Organizational health – a resolution for the new year
Wednesday, January 3, 2024 - Joe Kiedinger
Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you’ve already sat down and wrote out your New Year’s resolutions – maybe, you’re already getting started on them. So often, we focus our resolutions on improving our personal health, whether that’s physical, mental, or financial.
Let me offer you another dimension of health to think about – organizational health. Organizational health is defined as the ability to function effectively, cope adequately, change appropriately, and grow from within. As business owners and leaders, our teams depend on us to create a fulfilling environment conducive to success. Going into the new year, I want to challenge you to make this a priority.
Start now. Yes, right now! Take a few minutes to think about some things that you can start doing to improve the health of your team or organization in 2024. Ask yourself – what can you do this year that you weren’t doing last year?
It doesn’t have to be anything super complex. In fact, I recommend that you start with the basic fundamentals. When you take any action to enable your team and your organization to function more healthily, you will see tangible improvements in performance and engagement. Think about the following questions:
- Do you have an established 1-on-1 cadence?
One of the best things you can do to bolster organizational health is to set up a regular cadence of 1-on-1 meetings with your team members. By checking in with your employees individually, you get the opportunity to build and maintain a meaningful connection with them and get a better understanding of their needs on a regular basis.
Just “walking the floor” and having quick, casual conversations isn’t enough. It may have worked for Alexander the Great, but we’re not leading thousands into battle here. Unlike him, we have the time and the opportunity to go the extra mile – so let’s take it. The results will speak for themselves.
- Are you (truly) seeking out feedback?
From an employee’s perspective, providing candid feedback to their leader can be difficult. If they aren’t enabled to do so, they will naturally hesitate. They’ll ask themselves questions like, “What if they take it wrong? Is it too risky to say this? Am I being disrespectful?” This creates a destructive loop where your team might be dissatisfied with you but too scared to say why, and you’re left in the dark as to why you can’t seem to get through to them.
It’s your job to stop that loop before it ever begins by offering your teammates a safe environment to communicate their “last 10%” to you, at no consequence to them. The “last 10%” are the questions and thoughts that are often hard to say and challenging to receive. Let them know that they’re safe to speak candidly and take what they say for what it is – useful information. In doing so, you will set yourself and your team up for sustained success.
- Are you fostering a positive environment?
It sounds simple, maybe even cliché, but the power of positivity truly can’t be understated. It goes a long way towards creating a healthier organization. And the wonderful thing about it is – it’s so easy to implement. Here’s what I like to do – just start your meetings with a “Good News Check-In.”
You just go around the table and have every participant share something that’s going well in their personal lives and in their work. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference this makes not just to your meetings, but to overall employee satisfaction and performance.
In my next WOW, I’m going to dive deeper into the Good News Check-In and the stats that prove the difference positivity can have on people and teams. In the meantime, get after those organizational health resolutions. What will you do to make a difference for your team in 2024?
JOE KIEDINGER
ACTION PLAN: Set some organizational health resolutions for 2024 and create a plan to stick to them.