Why some organizations fair better than others when the inevitable occurs.
It was an electrifying performance. The Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and award-winning master pianist, Kenny Broberg were crushing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 when midway through the second movement, Mr. Broberg began glancing at the strings of the Steinway grand piano. He reached across the rail and fiddled with them a bit before standing during one of the orchestral segments to lift an errant, broken string and bend it upward away from the soundboard after which he sat down and completed the movement as if nothing had happened.
The entire event only lasted a few minutes. The conductor wasn’t aware that anything was amiss until the end of the movement when the concertmaster motioned to her to have a look. Mr. Broberg showed her to the bent string and tested a few keys near the break after which the two exchanged high fives and prepared to begin the final movement.
So, what does this have to do with organizational health, you ask?
No Crystal Ball Required
As Jim Collins famously observed, “the likelihood of any particular event occurring might be less than 1% but the probability that some event will happen is close to 100%.”
Of all the things that could have gone wrong during the symphony performance, a broken piano string was probably not high on anyone’s list. In fact, a quick Google search indicates that most strings don’t need replacing for 30 years. Why this one broke is anyone’s guess, but it demonstrates the truth of Jim Collins’ quote.
Healthy organizations are properly prepared to minimize the impacts of the 100%. Preparing for an inevitable unknown might sound tricky, but it isn’t, and you don’t need a crystal ball to do it. Organizational health is like physical health. If you’re investing no time to work out and eat healthier today and tomorrow, you start parking further from the door and adding a piece of fruit to your diet, you will start to see results.
In organizational health terms, it means investing a little time every day or maybe just every week to ask yourself and your team, “what is going well and what is more challenging than it needs to be?” and then, analyzing your answers by looking for alignment or misalignment with the following:
- A strong leadership team that embraces a shared vision.
- A structure to support achieving the shared purpose.
- Clarity of roles and responsibilities.
- Actions and operations that are consistent with core values.
- Shared empowerment and accountability at every level.
- Safe space for innovation, growth, and change, including failure.
- Habitual celebration.
Just Start
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King
Over the next few months, I’ll dive into each of these questions and topics further to provide a roadmap for organizational health. I will keep it short and sweet with actionable take-aways, relevant stories from my amazing clients, and frequent references to my other favorite topics – personal health and basketball, always!
For now, just consider the parallels between your organization and a symphony orchestra. Each symphony includes between 50 and 80 instruments (your people), structured in four sections – (strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion (your structure), and directed by one conductor with support from the concertmaster and first chairs for each section (your leadership team). Each musician clearly understands their role and is responsible for learning and performing the music as it appears on the page (your job descriptions). If one instrument is out of tune or a musician has not prepared, it becomes obvious pretty quickly (your operations). When things go wrong (strings break), people are empowered to fix the issue without leadership’s express direction (your policies and practices). When things go well and results are achieved, audiences applaud (your customers thank you).
Today, pick a place to start. It doesn’t really matter what “parking further from the door” or “adding one piece of fruit to your diet” means for your organization. Doing so will improve something about your workplace and better prepare your organization for the inevitable. Because as we all know, sometimes strings break.
Let me know how it’s going! I would love to hear from you.