Organizational capability CDL Motor Freight PeopleNology

An aligned organization has its processes, technology, reporting structures and individual objectives all aligned with one another.

Organizational capability

As well as alignment, an organization needs its people to be able to complete work given to them.

Leadership

Leadership is a subject which includes a great deal about changing people's minds, often in fundamental ways.

Followership

The nature of leadership can perhaps be best understood by turning the coin over and studying followership.

The Leader-Follower loop

Leaders who want to create true followers do not just stand at the front of the army, yell 'charge' and then run forward.

Followers respond

Followers are seldom blind. They are human.

Gossip

If the leader does something that concerns them, then they will voice these concerns to one another long before letting the leader know.

Pack response

There may well be some level of pack response from followers.

Leaders adjust

If leaders do not do anything about the situation, then followers, who are volunteers, remember, will abandon in droves.

Noticing

At some point in the proceedings, the leader notices that followers are not as inclined to follow as they once were.

Diagnosing

When the shift in follower behavior is noticed, the next step is to figure out why, and particularly to know whether and how to connect this to the leader's own words or actions, or at least to external events that have shifted the playing field.

Adjusting

When you know where it is going and why it happened, then you can do something about it.

The dance continues

And so the band plays on. It is a closed system, with followers responding to leaders, who themselves adjust in response to this. Leadership and followership is thus an ongoing dance.

Structural Analysis

There are many structures within an organization which influence people's behavior. 'Function follows form' is a relevant saying.

Organizational structure

The hierarchical organization with its 'scalar chain of command' is at the heart of most organizations.

Process structure

People work within processes, which may stretch across functions or be contained within them.

Motivational structure

There are deliberate structures in the organization that seek to motivate people. Typically, this is based on financial reward.

Social structure

Overlaid across the organization is another invisible structure which is made up of the many and complex social relationships across the company.

Physical structure

The physical structure of the organization can have a very significant effect on the social structuring.

Causal Analysis

An excellent question when analyzing around change is 'why?' Causal Analysis seeks to identify and understand the reasons why things are as they are and hence enabling focus of change activity.

Root causes

The basic principle of causal analysis is to find causes that you can treat rather than treating symptoms (which, as all doctors know, seldom effects a lasting cure).

Ask why five times

The trick with seeking root causes is to keep looking. When you ask 'why' of

Category Posted: General