In my introductory post, 12 Vital signs of Organizational Health, I listed the 12 signs. Here is sign #1.
A healthy organization is constantly adapting and innovating.
It does not take a genius to figure this out: any organization doing everything the same way it always has; in fact, any organization only doing what it has always done; may be in pretty deep trouble. The need of the hour is constant adaptation, constant innovation.
This point comes from Gary Hamel’s excellent book, What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation. His sub-title pretty much says it all. For the world we live in is one of change, competition, innovation – and all landing all round us at increasing speed. It is all we can do to just keep up, much less stay ahead. And, yet, staying ahead is the challenge, isn’t it?
Mr. Hamel identified five things that matter now:
1) Values matter now
2) Innovation matters now
3) Adaptability matters now
4) Passion matters now
5) Ideology matters now
And here’s part of what he wrote in this book about adaptability and innovation.
Adaptability: Problem is, deep change is almost always crisis-driven; it’s tardy, traumatic and expensive. In most organizations, there are too many things that perpetuate the past and too few that encourage proactive change. The “party of the past” is usually more powerful than the “party of the future.” In a world where industry leaders can become laggards overnight, the only way to sustain success is to reinvent it.
Innovation: successful products and strategies are quickly copied. Without relentless innovation, success is fleeting. …there’s not one company in a hundred that has made innovation everyone’s job, every day. In most organizations, innovation still happens “despite the system” rather than because of it. …innovation is the only sustainable strategy for creating long-term value.
So, here is step #1 for your leadership team. Take a good look at the competition you face. How have they moved, how are they moving “ahead” of you. And, try to anticipate who will leap even further ahead, pretty soon. You do know that will happen, don’t you?
And once you begin to identify the way that others might leap ahead of you –
…in products offered
…in level of service
…in systems and organizational effectiveness…
then start your own, new, serious, adaptation and innovation initiative. Make it ongoing, permanent, and then make even this process one that you constantly tweak, adapt, change. Make constant adaptability and innovation part of your very DNA. You have no other choice.
This vital sign is so very revealing.
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I presented my synopsis of the Gary Hamel book, What Matters Now, last year at the First Friday book synopsis. You can purchase my synopsis – with my comprehensive handout and the audio of my presentation – at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.
First Friday Book Synopsis 