OD Synergy Principles...
Organizational Development
Principles for Sustainable High Performance
Do
you have, or use, say,
five or six key operating and strategic principles to facilitate
organizational development for sustainable high performance?
Focusing Your Organizational Development Effort For Sustainable Strategic Results
For
any organizational development strategy or intervention worth its name, there must
be sound and clearly specified guiding rules or principles.
The guiding rules or principles act like the compass to navigate
the course of an OD intervention project, using the right
framework, tools and technology. They are key parameters, principles or decision-rules and metrics to focus, direct and reinforce the process, outcomes and resources in organizational development for sustainable high performance in your
people and organizational systems.
Without guiding rules or operating (and strategic)
principles, the choices and decisions you make regarding the
organizational development framework, analysis, tools and technology will not be on
target. You
will have no guarantee of achieving total organization
development for sustainable high performance. You will be banking
on accidental or chance occurrences!
Six
Organizational Development Synergy Principles for Total Organization Development
Consider
the following OD synergy principles or factors for total organization
development. They form the platform for promoting ultimate high
performance of people and effective organizational systems:
- Integrity
- Commitment
- Empowerment
- Versatility
- Renewal
- Integration
These
guiding rules and principles need be explored and integrated
with your OD interventions in order to produce effective organizational
synergy for ultimate high performance. How many of them are you employing
in your organization?
The
Integrity Principle
An
organization can not remain in a high-performance state for
long if it lacks integrity.
OD
intervention or strategy should focus on, and be guided by,
the need to promote and sustain the integrity of the organization
and the people systems. The primary meaning of 'integrity'
is 'wholeness'. The integrity will include internal facets
highly valued enough to ensure harmony, stability, vitality,
and wholesomeness which have significant impact on the life
of the organization as well as on the quality of the people
and integrating systems.
The
Japanese have an interesting phrase which underpins systems
synergy in general. The phrase is significant to the integrity
principle. The phrase is used of a horse in harmony with its
rider. Success, or if you like, ultimate success comes when
'the horse and the rider' are in harmony. In the same vein,
ultimate organization development results from the wholesomeness
in facets of the people and the integrating systems of your
organization.
What
forms the essence of the organizational life and systems?
What will harmony between the people and the people systems
translate to on measures of integrity and how will this be
promoted? How will 'wholeness' manifest on measures of team,
culture, people and systems performance in your organization?
These, and such other issues, are important when deciding
on OD strategy, framework, tools or technology.
The
Integrity Principle is the overarching principle for effective
organizational synergy and high organizational performance. It
is the supreme principle that defines the character of the
other guiding principles. It also determines the worth of
your OD intervention.
One
major effect of the negation of the integrity principle
is ineffective corporate governance and pervasive, viral corporate
frauds! Read, the brief
on the white paper 'Taming Corporate Frauds From the Root'.
The
Commitment Principle
Your
people will give their best when they are committed to a cause.
The corollary is also important. Your people systems will
give their best if you commit the necessary resources.
Too
often OD interventions are embarked upon without a thorough
assessment, or with an underestimation, of the commitments
required in people and resources for ultimate success. Planning
resources, developing a focused communication strategy, introducing
commitment roundtables, and profiling OD champions are central
to employing the Commitment Principle. How you do these and
what you demonstrate to people in the process of doing them
are equally important.
It
is important to develop commitment to the overarching Integrity
Principle at the onset.
What
is the level of your people's commitment and what will you
be doing to get the right level of commitment to the Integrity
Principle? How
will the organizational systems, or their facets, be committed
to promote synergy for high performance? How will you rally
your people behind a change effort for ultimate high performance?
How will the OD intervention foster your people's commitment?
There
must be an agreement on the process, program and strategies
which will facilitate ownership of the OD intervention by
your people.
The
OD Synergy Note, 'The Commitment Factor' gives
further insight regarding this principle. Click, OD
Synergy Digest and Notes on Total Organization Development.
The
Empowerment Principle
The
OD Intervention must empower the people and the people systems
so that they operate in tandem and seamlessly for high performance.
It must build up the internal capacity and stamina, promote
people's drive for achieving the business (and strategic)
results or mandate, and facilitate alignment and vitality
in and among the systems elements or facets.
The
acid test of the empowerment principle in operation is the
level of sustainability of the OD Intervention several months
after it has taken place.
There
must be an agreement on the process, program and strategies
which will facilitate empowerment of the people and the responsiveness
of the integrating systems. Time frames must be developed
on the various aspects of the empowerment process and outcomes.
The
Versatility Principle
The
Versatility Principle is consequential upon the Empowerment
Principle.
The
Versatility Principle emphasizes the importance of ensuring
adaptability, responsiveness, flexibility, innovativeness,
vitality, and spontaneity of the people and integrating systems.
This principle is critical to ensuring that the people and
integrating systems are, or remain, in top condition for achieving
the strategic mandate in the long term. Building a learning
organization and optimizing systems elements in the OD Intervention
are some of the designs employing the Versatility Principle.
The
Renewal Principle
The
heart of any OD Intervention is the renewal of the people
and integrating systems. The Renewal Principle takes off from
this premise of OD Interventions and it is linked with the
Versatility Principle. For sustainable high performance, the
people and integrating systems must be operating re-generatively
for auto-renewal. The OD framework and technology must make
this possible.
To
optimize and re-vitalize the people systems and elements,
the OD framework and technology must incorporate mechanisms
and tools for systematic, continuous review, assessment and
feedback.
The
Integration Principle
The
OD framework and technology should explicitly address issues
of integration of the elements, sub-systems or people attributes
for ultimate high performance.
For
example: How will the elements and people fit? Where in the
systems or sub systems will new features, sub elements or
people be best placed or positioned? How will functional interdependence
of the elements, clusters of elements or sub systems be optimized
for sustainable, high performance of people and the organizational
systems?
A
well thought-out adaptability and integration plan in the
course of the OD intervention is imperative. The process of
monitoring the OD outcomes requires a pilot of the integration
plan. To ensure ownership of the integration plan by the people
in, and operating, the systems an effective mechanism is
required .
Taking
Action!
The
OD Synergy Principles or organizational development principles for sustainable high performance and total organization development underpin total organizational development solutions and services.
To make
the first step towards sustainable organizational development for high performance in
your business, email OD
Synergy or
use the OD
Synergy Feedback Form to contact us.
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