Book Review.
Lencioni,
Patrick.
The
Advantage. Why organizational health
trumps everything else in business.
Jossey-Bass. 2012.
Comment. Henry.
Since the
contents of this book target organizations in general they have a very wide
appeal. Fundamental to organizational
success is organizational health. It “will
one day surpass all other disciplines in business as the greatest opportunity
for improvement and competitive advantage.” PL
The
requirements of a smart organization are “strategy, finance, and technology”.
(6) The requirements for a healthy
organization are, “minimal politics, minimal confusion, high morale, high
productivity and low turn-over”. (6)
Together they result in a successful organization. Health is more than intelligence,
smarts. “Health begets intelligence.”
(9)
A healthy
organization has as its foundation four building blocks, four disciplines: “1.Build a cohesive leadership team. 2. Create clarity. 3. Overcommunicate clarity. 4. Reinforce clarity.” (15-16)
A cohesive
leadership team is built on a foundation of trust. This foundation supports a pyramid of “conflict,
commitment, accountability and results.” (26)
Conflict, when dealt with from a position of trust results in
commitment. “To hold someone accountable
is to care about them enough to risk having them blame you for pointing out
their deficiencies.” (57) Kindness is no
excuse for avoiding accountability. Behavioral
accountability is difficult but necessary. A “team effectiveness exercise” (60) is
presented as a tool for holding one another accountable.
There are
six questions that must be addressed to “Create Clarity”, the second
discipline. “1. Why do we exist? 2. How do we behave? 3. What do we do? 4. How will we succeed? 5. What is most important, right now? 6. Who must do what?” (77)
The third
discipline, “Overcommunicate Clarity” (141) flows from the second
discipline. Repetition is
important. Rumors, “cascading
communication” (144) reinforce, from the top down.
Clarity must
be reinforced (fourth discipline). It is
all about “an organization institutionalizing its culture without
bureaucratizing it.” (154)
Meetings are
central to the four disciplines. They
are “administrative (daily check-in), tactical (weekly staff), strategic (adhoc
topical) and developmental (quarterly off-site review).” (175)
“Seizing the advantage” (188) is very much
dependent on leaders and leadership.
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