Three Surprisingly Simple Steps to Gain a Competitive Advantage

That headline makes a bold claim. And guess what? It gets even better: You already have the necessary resources to create your advantage.
 
You read that right. You already have the resources: Your people.  But it’s not having people that sets you apart. It’s what your people are capable of doing that will give you an edge in the marketplace.

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Here’s the catch: You can ignite the power of your people only when your organizational health can support a transformation.

What is organizational health?

According to Patrick Lencioni, author of The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, an organization is healthy when management, operations, strategy, and culture fit together and make sense.
 
At a recent workshop I attended that was led by Mr. Lencioni, he emphasized that organizational health is not about how smart a company is. Instead, healthy organizations “minimize politics and confusion,” which “raises morale and productivity.”

Healthy organizations will tell you their cultures allow them to make better and quicker decisions.

Healthy organizations minimize politics and confusion, raising morale and productivity to levels that their competitors could never imagine.
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~ Patrick Lencioni

How can you build organizational health & your advantage?

Here are the three surprisingly simple steps you can take to achieve more through the power of your people:

1. Be aligned. Align behaviors. Align strategy. Align messages. Your leadership team needs to be on the same page and able to answer key questions in a congruent, if not identical, manner.
2. Be clear. Avoid jargon. Communicate in simple terms that everyone can understand and relate to. And yes, you will need to say the same thing over and over, until it becomes ingrained in your company’s lexicon.
3. Be consistent. With values. With decisions. With actions. Every day. Steadfastly. Period.

Simple, right? There is no rocket science here. Literally any company can do it with the right commitment and focus.
 
But simple doesn’t mean easy.
 
It can be a challenge for individual leaders with their own goals to agree. And teams often lack the trust and cohesion required to achieve breakthrough performance. This is why many fail, or don’t even start.
 
So if you want to be successful, get the right support to guide you through the inevitable minefield of conflict when the initial enthusiasm wanes.

​Some companies create an internal team for this, others rely on HR, and others hire outside firms or coaches with expertise in organization development. Whomever you choose, make sure they are prepared to be completely honest with you, they have the skills to help you across disciplines, and they are able to effectively work with all the key players in the process.       
 
What steps has your company taken to build greater organizational health? What was the result? What do you recommend to others? I’d love to hear what worked for you!