A lesson learned from my grade school basketball coach.
I recently met with my grade school basketball coach (my guess is that it’s been about 40 years since I last saw him). The meeting was a great experience. I often question the value of Facebook, but it did facilitate this re-connection. As we reminisced about those glory days, he stated that the most significant wisdom that he drew from that experience was “cause and effect”. If we ran the plays well, we usually scored. If we were sloppy, it usually resulted in a turn over. He indicated that he’s now able to see that same “cause and effect” principle at play in his professional life.
I’ve thought a lot about that conversation and have started to make the “cause and effect” connection when talking with business owners and leaders. They express their frustration about their team’s poor performance, lack of growth or unhappy customers, yet they put little effort into overseeing their organization’s operations. Those leaders that invest in documentation, oversight, and strategic planning, typically have positive and predictable results.
This time of year, I really encourage business owners and leaders to take a step back and take an inventory of their organizations, set goals, and prioritize what needs improvement to reach those goals. At Aligned Operations, we call this an Organizational Alignment. Cause: Align your organization, Effect: a culture of clarity, confidence, and trust.
I think Elliot’s quote below speaks well to cause and effect:
“The most far reaching, dramatic and rapid changes in behavior of individuals in an organization can be achieved by changes in the organization – both in structure and in managerial leadership practices.”
-Elliot Jacques