Transforming organisations

Motivation without money

Richard’s comment inspires today’s blog. Two issues. I’ll take low budget organisations first. Low budget can mean that the business model itself is shaky, maybe it’s too labour intensive or maybe it’s materials intensive with margins falling or maybe there’s too much cost in overheads. Maybe lots of other things are wrong but the bottom line is that it’s low budget.

On the other hand, an organisation can be in the private, public or ‘not for profit’ sector and whilst all these have to perform in one variation of ‘a competitive market place’ or other, they face different pressures. ‘Not for profits’ can be under financial strains for a variety of reasons and here it is common to find leaders that are strongly motivated by faith, beliefs or values. That’s why they work there. These kind of leaders need to attract like minded people to work with them. Like minded people will put up with the financial constraints because they believe in what the organisation stands for.

Essentially all organisations need people that are congruent; people that have clear personal goals and values. Secondly they need people that are in alignment with the Bulls’ Eye. This is particularly important in the boardroom, because if you get it right here you can cascade this culture down through the organisation. Get it wrong and in the knowledge economy, you will be found out, sooner rather than later.

So how do find out about people’s motivation? It’s easy. You start by appraising the CEO, usually with other members of the Board. This invariably needs outside facilitation. The outsider asks the questions that no one else is brave enough to ask. At the end of this appraisal the CEO will have a couple of development points or maybe three, that are LINKED TO THE BULL’S EYE.

Remember that the Bull’s eye is a measurable statement of excellence for the organisation that has been signed off by the Board. The CEO ‘s development points are his / her personal commitment to excellence. You can only create an organisation that aspires to excellence if everyone else does the same at a personal level! After you appraise the CEO, you repeat the process with each Board member and they too have development points that are linked to the Bull’s Eye.

Ascertaining development points involves sharing tacit knowledge. When you share tacit knowledge through a process of transparency it ALWAYS leads to business reward. (This is the TK Factor ® business development process)
But there is a health warning that goes with this model. The process of sharing tacit knowledge will lead to either an increased intimacy between the participants OR it will lead to a parting of the ways.

So when you look round the boardroom table, yes you need a bull’s eye. Yes you need personal commitment and yes you may need to shake up the team. I hope that this helps Richard.

posted by Tim @ 3:20 AM