Trigger for Optimum Growth:
Shift one cultural domino to make
a big leap in performance
One of the most effective ways to help your organization grow and prosper is to identify and transform a single cultural trigger that is so pivotal to success that it can cascade into improvement on many fronts that will affect growth indefinitely.
These triggers exist in the culture of all businesses and once transformed result in improved teamwork, professional development, efficiency, and profitability. This approach is especially important for fast paced, inter-disciplinary, creative organizations like advertising and marketing that are facing industry changes, making it essential to open any blocks and optimize the organization. As managers understand and apply this truth, it can mean the difference between great success, stagnation or all out failure.
The kinds of key domino growth triggers I refer to can be found in an individual, a team, or structure and could be the root cause of your organization’s advancement. When you look at the patterns of behavior, interactions and processes there are some that are energy gaining and some that are energy draining. For virtually all organizations there is a key, primary pattern that sets the dysfunctional tone throughout the group. You can change symptoms of a primary dysfunctional pattern—but unless the primary pattern is transformed or disempowered, the dysfunction and its repercussions continue within the organization. Poor morale, stagnant growth, and lack of creativity can all be symptoms of an uncorrected primary pattern such as a leader who holds on to too much control. That is why well-intentioned efforts can sometimes produce very little improvement in the group. Worse, they can even do harm. You have to transform the root of a primary dysfunctional pattern, which can be either a personal, structural, or interpersonal pattern.
Several examples of triggers follow: The most common trigger I have encountered after working with over two hundred organizations is a core misperception that manifests as a fixated thought pattern, a dysfunctional belief. These beliefs are expressed as lack of a common focus, system and process breakdown, poor leadership, discordant executive teamwork, interdepartmental wars, and more.
Personal Patterns
Transforming one person’s belief can trigger growth, prosperity, and even world dominance. That is what happened to the Kensington Company , which was started over twenty-seven years ago by Bob Simons. His company produced audience-dazzling, Broadway-type shows for large conventions and meetings, serving corporate clients like Ford, IBM, and General Motors.
Over a five-year period, this company hovered at fifth place globally and lost money while profits of its competitors surged over 20 percent per year. They were considered old fashioned and long time clients were leaving. An internal survey ranked company wide communications a 1.8 out of 10 and the teamwork at 2.6. Most of the staff felt oppressed, numb and overworked.
These were all kinds of secondary repercussions to the primary dysfunctional pattern, which was one man’s reluctance to open up and trust other people. The pattern derived from a distorted belief, a mere long-standing misconception lingering from Bob's long-past adolescence. Bob realized the repercussions of his behavioral pattern manifested in many difficult relationships in both business and his personal relationships. With clear determination and help from many supporters he developed an inclusive collaborative environment, the results were immediate.
In previous years, the income for Kensington had never exceeded $42 million. But within one year of the changes the company soared to the number-one position in its industry by netting 92 million. Over the next three years Kensington’s profits rose 380 percent, and its billings increased 210 percent. The new company is no longer an outdated gas-guzzler, was now widely recognized as technically advanced, creative, and responsive to its clients' needs. The company became twice the size of its nearest competitor and Bob's hopes were fulfilled beyond his wildest dreams. It can be that simple—one behavioral pattern shift and an entire organization is energized.
Interpersonal Patterns
Once, a $200 million ad agency, Tanner’s billings had declined to less than half that amount. Staffing had fallen from 167 to 88, with most of the departing employees considered to be the agency’s top performers. Other staff members were thinking of abandoning this sinking ship. Integral to this decline was the agency’s inability to acquire any new contracts within the previous two and a half years.
The agency’s partners had initiated several programs and recruited various consultants to help them reverse the decline. They ran seminars, repositioned new business, and reengineered departments. They attempted to reinspire the staff through social and motivational events. They restructured themselves financially and offered an improved compensation plan. None of these attempts seemed to raise the water level. Adweek, the industry’s most widely distributed publication, ran a front-page story about the sinking of this once powerful agency. They knew that the Adweek article would further target their shop as a feeding ground for the circling sharks. They had worked hard for twelve years, and now the organization was being chewed up before their eyes.
After an assessment, it became clear that the primary dysfunctional pattern came from the partners. It began two and a half years earlier during a buyout by a European conglomerate. During the negotiations there was much wrangling and manipulation by lawyers. The partners were all left with bad feelings and mistrust, and decided to sweep it under the rug and moved on. But they moved on in discord and that was their trigger. When interpersonal triggers are present the task is similar to marriage counseling as you deal with projections, beliefs, values, feelings and forgiveness. After three days with facilitators in a hotel suit, they emerged as a team again.
Over the next four months, they made six new business pitches and won five. The business community began to see that a real change had occurred. Six months after its doom-struck front-page headline, Adweek proclaimed them, “the comeback agency of the year.”
Soon the agency surpassed its prior top billing history. Today it is the number-one agency in its region, with billings of nearly $800 million. This rebirth did not result from restructuring, firing, or hiring of personnel. It happened because the agency transformed the root of its primary dysfunctional pattern and triggered this amazing turnaround.
Identify Your Growth Trigger
Every organization has growth triggers; regardless if it’s enjoying success or if the sharks are circling. The identification of these triggers requires an objective, holistic analysis of the personal, structural, and interpersonal patterns that make up the group’s culture. Personal patterns refer to the personality and behavior of individuals, especially those who hold leadership roles, as their empowerment amplifies their character throughout the organization. The structure helps improve the reliability, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of interactions. Patterns within the structure refer to work process flows, meetings, and networking. The interpersonal patterns evolve as people interact and are reflected in the exchanges, creativity, and level of teamwork.
Through surveys, and interviews you can get an accurate holistic picture of the major patterns that make up a group’s culture. Like an accurate map of the group’s energy flow you can identify which patterns gain or drain energy. To get this picture requires trust, objective honest feedback, and a facilitator who understands group dynamics.
Without an objective eye, the primary pattern can too easily be avoided or not even seen. This objectivity requires unplugging from a cultural trance that makes dysfunctions normal and part of “the way things are done around here”. It also requires someone who doesn’t have personal objectives or even beliefs that would activate his or her own internal filter to the truth. For example, if someone wants to please the boss, or is reluctant to give the leader objective feedback for fear of “killing the messenger”, they lose their objectivity and the primary trigger may not be revealed.
Also it is important to clarify the group’s values and mission to further identify which patterns are supportive and those that are not. Getting the group to align to a common focus is part of group synergy and optimization. Alignment requires feedback as well. So develop an environment where feedback is encouraged and acted upon when appropriate. This helps establish the trust needed for accurate feedback to identify growth triggers.
Leaders and managers often look outside of their existing organization to make big strides in growth and profitability. The potential for growth and prosperity is there in front of them; just pull the growth trigger.
Paul Deslauriers has over twenty-three years experience as an organizational development consultant, management coach, and workshop facilitator. He has employed his innovative, new-paradigm concepts for “high energy group performance” with such clients as Hoechst, Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus, IKEA, and over seventy TV broadcasting companies and advertising agencies. He authored IN THE HIGH-ENERGY ZONE: The 6 Characteristics of Highly Effective Groups.
Paul has a unique educational and work experience that gives him acute sensitivities to how energy manifests in organizations for both the good and the detriment of the group dynamics. An eco-scientist turned business consultant, Paul has a master's degree in mechanical and oceanic engineering. He taught yoga and personal growth programs at Kripalu Center. He has conducted research in ocean and coastal ecology for MIT, and has worked as an environmental consultant for the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA, and the EPA. Contact: Paulnrg@aol.com; 413-232-788