those above
and below them (as well as a broad ability to achieve
organizational goals);
 Demonstrate alignment and integration across levels and all
parts of the operation.
 The organization may
treat each area as
independent from the
others, from a
performance perspective
 Develop an understanding of the root causes of this
fragmentation:
 Ask a variety of colleagues to tell you the history behind the
current performance metrics, and of the general
measurement of performance in the organization;
 Use this information to inform your decisions and actions, as
they pertain to cross-functional relationships and
collaboration;
 Start by aligning the goals of your operation to the broader
organizational goals;
 Follow up by meeting with leadership-level stakeholders from
each other area of the organization that is instrumental to
the success of your operation (or is directly impacted by it).
Identify your common goals and explore the extent to which
your separate goals may support or constrain your success
together;
 To the extent possible, align the goals of your area with the
goals of these other areas, and monitor progress.
44