Key Organization
I hold before you my hand with each finger standing erect and alone, and as long as they are held thus, not one of the tasks that the hand may perform can be accomplished. I cannot lift. I cannot grasp. I cannot hold. I cannot even make an intelligible sign until my fingers organize and work together. In this we should also learn a lesson. – George Washington Carver.
While with one of my prior employers, I learned of a very straight forward template to organize most any group of people for success. This applies to teams and projects, as well as to departments or divisions. The essence of this is based on the simplicity of understanding cause and effect, and controlling the causes to drive the desired effects.
There are four building blocks to the model. Each of which should be followed at a high level to understand the bigger picture and in doing so define the parameters to work within. Once this has been performed at a high level, an additional level of detail should be produced to provide additional specificity to each of the four building blocks of the template.
Outcomes. The common phrase “begin with the end in mind” is directly applicable to the first step in this model. By knowing what you are trying to achieve in very specific terms it is possible to focus all the energy of the group on these specific outcomes. There may also be more than one outcome which you are trying to achieve. An example may be “implement a transformative clinical model across the organization” and “provide leading edge tools to the workforce in order to maximize efficiency and increase patient efficacy.”
Process. Once you have defined your outcomes, the next step is to determine what processes are required to achieve these outcomes. This serves two purposes, the first of which is to be explicit about how you are going to achieve these goals, the other purpose is to eliminate all other activity which does not drive these outcomes. An example would be “training of clinical staff”, “design evidence based protocols”, “thoroughly understand the clinical environment”, and “customize development methodology, and environment”.
Structure. Once the outcomes and process are defined, you will determine the structure best suited to execute the defined processes. Unfortunately, in too many situations people start here and end up losing track of the process and outcomes part of the equation. In the case of a organizing a team, the principles defined in “The Art of Building a Team” apply. This is typically thought of as the typical organization chart, but certainly does not have to be thought of in these terms. Concepts such of span of control apply in large groups, but less so than it used to. Today technology has empowered organizations to share information to the broad audience efficiently and effectively reducing the need for consolidation, summarization, and filtering which hierarchical relationships thrive on.
Staff. In the end, it all comes back to people. How are you going to staff the structure you have defined? In “The Art of Building a Team” I discuss this in some detail. It is perhaps the most important of the four building defined. It is rare that you get all the people you want or when you want them. Irrespective of this, the people staffing the organization you define will make or break you. By knowing what the outcomes you are looking to achieve, the processes to achieve them, and building an structure to support the processes, it will greatly increase your chances of placing the right people into the organization.
That is it. Four simple steps to completely focus your organization on driving to specific outcomes. By following it you may find it surprisingly effective at how much can be achieved by the right few.
