At the Becker's Hospital Review Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 9, Patrick Lencioni, president of The Table Group and author of multiple management books, including "The Advantage" and "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," discussed the behaviors of healthy and successful organizations.
Mr. Lencioni began the discussion by noting that any successful organization must be smart and healthy. Usually, the "smart" side of the equation takes up 98 percent of leaders' attention, not devoting as much energy to maintaining the organization's health, which includes minimal politics and confusion, high degrees of morale, high productivity and low turnover.
"Most CEOs say they would give a left leg to have healthier organizations, but it's hard to measure," said Mr. Lencioni. It's more emotional and behavioral, and many leaders find it safer and more objective to improve the "smart" side of things.
Unfortunately, it's the often-ignored health aspects of an organization that determine its success. "I have yet to go into an organization and say, 'This could be a great organization, if only those executives weren't so dumb.' Every one is smart enough to be successful, but they're not healthy enough to tap into that knowledge," said Mr. Lencioni.
Here are four things Mr. Lencioni said healthy organizations do:
1. They build and maintain cohesive leadership teams.
2. They create clarity by answering six simple questions (which are listed below).
3. They over-communicate. People have to hear things seven times before they believe it. Most leaders don't like to over-communicate because they think it's redundant and inefficient.
4. They reinforce the answers to those six questions, and thus, reinforce clarity.
For the second action, here are the six questions Mr. Lencioni said help organizations create clarity:
1. Why do we exist? What's the reason we started this organization?
2. How do we behave? What are our core values? What are two or three things that make the company values real?
3. What do we actually do?
4. How will we succeed? (This strategy should come down to three core values, no matter what the industry or company.)
5. What is most important right now? What's the big thing the company is rallied around in the near-term?
6. Who does what? What are the roles in this team?
Finally, Mr. Lencioni discussed the five behaviors organizations must master to be healthy and successful. These behaviors build on one another, with each one acting as a foundation that upholds the following.
1. Create trust that is based on vulnerability. For an organization to do this, leaders must master this behavior first. "Acknowledge when you don't know something or when you need help," said Mr. Lencioni. If there's one person who cannot be vulnerable, it will destroy trust on the entire team.
2. Mine conflicts. In successful organizations, people weigh in with ideas without fear of conflict. They understand that conflict is healthy, and know how to properly debate and argue. "Most CEOs don't like conflict," said Mr. Lencioni, and the biggest reason why is usually that they don't like to see people get their feelings hurt. Ironically, it is when conflict is avoided that feelings are most prone to injury. "When you don't have conflicts about ideas, it ferments into personal issues," said Mr. Lencioni.
3. Let people weigh in to create buy-in. If people don't weigh in on a decision, they won't buy in, but this value doesn't mean leaders must always look for consensus. "If you wait until consensus to make a decision, decisions will be too slow and mutually disagreeable to everyone," said Mr. Lencioni. "Make sure everyone argues about an idea and says everything that needs to be said, and then leaders break the tie." If people commit to strategies without weighing in with their opinions, they will end up making a passive commitment. They will not understand how a decision was reached or if their concerns were heard.
4. Hold people accountable. Mr. Lencioni said the biggest problem he finds in organizations is an inability to hold people accountable. The reason why, he says, "is if they don't think their colleagues are committed to a decision, why would they turn and ask, 'Why aren't you doing your job?'" Mr. Lencioni said the greatest form of accountability is peer pressure. The best teams call each other out. The only way to develop this is if leaders are willing to confront difficult situations him/herself. "The more you're willing to hold people accountable, the less you have to," said Mr. Lencioni. Behavioral accountability always proceeds quantifiable kind, even though it is more emotional and messy.
5. Focus on collective outcomes. If leaders don't hold their teams accountable, the team will lose their focus on the collective outcomes and goals of the organization. Instead, they will be too fixated on their own problems and the dysfunctions within the team.
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Mr. Lencioni began the discussion by noting that any successful organization must be smart and healthy. Usually, the "smart" side of the equation takes up 98 percent of leaders' attention, not devoting as much energy to maintaining the organization's health, which includes minimal politics and confusion, high degrees of morale, high productivity and low turnover.
"Most CEOs say they would give a left leg to have healthier organizations, but it's hard to measure," said Mr. Lencioni. It's more emotional and behavioral, and many leaders find it safer and more objective to improve the "smart" side of things.
Unfortunately, it's the often-ignored health aspects of an organization that determine its success. "I have yet to go into an organization and say, 'This could be a great organization, if only those executives weren't so dumb.' Every one is smart enough to be successful, but they're not healthy enough to tap into that knowledge," said Mr. Lencioni.
Here are four things Mr. Lencioni said healthy organizations do:
1. They build and maintain cohesive leadership teams.
2. They create clarity by answering six simple questions (which are listed below).
3. They over-communicate. People have to hear things seven times before they believe it. Most leaders don't like to over-communicate because they think it's redundant and inefficient.
4. They reinforce the answers to those six questions, and thus, reinforce clarity.
For the second action, here are the six questions Mr. Lencioni said help organizations create clarity:
1. Why do we exist? What's the reason we started this organization?
2. How do we behave? What are our core values? What are two or three things that make the company values real?
3. What do we actually do?
4. How will we succeed? (This strategy should come down to three core values, no matter what the industry or company.)
5. What is most important right now? What's the big thing the company is rallied around in the near-term?
6. Who does what? What are the roles in this team?
Finally, Mr. Lencioni discussed the five behaviors organizations must master to be healthy and successful. These behaviors build on one another, with each one acting as a foundation that upholds the following.
1. Create trust that is based on vulnerability. For an organization to do this, leaders must master this behavior first. "Acknowledge when you don't know something or when you need help," said Mr. Lencioni. If there's one person who cannot be vulnerable, it will destroy trust on the entire team.
2. Mine conflicts. In successful organizations, people weigh in with ideas without fear of conflict. They understand that conflict is healthy, and know how to properly debate and argue. "Most CEOs don't like conflict," said Mr. Lencioni, and the biggest reason why is usually that they don't like to see people get their feelings hurt. Ironically, it is when conflict is avoided that feelings are most prone to injury. "When you don't have conflicts about ideas, it ferments into personal issues," said Mr. Lencioni.
3. Let people weigh in to create buy-in. If people don't weigh in on a decision, they won't buy in, but this value doesn't mean leaders must always look for consensus. "If you wait until consensus to make a decision, decisions will be too slow and mutually disagreeable to everyone," said Mr. Lencioni. "Make sure everyone argues about an idea and says everything that needs to be said, and then leaders break the tie." If people commit to strategies without weighing in with their opinions, they will end up making a passive commitment. They will not understand how a decision was reached or if their concerns were heard.
4. Hold people accountable. Mr. Lencioni said the biggest problem he finds in organizations is an inability to hold people accountable. The reason why, he says, "is if they don't think their colleagues are committed to a decision, why would they turn and ask, 'Why aren't you doing your job?'" Mr. Lencioni said the greatest form of accountability is peer pressure. The best teams call each other out. The only way to develop this is if leaders are willing to confront difficult situations him/herself. "The more you're willing to hold people accountable, the less you have to," said Mr. Lencioni. Behavioral accountability always proceeds quantifiable kind, even though it is more emotional and messy.
5. Focus on collective outcomes. If leaders don't hold their teams accountable, the team will lose their focus on the collective outcomes and goals of the organization. Instead, they will be too fixated on their own problems and the dysfunctions within the team.
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