Organizational Inertia

"All organizations need a discipline that faces up to reality" Peter F. Drucker
"Three simple rules are more than enough for the simple soldier" the Duke of Wellington, I think

Action: "Make sure your organization (whether for-or-notfor-profit) has rigorous tests and yardsticks to measure performance" Peter F. Drucker

G.K.Chesterton in his thoroughly unreadable book "Orthodoxy" makes the cogent argument for a set of rules that is inviolable at the core of any organization. It is startling to realize how many organizations over time drift into "modernty" but suffer decay because of it. If you have seen this happen in your organization, and you "love" your organization, then you need to destroy what it has become. Destroy what you love? Yes, destroy the monster it has turned into. "Burn it down" and get back to the core. There seem to be two avenues for this: Re-invent, re-vitalize, and the depth of surgery will depend upon the state of the industry and its "technologies". Can you be Orthodox?

Well, this depends on whether you actually remember what that is, and whether you can measure how far from the core you have drifted. That's where the need Prof. Drucker calls for comes in, and therefore what must be measured rigorously. How do you measure the core of what you deliver? I would say here, that many organizations that I know have lost their ability to measure the core of their reason d'etre.

Example 1: The leadership at Hewlett Packard (Mark Hurd) has, effectively built two systems that model and measure what they think is important. The Financial Model (under the CFO) and the Operational Model (under the COO). Cash flow and Inventory flow, if you boil it down to its simplest components. Timing of cash and timing of inventory throughout the value chain. Eliahu Goldblatt wrote a wonderful, and in my view definitive book: "The Goal" many years ago in the '80's which has influenced many a practical manager. It's all about measuring flow (cash, inventory, capital) and destroying the bottlenecks that slow "Herbie" down (truly a must read if you have not yet had the pleasure.

So, this is probably fine if your organization is doing what is, generally supposed to, but what if you have "drifted", or the competitive landscape has changed significantly (as it has for HP). Is there something else you should be measuring. I think there is, and it has to do with the core mission of your business. Are you currently in a business whose mission is not clear, 8 pages long, or varies in different parts of the world? Your task is to come back to the core, measure your performance against your mission and then decide what must be amputated, destroyed to save it. A drifting business is a "drowning" business.

Example 2: A wonderful friend of mine is just starting his chiropractic business this month. The articulation of the essence of his business/practice still eludes him. I have tried to ask him to think it through utilizing KISS principles. It will come, and it is critical that it does, because especially in the start-up phase there will be many "sirens" calling from rocky shores: "drift this way... drift this way". He is all about "respect" for the body, and wants to provide services to help his patients respect their bodies. What would be a one line "core mission", which is measurable. So, he can take Dr. Drucker's advice and measures the right things.

So it looks like a combination of rigorous "flow" measures, and an orthodox and unrelenting view of who you are today versus who you wanted to be originally? Will you have the conviction to destroy parts of what you love?

Other reading: "Rebuilding The Corporate Genome"- Johan Aurick, Gilles Jonk and Robert Willen . This pre-outsourcing book is a fantastic early treatise on how to dismantle your organization to make it healthier in its value chain.