Internal Assessment for Organizational Success
By Dawn Robson
As you move forward with your strategies and objectives for the New Year, it is good to look at your current practices and ensure that they are supporting and not hindering your efforts.
A collaborative team approach is often the best way to assess current capabilities and a few of the things that you can review, as a team, include:
- What are the blockages in your organizational processes? Is there something that is holding things up that is a common frustration for your staff? Is there a technological solution that could be utilized to address this challenge? Could you modify a process to make things more efficient?
- Do your employees understand how their role fits into the bigger picture? While it is easy to “task” your staff, the most effective results will be achieved when the context for the work is understood — along with how all of the pieces fit together, the impact of their work on others and the impact of poor performance.
- Ensure that your vision and mission is properly reflected in all areas of your organization. This requires a commitment to communication and understanding at all levels. Ensure that both the strategic and operational plans are available and understood by your employees.
- Do your employees clearly understand their responsibilities and accountabilities? If you are able to have the conversations that reinforce both successes and opportunities, your team will better understand the direction that they should be working.
- Do your employees feel empowered and accountable for their area of responsibility? Do they understand which decisions they can make and which issues should be addressed by someone else? Are they able to “push the boundaries” to be and do more?
- Is there an opportunity for staff to offer suggestions on your business? Are these suggestions recognized and acted upon? Your staff, especially those that deal first-hand with customers, may have some valuable ideas on how to improve the customer experience. Employees in operational roles may have ideas of how things can work more efficiently or cost effectively. If you create an environment where leadership is receptive to input and willing to explore suggestions, you could get some interesting ideas.
- With organizational change, you may also want to look at your leadership team’s span of control. The span of control refers to the number of direct reports and/or the diversity in accountabilities. If you want to encourage engagement of your staff and support from your leadership team, remember try to keep the span of control to something that is manageable and allows for feedback.
We do recommend that organizations conduct an internal assessment on a regular basis. Adapting to growth, technology and changing customer demands requires consistent monitoring of your business practices and a willingness to try new things.
We wish you lots of success and are here to support your efforts if you need it!
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