<p>I met with employees last week who were complaining that their leadership doesn't have enough to do or suffers from organizational ADD. Doesn't matter. The effect is the same.</p>
<p>Their bosses had just returned from an annual leadership retreat with another set of programs that would drive everything they did for the year or at least until another set of programs could be dreamt up. Predictably, employees rolled their eyes and uttered a collective "Here we go again." The PR department erected banners and posters, and all of the executive automatons began punctuating their hallway conversations with the jargon that was attendant with the new programs. Sound familiar, yet? </p>
<p>Meanwhile a new <a target="_blank" href="http://www.magnetmail1.net/ls.cfm?r=39462593&sid=1277791&m=202649&u=JimShaffer&s=http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/research/0%2C1015%2Ccid%25253D121635%2C00.html">Deloitte report</a> says senior leaders they surveyed believe their people and processes aren't in sync with overall corporate strategy. They blame the misalignment on a failure to monitor the link between strategy and initiatives and a low emphasis on connecting long-term and non-financial objectives. Surprised?</p>
<p>The result, of course, is that <u>disconnected programs create huge say/do gaps that diffuse human energy. The net effect is a confused workforce that's reliably generating lower productivity than it should/could be.</u></p>
<p>Whether you run a business of 30 or 300,000 people, getting around the not-another-program problem is relatively simple in concept but it requires hard work in the form of thoughtful, well-managed execution. Not unlike most endeavors. </p>
<ul type="disc">
<li>First, you <u>need to be very clear on your vision and strategy</u>. Very clear!</li>
<li>Second, the organizational systems need to be adjusted to drive human energy in a common direction. Businesses are like cars. They're made up of discrete but interrelated systems. (Remember <a target="new" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060839872/hrcom">Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</a> by Robert Pirsig?) Each system needs to be fine-tuned. But, <u>each system needs to work together with all the other systems to achieve maximum performance. </u></li>
<li>Third, the alignment work needs to be explained in a way that provides context to real people who have to do real work. <u>The objective here is to provide clarity and meaning to people and what they do</u>. Of course, the people who have to execute ought to be involved in the alignment work early on. (The subject of another Report) </li>
</ul>
<p>The not-another-program problem is most often caused when a program or initiative 1) is <u>communicated without a larger organizational context or connectedness</u> and 2) <u>is heaver on the talk than the walk</u>--when the "say" is greater than the "do."</p>
<p><strong>Ethics, Integrity and Avoiding Jail</strong></p>
<p>Given the perp walks and convictions of late, leaders have a huge opportunity to make their point around ethics. Isn't it time for any thinking CEO to make it absolutely, perfectly clear that it's not about whether a specific action crosses the (legal or ethical) line or not? If it comes anywhere close to the line, it should be unacceptable. Period. <u>"If it can't pass the sniff test, we don't do it."</u></p>
<p>Here's one sniff test: "Would we want this action reported in the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> tomorrow morning?"</p>
<p>For more on this subject, read <a target="new" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0787969133/hrcom">Authentic Leadership</a>, by Bill George, former Medtronic chairman. Of the companies I've worked with over the years, none passes the sniff test better than Medtronic.</p>
<p> </p>
