Tip of The Month

Create Clarity  

By Tiffany Dahlberg  

I have been working with several small businesses for the past six months to help them with strategic planning, organizational development, and change management.  When I told a colleague about my philosophy in helping these companies, he recommended Patrick Lencioni's book,The Advantage, because it sounded similar to my approach.  Unlike Lencioni's famous fables like The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Death by Meeting, this book describes step-by-step how to have a healthy organization.  

I agree with Lencioni that the untapped potential of organizations to become healthier is what will give them an advantage over their competitors.  He discusses four disciplines:

1. Build a Cohesive Leadership Team
2. Create Clarity
3. Over-communicate Clarity
4.  Reinforce Clarity

To create clarity, Lencioni suggests that organizations answer six questions.  One of those questions is "How do we behave?"  Through rigorous examination, the leadership team identifies only two or three core values that guide all employee behavior.  These are the core values that dictate every decision and activity in an organization from hiring and firing, to policies and procedures.  

For example, currently a specific product at Walmart costs $23.  This same product at a website and trade show sells for three times as much because the market demand is at an all-time high.  Walmart would be justified in raising its price on this product to match the demand, but they don't.  They are known for their low prices and won't change their values to make more money due to inflated prices.  This adherence to core values creates clarity not only for Walmart's pricing decisions, but also for customers' confidence.  By having clarity about their values, Walmart's employees know how to behave in every situation.

How much clarity do you have in your organization?  Do your personal core values match your company's values?  The answer may reveal the health of your organization.