Delivering superior performance while building the capability to do it again and again is the definition of a great organization. Yet most organizations and their leaders fail to achieve this. The roots of their failure lie in their approach.
One day a poor farmer discovers in the nest of his pet goose a glittering golden egg. At first, he thinks it must be some kind of trick. But on second thought, he decides to take the egg and have it examined.
The farmer can’t believe his good fortune. The egg is pure gold ! he becomes even more excited the next day when the goose lays another golden egg. Day after day, he awakens to rush to the nest and find another golden egg. Soon, he becomes fabulously rich.
But with wealth comes greed and impatience. Unable to wait day after day for the golden eggs, the farmer decides to kill the goose and get them all at once. But when he opens the goose, he finds it empty. There are no golden eggs --- and now there is no way to get any more. The farmer has destroyed the very thing that produced them.
Within this fable is a key principle of organizational performance. Sustained, superior performance is a function of two things :- what is produced (the golden eggs) and the capacity to produce (the goose).
If organizations focus only on producing golden eggs (achieving results only) and neglect the goose (building capability for tomorrow), they will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs. On the other hand, if organizations only take care of the goose with no aim toward the golden eggs, they soon won’t have the money to feed the goose. The key lies in the balance.
May be our organization is like this :-
When confronted with pressure to deliver results, we pull out all the stops. We create a programme to push everyone to achieve the urgent objective. One time, it may be a sales goal. The next time, it will be something else. We’re constantly reactive, lurching from one ‘critical objective’ or ‘emergency initiative’ to the next. The problem is that we always seem to underinvest in the people, processes or equipment we need to really improve our business. As a result, we can never get into a rhythm of consistent performance.
Or, may be our organization is like this :-
We invested heavily in people and culture for many years. Our theory was that great, talented people with the best systems and technologies, would automatically generate sustained superior performance. It was a great place to work, but then the hard times hit. We found that we really didn’t have the hard-coded ability to execute in the face of tough competition and an unfourable economic environment. We were forced to cut back on all the investments people were used to during the golden years. People have become disillusioned, morale has been down, and many of our best people are leaving.
Consider for a moment how one might build a championship sports team. By investing in the quality and conditioning of the athletes, our team will improve --- better players make better teams. At the same time, no matter how good the individual players, the team only wins if they can work together against specific objectives and ‘execute the play’ again and again with excellence.
What we want is great players and great execution. A team can perform consistently season after season. This is the essence of Aesop’s Fable approach --- translating organizational capabilities into specific results again and again, resulting in a winning organization.
One day a poor farmer discovers in the nest of his pet goose a glittering golden egg. At first, he thinks it must be some kind of trick. But on second thought, he decides to take the egg and have it examined.
The farmer can’t believe his good fortune. The egg is pure gold ! he becomes even more excited the next day when the goose lays another golden egg. Day after day, he awakens to rush to the nest and find another golden egg. Soon, he becomes fabulously rich.
But with wealth comes greed and impatience. Unable to wait day after day for the golden eggs, the farmer decides to kill the goose and get them all at once. But when he opens the goose, he finds it empty. There are no golden eggs --- and now there is no way to get any more. The farmer has destroyed the very thing that produced them.
Within this fable is a key principle of organizational performance. Sustained, superior performance is a function of two things :- what is produced (the golden eggs) and the capacity to produce (the goose).
If organizations focus only on producing golden eggs (achieving results only) and neglect the goose (building capability for tomorrow), they will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs. On the other hand, if organizations only take care of the goose with no aim toward the golden eggs, they soon won’t have the money to feed the goose. The key lies in the balance.
May be our organization is like this :-
When confronted with pressure to deliver results, we pull out all the stops. We create a programme to push everyone to achieve the urgent objective. One time, it may be a sales goal. The next time, it will be something else. We’re constantly reactive, lurching from one ‘critical objective’ or ‘emergency initiative’ to the next. The problem is that we always seem to underinvest in the people, processes or equipment we need to really improve our business. As a result, we can never get into a rhythm of consistent performance.
Or, may be our organization is like this :-
We invested heavily in people and culture for many years. Our theory was that great, talented people with the best systems and technologies, would automatically generate sustained superior performance. It was a great place to work, but then the hard times hit. We found that we really didn’t have the hard-coded ability to execute in the face of tough competition and an unfourable economic environment. We were forced to cut back on all the investments people were used to during the golden years. People have become disillusioned, morale has been down, and many of our best people are leaving.
Consider for a moment how one might build a championship sports team. By investing in the quality and conditioning of the athletes, our team will improve --- better players make better teams. At the same time, no matter how good the individual players, the team only wins if they can work together against specific objectives and ‘execute the play’ again and again with excellence.
What we want is great players and great execution. A team can perform consistently season after season. This is the essence of Aesop’s Fable approach --- translating organizational capabilities into specific results again and again, resulting in a winning organization.
Comments