There are many approaches to understanding how the workplace
works. What makes people productive? Why do some companies and organizations
overcome obstacles and challenges, while others seem to collapse under their
weight and fail?
When considering such questions, it’s helpful to examine
three key areas: strategy, structure, and culture. As we’ll see, one of those
areas is often, and too easily, overlooked.
The first area, strategy, is the proverbial “no-brainer.”
After all, how can any enterprise exist, let alone move forward, without a
carefully thought out strategy? Likewise, no project or initiative can hope to
succeed without team members understanding why it is being implemented, and why
it is important.
You may have heard the term cross-functional. In management,
it refers to the way teams or departments with different skills or purposes
work together for a common goal or objective. That can only be accomplished if
there is a clearly defined and agreed-upon strategy.
Second, there must be structure. In most companies, that
will include organizational charts, the division of the organization into
departments, and systems for communication and interaction between those
departments, with managers and supervisors installed at various levels
throughout. Some structures will be hierarchical, while others—particularly in
smaller businesses—may be more collegial in nature.
Finally, there is the issue of culture. An organization’s
culture may be clearly defined in its mission statement. Often, however, the
culture takes on a life of its own. Culture reflects the unwritten rules of
organizational behavior—the values that define an organization and shape the
way it operates.
Too often, an organization can’t, or won’t, see past the
nose on its face to fully understand its culture and how it got that way. But a simple examination of past performance, and the factors
that contributed to the current climate within an organization, can help
leaders and managers better shape a more productive and functional corporate
environment—with the future clearly in mind.
How do you measure up in these three areas? It’s worthwhile—even
critical—to examine your strategy, structure and culture for clues to how your
organization can be truly successful in accomplishing its goals.
Jim Ondrus is a Vistage Chair and president of JA Ondrus, LLC in Canton, Ohio.
