The US White House is a fan of organizational health. So much so that the Biden administration recently issued a brief outlining its commitment to the cause and work environment plans. Details include regular check-ins with Federal agencies; performance measurement and monitoring; a refresh of all workplans and policies; assessments of what’s working, what isn’t, and noting areas for improvement. Findings will then be shared with all offices, and best practices will be implemented across the board.
Well, a memo is nice. An outline of plans is promising. But how can companies actually implement and keep a pulse on their organizational health?
What is Organizational Health?
Organizational health looks at how well a company operates, grows financially, affects customer satisfaction, impacts bench strength (team talent), and adapts to change. In an article for Chief Executive Magazine, Scott Keller and Colin Price, directors of McKinsey & Company, discuss their experiences with clients, reviews of 900 books and articles, as well as survey findings that spanned over a decade. The surveys include responses from 7,000 senior leaders and 600,000 employees. Through the research, three key attributes for organizational health emerged—internal alignment, quality of execution, and capacity for renewal. There are also nine elements that support these three overarching themes: direction, leadership, culture and climate, accountability, coordination and control, capabilities, motivation, external orientation, innovation. and learning.
Brought together, the concepts tend to work like this: internal alignment focuses on whether a company has “a compelling vision and a well-articulated strategy that is supported by the culture and climate,” Too many organizations feel that the “soft” side of work can’t be effectively measured. Many use an employee engagement survey to assess the employee pulse. Though this is one way, it is not the only way to understand employee behavior. Just as we are expected to have accountancy measures in business, we also need to establish effective methods of measuring other aspects that drive business results.
Furthermore, Keller and Price also outline:
Five Attributes to Successfully Measure Organizational Health:
- Aspire (where do we want to go?)
- Assess (how ready are we to make the journey?)
- Architect (what do we need to do to get there?)
- Act (how do we manage the journey?)
- Advance (how do we keep moving forward?).
These questions can help guide the overall direction of a company.
In part 2 of this series, we’ll explore more about assessing organizational health, and strategies for success.
