Organizations are a collection of people. They are organic. Their potential is determined by the people that make up the organization and the health of an organization is reflected in the way those individuals operate effectively to achieve the organization’s mission. High performing individuals that function well in the overall structure will create a high performing organization. The degree to which an organization is healthy is determined by a collection of disciplines in the same way that an individual’s health is determined by a disciplined lifestyle, such as good nutrition and exercise. There are many reasons to focus on organizational health. A healthy organization is a benefit for employees and provides for them a meaningful work experience. In addition to the inherent benefit for people, a healthy organization is a successful organization. Organizational health has a direct effect on the bottom line. 

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Numerous studies have shown that there are a few primary areas that drive organizational health and support success. These factors create an environment in which individual employees think and behave in a way that contributes to success.

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1. Purpose: Successful organizations understand why they exist. They are aware of their purpose and niche in a market or their work as a non-profit. This understanding is foundational in their strategy and leads to clear and well understood objectives that cascade through all levels of the organization. The people that make up the organization have clarity regarding what they should be doing and understand their contribution. 
    

2. Relational Leadership: The relationship an employee has with leadership is the single most important factor in engagement, motivation, and retention. The key to that relationship is trust. Trust that leaders are competent, care for people, and have integrity. John Maxwell is known for the statement “Everything rises and falls on Leadership”. He’s undoubtably not the first to have expressed this universal principle, for it has long been understood to be foundational to an organization’s success. Relationship are the most powerful motivator and the relationship one has with their boss is the strongest of the relational motivators. Healthy organizations choose leaders that instill trust and make healthy relational connections with people. 
    

3. Process: There is a principle that is often referred to in Lean Manufacturing that speaks volumes when it’s applied to organization health; “there are no bad people, just bad processes”. Though an obvious overstatement for purposes of emphasis, this principle is an important one. A healthy organization needs good processes. Just as the integration of poor food choices in the process of nutrition planning will erode individual health, bad business processes will erode organizational health. 
    

4. Involvement: Humans are social beings and like to be included in decisions and activities. This is especially true when it comes to involving employees in work-related projects and decisions. Even the most introverted person wants to know what’s happening and have a degree of influence. It meets a deep psychological need to be included. Involving employees in decision making, planning, and execution also leads to a higher degree of understanding and accuracy in decision making because it capitalizes on various subject matter experts and differing vantage points. Involvement takes a little more time, but the level of accuracy it creates and the health that it generates in an organization make it worthwhile. 
   
   Delegation is an important part of involvement. When leaders empower their direct reports to function with an appropriate level of autonomy, those direct reports will take a higher degree of ownership. Higher levels of ownership with appropriate accountability creates better organizational health. 
    

Adopting these principles will improve the health of any organization in the same way that good nutrition, exercise, and proper rest will improve individual health. Just as a healthy athlete is a more successful athlete, a healthier organization has more potential to achieve its goals.

 

Solutions 

S. Miller Consulting can provide guidance and services that help organizations achieve a higher degree of overall health. The first step is often an assessment. This will seek to gain an understanding of culture and the opportunities that exist to improve overall organizational health. The results of this assessment will lead to a strategy designed to address any weakness in the way in which an organization interacts with its most valuable resource, it’s people.