Recently I revisited Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great.” The book focuses on why some companies are able to attain extraordinary results while others are not. Collins and his team of researchers identified “good-to-great” companies (i.e. companies that leap from good results to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years), as well as directly comparative companies (i.e. companies in the same industry with same opportunities and resources that did not have a leap from good to great) and unsustained comparative companies (i.e. companies that made a short-term shift to great, but did not maintain that path) in an effort to identify which factors contributed to those great companies’ sustained success.
As a leader of a growing firm, my attention is pulled many different directions given the needs of my team, our clients and the function of running a growing business. As I re-read “Good to Great,” I am reminded about the transformation process Collins identified, which is broken into three stages: disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action or, more succinctly, a culture of discipline.
Collins writes, “When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.”
It is with this lens that I have been evaluating our organization and how we manage our existing and continued growth; determining where Communiqué PR is within the framework described in Collins’ book; and how we continue to move our organization forward in a manner that facilitates and encourages great performance.
Some of the findings shared in “Good to Great” include:
- “The good-to-great leaders spent essentially no energy trying to ‘create alignment,’ ‘motivate the troops,’ or ‘manage change.’”
- “Good-to-great companies built a consistent system with clear constraints, but they also gave people the freedom and responsibility within the framework of that system.”
- “Good-to-great companies set their goals and strategies based on understanding; comparison companies set their goals and strategies based on bravado.”
- Good-to-great companies maintained focus on their core concept that guided all their efforts. “If it doesn’t fit, we don’t do it. Period.”
As we near the end of 2011 and plan for 2012, it is valuable to take note of how as an organization we are creating a culture of discipline. I am already looking to build my “stop doing” list, determining what activities should be eliminated because they do not support our core concept.
“Good to Great” also provides a table to help evaluate if you’re on the path to a good-to-great company or if you’re in “the doom loop” as a comparative company.
How are you ensuring your organization is great?