(The following questions and thoughts are inspired by Seth Godin)
Three Sides of a Successful Organisation
The three sides of successful organisations form a triangle; Strategy, Skills, and Service (of others). A shape that is a fundamental building block with incredible strength when all sides have equal quality.
Strategy
When exploring Strategy these are essential questions to ask ourselves:
Do we understand the strategy and why we do what we do?
Do we understand the layout of the world?
Do we understand technology, the economy and the revolution we are living in?
Skills
When deciding the Skills required then these are principal questions to ask ourselves:
Are we any good at executing the strategy?
Are we good at what we do?
Have we refined our skills?
Are our skills relevant to the environment?
When we share an idea with the intention of getting others to decide, then do we do it with authority?
When we write is it of value to our followers?
Service (to others)
If we have a clear Strategy and a relevant Skill Set high enough to implement it, then the third part of the triangle is Service (to others). “Service to others” is a different and higher level mind-set to just standard customer service and net promoter scores.
Do we care enough to fail?
Do we care enough about what we are doing and how it serves others, that we are prepared to expend emotional labour (which is different from physical labour) to actually make change happen?
Three Challenges
These are three distinct sides and they each have their own challenges…
Unclear on the Strategy
As I have written elsewhere, if we are unclear of the strategy and don’t know why we do what we do, then growth and enthusiasm is a real struggle.
When Service (of others) is missing:
Leaders of an organisation may incorrectly assume their people don’t understand the strategy, but they understand the strategy perfectly well, but they simply don’t care.
When skill levels are low:
Another person may understand the strategy, care massively about the service of others, but is a bumbling fool and can’t articulate a story that resonates with their potential clients.
Three Outputs
These are three desired outputs by aligning all the three sides:
Spontaneity
As we all know, the marketplace is evolving constantly. So doing what we’ve always done creates problems even quicker than ever before. If we care enough to fail then we’ll be willing to explore and try new things more easily.
Superior
Understanding why we do what we do, caring enough about those we are serving and having the skills to execute is a rare and sign of excellence within our field.
Sought-after
If an organisation is superior in its field and able to spontaneously react, then that creates an inspiring idea that spreads and inevitably generates a desire to know more about our organisations.
Matthew Broomhead
“Raising the level of Business Skills in Britain”
Creator of Broomhead Business Channel