Patrick M. LencioniThe Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business

The realization of the importance of organizational health is coming, and Patrick Lencioni's new book, The Advantage is leading the way. Lencioni is one of my favorite writers, his ability to weave together a story/parable that connects and then lay out principles that transform is always a winning recipe.Just one thing with The Advantage, no parable, just an incredible combination of teaching in all his books to lay not only why organizational health trumps everything else in business (and other organizations too), but even more how to build such organizational health in your organization. Yes, there are incredible stories of how these principles have worked in his organizational life as well as those he has consulted (with names changed of course to protect both the guilty and the innocent). It's a great advantage of the book -- not just a great story in theory, but great stories gathered together from actual life experiences.The opening line of chapter 1 captures the premise of the book, "The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free, and available to everyone who wants it."In pursuing such organizational health, Lencioni works through a 4 disciplines model:DISCIPLINE 1. Build a cohesive leadership team.As Patrick says, "Teamwork is not a virtue, it's a choice." He defines a leadership team as "a small group of people who are collectively responsible for achieving a common objective for their organization."Moving building from theory to practice builds on 5 behaviors: Trust, Mastering Conflict, Achieving Commitment, Embracing Accountability, and Focusing on Results.I remember these from The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, especially his charge to "step into the conflict" and how much better organizational health became as I learned to step into the conflict and leverage it towards resolution.DISCIPLINE 2. Create clarity.This is my favorite chapter of the book as the not only asks but fleshes out 6 critical questions. Why are they critical? As Patrick writes, "What is new is the realization that none of them can be addressed in isolation; they must be answered together. Failing to achieve alignment around any one of them can prevent an organization from attaining the level of clarity necessary to become healthy."What are the 6 critical questions? So glad you asked ...1) Why do we exist? Think core purpose as in Jim Collins, Built to Last2) How do we behave? Core values that are not the generic one size fits all, but the one size that fits us as in the start up company that identified "willing to sweep floors" as one of its core values. Answers to this question also addressed aspirational, accidental and permission-to-play values.3) What do we do?This should be the easiest to answer, and should be clear and straight forward.4) How will we succeed? Strategy is involved here, but Lencioni goes deeper speaking of "Strategic Anchors" (3 strategies that provide the context for all decision making).5) What is most important right now? Answering this one has the most immediate impact. What is the thematic goal? What is the rallying cry that defines the next 3-6 months of focus?6) Who must do what?Clarity for division of labor and the advantage of teams that bring multiple perspectives to accomplish the thematic goal.The challenge I have learned in leadership is to get everyone on the same page. A cohesive team that hammers out their answers to these 6 questions is on the same page, working out of the same playbook.DISCIPLINE 3. Overcommunicate clarity.When I first saw this, I thought that's a bit repetitive. Exactly. 7 times to be exact. Patrick emphasizes that this is necessary to pass on the clarity, the answers to the 6 questions, the playbook to the organization.The value I discovered in this chapter is a commitment for "the team to leave meetings with clear and specific agreements about what to communicate to their employees."DISCIPLINE 4. Reinforce clarity.Same as discipline 3, I thought this seems repetitive. Reading the chapter I realized this needs to be repeated from new hires to those who needed to be fired, from recognition, compensation and reward. Clarity, the playbook, the 6 questions, the cohesive commitment builds organizational health.After laying out the case for the 4 disciplines, Patrick moves on to the advantage of great meetings. Having applied the truths of Death by Meeting to my own leadership team meetings, they do produce greater organizational health and engagement. It's my next step with this book to hammer out our answers to the 6 questions, to build our own playbook.We have learned to focus our meetings and have found them to provide greater productivity.The greatest challenge that I picked up from the book is when Patrick writes, "the single biggest factor determining whether an organization is going to get healthier -- or not -- is the genuine commitment and active involvement of the person in charge."That's why I give The Advantage 5 out of 5 stars. It left me not only wanting to be a better leader of a great organization, but laid out practical principles for making that happen.

The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in BusinessBy Patrick LencioniPatrick Lencioni is a proven master of the business fable--a short story that provides a lesson that can be applied to the business world. His numerous bestsellers, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," "Death by Meeting," and "Silos, Politics and Turf Wars," among others, each focus on providing the reader with a lesson on a particular business topic.In his latest book, "The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business," Lencioni pulls together the many separate themes of his previous works and weaves them into a comprehensive business theory. And despite his expertise as a storyteller, in this book he chooses not to use the business fable.Perhaps the fable format is not extensive enough to meet his needs. Whatever the reason, the insight and strength of this book prove that he made the right choice. The result is first-rate writing that supports discerning insights about the essentials factors for business success.The opening line in the first chapter captures the premise of the book, "The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free, and available to everyone who wants it."Organizational health is readily accessible, the author argues, but most organizations choose to be smart rather than healthy. Smart may include a great marketing plan and cutting edge technology. It focuses on "tweaking the dials," in these and other areas, rather than on overall health of the organization. Studying spreadsheets and financial statements is relatively safe, Lencioni suggests, unlike the messier, unpredictable ways of establishing the health of the organization.The healthy organization is the victim of three strong biases: The Sophistication Bias (organizations often ignore that which is simple and straightforward); The Adrenaline Bias (most leaders suffer from chronic adrenaline addiction, the stress rush of fighting fires every day); and The Quantification Bias (the difficulty of measuring it in financial terms).Lencioni suggests there may be a fourth reason for such bias: no one has ever presented it as a simple, integrated discipline. In doing so for the first time, the author believes that it is the practice that will surpass all other disciplines in creating competitive advantage.This foremost advantage, organizational health, is about integrity, Lencioni says. Integrity in this context is defined as an organization that is whole, consistent and complete, "when its management, operations, strategy, and culture fit together and make sense."Health can be recognized by reading the signs within an organization that include, minimal politics, low confusion, strong morale, high productivity and very low turnover.The author suggests an organization becomes healthy in much the same way as a couple builds a strong marriage or family--"it's a messy process." It involves doing several things at once.He outlines four disciplines to do this:* Discipline 1: Build a Cohesive Team. The leaders of any group, whether a church, school, or international corporation must build trust, master conflict, achieve commitment, embrace accountability and focus on results. "Teamwork is not a virtue," Lencioni says. "It's a choice."* Discipline 2: Create Clarity. Six questions help to clarify, including, "why do we exist? What do we do? Who does what? "What is new is the realization that none of them can be addressed in isolation; they must be answered together," the author says. "Failing to achieve alignment around any one of them can prevent an organization from attaining the level of clarity necessary to become healthy."* Discipline 3: Overcommunicate Clarity. Clearly, repeatedly and enthusiastically give the answers created to help clarify. There is no such thing as too much communication.* Discipline 4: Reinforce Clarity. Critical systems must be implemented to reinforce clarity in every process. Every policy and program should be designed to remind employees what is really important.The book also contains practical structures gathered from Lencioni's previous books. For effective communications, for example, a healthy organization deals in daily check-ins, weekly tactical staff meetings, monthly strategic meetings, and offsite meetings.The author's enthusiasm is more than compelling; it is contagious. "Is this model foolproof?" he asks about the healthy organization. "Pretty much," is the response. If leaders are aligned around a common set of answers, communicate those answers repeatedly, put effective processes into place that reinforce them--they effectively "create an environment in which success is almost impossible to prevent. Really."That would indeed be a healthy organization.

Muy buen libro para entender las bases de la salud organizacional, con ejemplos, guía del paso a paso que debe seguirse.

Everything in that book is so practical and useful! I love it and I feel I will return to it often!

Very helpful to figure out why organisations fail and how to rebuild.Must readSimple, basic and very impactful .

El libro cubre cómo crear un ambiente de confianza para después crear una organización saludable en todos los aspectos cubriendo la cantidad de reuniones, Cómo dar retroalimentación correctamente Y cómo mantener al equipo enfocado en los resultados basado en una cultura de alto rendimiento

Toppen betyg, lätt att beställa, bra support, snabb leverans och Leverans på plats. Kan det bli bättre ;o)