Organizational Health - Have a Plan - or - "How to avoid the rabbit hole"

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

This quote is often attributed to Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. While it actually paraphrases longer dialog between Alice and the Cheshire Cat, the message remains clear. Without a plan, you're likely to end up just about anywhere.

Consider two organizations. Both operate at the highest level in their industry. They are direct competitors, each with an extremely loyal customer base. But the similarities end there.

Organization 1 - This organization has been owned by the same family since the 1930s and has had only three changes in leadership since 1969. This organization is widely regarded as one of the most successful groups in its industry and typically performs well each year. It has been the top performing organization in the field six times since 1975.

Organization 2 - This organization has undergone numerous ownership changes and has changed leadership five times since 2008. The current owners have hired (and subsequently fired) nine individuals to fill their most publicly visible employee spot since 2012. This company tends to struggle, and according to a major metric, has had only one successful year since 1999.

It's not difficult to see why one organization succeeds while the other struggles. The first group clearly has a well-defined organizational strategy, with support from ownership through the front line employees.

The second group obviously lacks any cohesive organizational plan and has little alignment between ownership, management, and the employees. With that much turnover, everyone might need to wear name tags.

Of course stability doesn't guarantee success, but chronic instability makes success very difficult, if not impossible. Imagine working for a company that institutes sweeping changes every few years, and each time the new leaders claim "This time, we're going to do it the right way." They do this while knowing that the last team was fired after only a year or two. This creates an unhealthy, toxic environment where people are focused on self-preservation rather than organizational success.

The two organizations I've described above are two teams in the National Football League.

Organization 1 - Pittsburgh Steelers
Organization 2 - Cleveland Browns

You might say - "Well, these are professional football teams, the talent of the athletes on the field is what really matters, not the health of the organization."

Sure - any team may have a short run of success driven by pure talent and a bit of good fortune, but sooner or later, luck will run out. This holds true for professional sports, major corporations, small businesses, or any local organization.

Well defined strategic goals, metrics to track performance toward those goals, and alignment throughout the organization to achieve those goals can help any organization be successful over the long term.

Take some time to evaluate the goals of your organization and establish ways to track your progress. If you've created a solid plan, be patient, trust in the process.

Otherwise you'll spend all your time falling down rabbit holes.