Office of the Flywheel

When I was a kid I needed to learn how to swim. But I wanted nothing to do with swim lessons. They finally duped me into being the "teacher's helper". And soon enough, I learned how to swim.

I've always been slightly embarrassed about this swim lesson story. But lately I've been thinking a lot about project execution and alignment to the corporate strategy. It occurred to me that throughout my life there have been many times similar to the swim lesson event, although not always as contrived. Nonetheless, for me to participate at all I needed to be tightly integrated into the leadership of whatever it was.

This isn't to say that I have to be the one in control - just involved. In fact, I've noticed that for me to get really excited about a project, I need to have a team of great people around me. I know that I don't know everything. And I might be a good point for some projects, and not for others - but I'm happy either way as long as my contributions are focused on the success of the overall project.

In large organizations it is easy for all of the strategy to be trapped at the top of a vertical org chart. And you could argue that because of their background, experience, education, and so on, their purpose is to be the strategic component of an organization. You could also argue that because of their level of responsibility, they are too busy to spend much time down in the trenches.

I believe there are ways to overcome these things. In fact, Jim Collins in his research for "Good to Great" found that the majority of GTG companies had CEOs that came from within the company, and the comparison companies far more often had CEOs that came in from the outside. The immediate correlation is that if you have swept the shop floor, driven the fork lift, done the grunt work, and worked your way up, THEN you understand how the business works. You have a deep understanding that someone coming in from the outside can't have.

At least, they can't have it without going through a discovery process. Having worked in many different companies, industries, and departments; and having developed applications that have modules serving many departmental workflows simultaneously; I've learned the skill of learning how things work through a discovery process.

The first thing you need to do is make time. The second thing you need to do is take notes, make lists, draw flow charts, and whatever it takes to capture and document the way things work. And finally, you need to amalgamate all of this into a cohesive document as if you are going to present it - even if it is just for yourself.

This effort gives you deep understanding. It gives you working relationships. It identifies opportunities for improvement, competitive advantages, and connects the dots. Without all of this it is difficult, if not impossible to have a clear understanding of the right strategic direction. But this effort can result in a perspective similar to that of a leader that spent years rising up within the organization.

Now consider the working relationships piece of that. When you've spent time with the people doing the work, they get to know you, are able to contribute to your approach, and feel like they are involved in the process.

In a large organization this almost becomes more important. Cultivating this understanding throughout your leadership is critical. And more than just reaching down within their own departments, it is essential to do cross-departmental discovery. Follow the process from beginning to end, point of sale to fulfillment, infrastructure development to client support.

The depth and breath of your leadership's understanding, the better your ability to make good strategic decisions will be. AND the organization will benefit from the foundation of the working relationships. Leaders will understand who does what, and the people on the teams will be more aligned to the strategic direction.

Conversely, when strategy is all at the top gaining alignment down the ranks is difficult if not impossible. If leadership doesn't understand the organization, people don't know how to align. If people don't have rapport with the leaders, they aren't motivated to align.

Finally, if people are motivated to align to your strategy, they will be more productive. On one hand, you eliminate most of the "out of alignment" work that would have been done with "in alignment" work. You also boost the overall enthusiasm the workforce has for achieving the goals of the strategic direction. When people are focused on the right things, and passionate about doing these things, it becomes a great recipe for productivity.

Obviously there are many other components to creating a high performing organization. But if you don't take the time to get the deep understanding and build rapport then you won't foster alignment or motivation, and subsequently high productivity.