“Improving an Organization’s Capacity”

I got us started down this path last time by stressing that someone in every organization needs to take responsibility for charting the course. I also emphasized that while it typically needs to be the business owner or CEO who casts the primary vision, they absolutely need to be able to count on the leaders around them to help them carry that vision and to built to it within their respective departments; even the strongest leaders can’t be everything for everyone all the time…

As I introduced those ideas to you, I also mentioned all the buzzwords and flavors of the months that I’ve seen so many folks in leadership roles get hammered with, each claiming to do all but initiate world peace and solve world hunger. While nearly all of those things I’ve ever seen implemented do offer some value, the amount of juice that comes from the squeeze really ties back to whether or not we try to force a square peg into a round hole - which seems to happen more often than not…

All that said, there are a few things that may sound like buzzwords but still make a solid impact on how our organization’s follow the course we chart. One of those is something I’ve seen tied to more and more degree and certificate programs over the last few years. Quite honestly, I’ve seen it so often that I’ve struggled to take it seriously… That particular buzzword is organizational development. It struck me as a really broad and ambiguous topic that sounded fancy enough to draw attention while being vague enough to not set clear expectations. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include it in how we chart the course for the teams we lead!

So what is organizational development? And how can we include it in the strategic approach we take as we work to lead effectively?

An article from the Association for Talent Development starts with a simple definition by saying that “organizational development is an effort that focuses on improving an organization’s capability through the alignment of strategy, structure, people, rewards, metrics, and management processes.” Being a guy who wants to be able to apply everything I can as quickly as possible and get measurable results in the process, I thought that was where the simplicity in the article ended… While there were a few more pieces that I found helpful, the net they cast was just too broad for me - and I’d guess any business owner or executive who already has more on their plate than they can handle on any given day would feel the same way.

One part that caught my attention was the reference to what they called “Organizational Development Strategy.” The article offered a lengthy description for what I’ve seen as a simple approach to continuous improvement: Try, fail, adjust/improve, re-enter…If we just apply that to each area of our businesses that we need to develop, following the charted course should be a much more manageable task! Then we can begin to shift some of our focus to strategic management and leadership, and we’ll dig into that next…