Thought Bite: Knowing your organisation
 If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.
Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese Military Strategist and author of The Art of War |
As Sun Tzu wrote, a good strategy depends on really knowing yourself and your organisation. That knowledge of your organisation and how all the different elements work together helps you decide where to focus your attention and how to respond to what Sun Tzu calls "the infinite variety of circumstances". In the contemporary not-for-profit environment this could be anything from the credit crunch to a new government to changing beneficiary needs.
In this Thought Bite we introduce you to the 7S framework, a model for assessing your overall strategic health in terms of strategic flexability and effectiveness.
The 7S framework was developed by Peters and Waterman, two legendary McKinsey consultants, in the early 1980s. It continues to be a useful way to assess strategic health. The basic premise is that there are seven internal dimensions of an organisation that need to be aligned for success.
Below is a list of some of these factors that you'll need to explore to help you understand your situation in terms of the 7S framework.
The framework invites you to review your effectiveness in terms of 7 key elements, illustrated below:
Strategy
By strategy Peters and Waterman mean the kind of plans you have and how clearly they are shared and understood. In the seminar we’ll also talk about the difference between Blue Water and Red Water strategies where you either want to gain a significant competitive advantage or have to work in a very competitive situation with other agencies – for example competing for shrinking government funding.
Structure
Structure has a huge impact on strategy – especially through governance and management. Do you operate in a centralised way like Greenpeace International, enabling you to move quickly and in one key direction? Or do you prefer devolved accountability like ActionAid? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. And choosing the right approach is essential.
Systems
What’s your business model and how is it managed and controlled? The CEO of Wal-Mart, running one of the largest and most diverse companies in the world has just three key numbers delivered to him every day at 17.30 to tell him how the company is doing. Those numbers relate to the vital systems he needs to monitor. What are your key systems and who needs to monitor them? Are you drowning in too much data from too many systems?
Style
What’s the style of the company, and how do other people see you and your brand expressed? Cool and relaxed like Google, or more formal and geeky like Microsoft? Style sets important markers for substance. How approachable do you want to be? Some charities want to be recognised as inclusive such as Macmillan Cancer Support. Others like the UK’s Royal Society accept that they are not inclusive but are about excellence.
Shared Values
How clear are you – and others – on your values? Values can dictate the kind of work you do, who you work with, and even where you will take money from – so Amnesty International won’t take money from governments in case it compromises its independence and integrity.
The challenge is you need to be careful these principles don’t become outdated or simply closed mindsets. When the National Trust for Scotland went through a difficult restructuring they held a key conference for all staff called the Heart of the Nation, which sought to build on values as a basis for alignment.
Staff
Jim Collins in his book Good to Great talks about the importance of “getting the right people on the bus,” meaning that the key role of a leader is to select the best people to take the organisation forward. Do you have a clear 'dream team' in mind? How do you make sure you attract and maintain the right people? And once you have them how do you continue to develop them?
For example, RNLI hires outstanding people and then offers them the chance to take part in a comprehensive management programme which builds their skills to a whole new level.
Skills
Linked to the issue of the right staff and managers is that of organisational skills, or competencies. What current skills, knowledge, and abilities does your organisation have? What emerging competencies does it need to deliver on the strategy?
So, how well does your organisation score on the 7S framework?
Click here to take the =mc 7S Framework Assessment Tool and find out.
Your competencies may not be as obvious as they seem. Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney famously proclaimed Disney’s core competence as ‘licensing’. So the production of films, cartoons etc. was simply seen as way to license intellectual property to others with low risk. (That’s why you need 7 dwarfs for 7 licensing opportunities!). What are your key current competencies and which do you need to acquire to meet your strategy?
At the Strategy seminar on Thursday 24 November 2011 we’ll be exploring these and other issues on – including the need to re-think how we communicate strategy to create alignment.
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