People struggle and sink when environments feel like death.
7 signs your organization is sick:
- Low performers are protected. Anyone who isn’t growing, needs to go. Coach them up or out.
- Secrets saturate the environment.
- Gossip is endorsed, even honored.
- CYA is SOP. (Cover Your *ss is Standard Operating Procedure.)
- Destructive high-performers get ahead.
- Playing politics, not results, is enough to earn promotion. The good ole boy’s club is filled with self-protective gatekeepers who love being served by brown nosers.
- People development is an inconvenience, not a commitment.
7 steps to vitality:
Successful leaders focus on building vigorous vibrant organizations.
Everything is easier when positive energy abounds.
- Define what vibrancy means for your organization. For example:
- Real conversations are normal. Dancing with elephants is an art form.
- Poor performance is brought up quickly.
- Team members know each other’s goals, passions, strengths and weaknesses.
- Results and relationships matter.
- Leaders give help as much as they seek it.
- Transparency is expected and honored. Most meetings are recorded and posted on the company intranet for anyone to see or hear.
- Teams look to the future, more than the past.
- “How can we make this better?” is part of organizational language.
- Everything you expect from others, you’re already giving to them.
- Create a vibrancy scale. Determine where you are.
- Define better.
- Collaboratively define behaviors that contribute to vitality.
- Collaboratively define behaviors that drain vitality.
- Pursue vitality. Vitality may be a byproduct, but it isn’t an accident.
- Evaluate progress.
- Call out and correct energy sinks. Negative environments are built by tolerance, not intent.
- Honor those who get it.
- Replace poor performers and resistors.
Bonus: When energy goes down, bring it up.
How might leaders build vibrant organizations?
What has been true of leaders and organizations where you have seen vitality?