Direction

Every organization that is achieving results has something “driving” it. What the driver is will vary, but without a driver, the organization will fall into mediocrity and eventually decline.

Some will say the driver must be one thing (examples: mission, vision, purposes, or culture/values.) It has been my observation and experience that it can actually be any of these, but there must be a clear driver. I am aware of world class organizations that use each of these. They know their driver and it shapes their organization.

In a healthy organization:

• The driver often keeps leaders up at night dreaming about it?
• The driver is what causes an organization to make hard strategic decisions?
• The driver is the thing that trumps all other considerations in decision making?

Unfortunately, many organizations have no driver or they have too many drivers. Many things could cause this: being overwhelmed by the day to day, lack of conviction, lack of confidence, doing business by routine, or lack of clarity by senior leadership. I am sure there are many other reasons that we could add to this list. When the driver is fuzzy, everything is fuzzy.

Senior leaders must get clarity on the organizations driver and make that the most important thing there is in the organization. I would say that this and leadership development are the most important jobs of senior leaders. Why does your organization exist? What is it trying to accomplish? Why does this matter?

The driver will affect how money is spent, who is hired or recruited, what fill up the calendar, what gets emphasized and what doesn’t. The driver will literally shape the organization.

Does your organization have clarity on what is its driver?