Category: Leadership
Audience: Leaders
Overview: “Sustained organizational success really comes down to leaders gathering the data that will help them understand which behaviors can help them to meet their performance goals…”
Read Time: 3 Minutes
The above quote is from a McKinsey report that came out earlier this year.
If you read the statement again, it seems to me that this quote is true of achieving any performance goal.
Data provides the initial information. Sustained focus and action drives us toward the goal.
If you want to lose weight, save money, overcome procrastination or any other type of behavioral issue, you need to start with trusted information and then assure your behaviors are pointed towards achieving your goal or objective.
This approach is exactly what I work on with leaders to help them achieve what they want or need to achieve within their organization.
Data
I often speak with senior leaders who want to improve their organization’s culture but:
–They aren’t exactly sure of what that means OR
–What they specifically need to do to accomplish this goal.
If you don’t specifically know what you’re aiming for, it feels like shooting at a target in the dark – wasting time, money, focus, and energy.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
We have the intelligence to gather the information we may need. Technology enters the scene and does it for us and then enables us to cross-check the information against a variety of other relevant factors.
And there we have it. Targeted, customized data that points us in a specific direction around what’s needed –the behaviors—to help us reach the outcome we’re looking for.
Behaviors
So here comes what can be considered the more challenging part of a change initiative.
Let’s use the example of needing to eat healthier.
You gather all the data from the tests your physician ran, you put it against your target goals, and you begin the process of changing your behavior which involves sustained actions.
And anyone who has experienced this scenario knows the struggle that usually ensues.
Sustained actions are usually easier to talk about than actually do.
But it’s a significant part of the engine that gets us where we’re going.
Actions
When an organization’s check-in has been completed and their data is available and they are about to learn something they didn’t know before.
So my next step is to set up a debrief meeting with the leader or leadership team to review their data and what actions they feel they can take to address employee concerns.
They feel they can move forward with a ‘fix’.
A small percentage believe this is a one-time event – not so much.
Whether you’re learning to have healthier eating habits or wanting to create a healthier company culture, it’s most definitely not a one-time event…it’s a process.
The process can be a series of events, but it’s never a one-time event. It takes focus and commitment.
Success boils down to 4 key steps:
- Measuring and identifying the goal
- Identifying the behaviors needed to experience success
- Making a commitment to consistently execute on those behaviors over a period of time
- Measuring outcomes
Easy? Not always.
Shortcuts? Don’t work.
Worthwhile? Absolutely.
Read the McKinsey Report – Organizational Health is (still) the Key to Long-Term Performance
Cynthia Kyriazis is the Chief Experience Officer at The Culture Think Tank. Her experience includes executive coaching, consulting, and training. Book a 15-minute chat to discuss your people, performance or profit challenges.
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