THEME: New Year, More Challenges
FOCUS: The End of the Comfort Zone
Monday morning: February 8, 2010
Dear friends,
I often tell seminar participants and consulting clients that “real change takes place outside your comfort zone.” Recently, the response has been the same all over the country, “What comfort zone? We lost that a long time ago. Now it is just challenge or chaos all day long.” In a world and an economy that feels topsy turvy, many leaders are hanging on for dear life and hoping for better days. Others are focused with laser-like precision on one critical concept, synchronization.
As you may remember, synchronization is the act of making sure a combination of events operate systematically and in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time. Through their actions, all the different parts and players result in a quality performance. In today’s business world, we are looking for improved synchronization at the operations, the strategic and the cultural levels of the organization.
Jason Jennings in his book, Less is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity as a Competitive Tool in Business, Penguin Putnam, 2002, explained it this way, “In productive companies, the culture is the strategy.... Unlike other companies, productive companies know the difference between tactics and strategy. The difference is the foundation that allows them to stay focused and build remarkable companies. They have institutionalized their strategy.”
When they have institutionalized their strategy, they build a culture which is binary. A binary number system is one based on two numbers, namely one and zero. In a binary culture, there are people who are one with the organization and others who are not. Those who are not are zeros and thus are removed from the organization because they are not in alignment and do not add value to what is taking place. Therefore, when the organization is in full alignment, i.e. culture, strategy and operations are united, then all of the parts become synchronized and work effortlessly.
This week examine the concept of synchronization at the culture and strategic levels. Remember the importance of institutionalizing your strategy.
Have an awesome week,
Geery
Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in
Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change
Morning Star Associates
319 - 643 - 2257
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