EXECUTIVE UPDATE MAGAZINE
by Merianne Liteman and Jeffrey Liteman

Take Your Organization for a Check-Up

Question: I’ve been hired to be the CEO of a mid-sized organization. You’ve written articles and columns about healthy organizations, and I’d like to know what I should look for to determine whether my new organization is healthy and, if not, how I can assess what needs to be improved.

Organizations change, just as people do. When you go for your annual physical examination, the doctor doesn’t just look at the charts of past examinations. He or she examines you at that moment and may order tests to reveal your present condition.

Similarly, when assessing the condition of an organization, you have to look at its present condition. Take into account how it has performed in the past, sure, but determine how well it is functioning now. And such an assessment should be conducted regularly, not just when a new leader takes charge or when signs of ill health are apparent.

Key to having a healthy organization is to ensure that all your employees understand and support its core purpose, its reason for being. A clear and galvanizing purpose will move your organization forward in an unambiguous direction and will focus the efforts of your staff. A muddled sense of purpose will lead to confusion and conflict.

We’ve worked with many organizations where everyone says, "Sure, I understand our core purpose." But when we’ve probed deeper, we’ve often found that everyone’s "clear understanding" was different from everyone else’s. So ask your staff — everyone if it’s small enough, a broad cross-section if it’s large — what their understanding of the organization’s core purpose is.

If there is broad agreement among the staff on the organization’s core purpose (and if it corresponds with yours), you’re in good shape. If not, you have some work to do — redefining as well as communicating.

Take a look at how the organization deals with conflict. If conflict is managed openly and cooperatively so that it leads to resolution and trust, you’re okay. If conflict is stifled, buried, ignored, or denied, you’ll likely find alienation, defensiveness and blame, long-standing grudges, and distractions from work. That must be addressed.

Explore your new organization’s communication style. If people share information, follow through, and give and receive helpful and timely feedback, great. If there is an atmosphere of secrecy and mistrust, if members and clients receive mixed messages from different staff members, or if gossip is gospel, you’ll need to focus some attention there.

What is the organization’s reward structure? (And keep in mind that rewards aren’t limited to salary and tangible benefits.) Does it produce heightened commitment, positive motivation, high morale, and a strong sense of loyalty? Or are the rewards inappropriate or inadequate, leading to cynicism, apathy, an ethic of self-interest, and high turnover?

It’s fine to take a good look at how the organization is structured, as long as you don’t set the staff on edge by hinting at change for its own sake. Determine if the distribution of work is (and is seen as) fair and equitable, and whether work proceeds in a coordinated fashion or is fraught with redundancies and shortfalls. Look at the ratio of managers to staff.

But if you see problems in these areas, don’t move precipitously to restructure. Often, more effective communication can significantly improve what initially looks like a structural problem.

Does your staff collaborate, take a broad view of the organization, and support each other’s efforts? Or do they mistrust each other and engage in turf battles that result in lack of coordination and a sense of disjointedness?

Is it okay in your new organization to make mistakes? If so, you’re likely to get innovation. If not, you’ll probably encounter timidity and a resistance to trying out new ideas.

Examine the quality of the decisions the organization has made, particularly in stressful times. Sound decision-making practices will help the organization be responsive to members’ needs and devise innovative solutions to internal and external concerns.

And examine yourself. How open are you to new leadership ideas, to adapting your management style to best serve your new organization? What worked for you before may not work in new circumstances. How willing are you to try new approaches, help others grow, and encourage risk-taking?

Finally, should you address the problems you find or put off "treatment" until some time in the ill-defined future? Our advice: Acknowledge what’s working well, and enlist your staff as soon as possible to address what’s not.

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