A lack of organizational clarity may be the root of many of the issues you face.

Without organizational clarity, you have no accountability.  Team members don’t know what is expected. They don’t know how their performance will be judged. They don’t know what the standard is.

When employees aren’t clear on expectations and outcomes, they operate in the dark.  Fear rather than confidence affects their decisions.

The results are confusion and inefficiency.  Money isn’t spent wisely.  Employees don’t feel the freedom to take care of your customers.  People invest energy creating cover for themselves in the event they are questioned.  Trust is eroded.

Remove doubt and the problems it causes by providing clarity.  Your company will not operate at peak performance until you do.

The question then becomes “how do I create clarity?”

Creating organizational clarity starts with leadership.  Make sure your company vision and values are known.  Create a strategic plan, making sure there are goals and targets that everyone understands.  Every group or department should have known and published key performance indicators so they know if they are doing the right things and doing things right.  Make sure best practices and processes are documented, shared, and enforced.

Clarity doesn’t come without effort.  You may even need outside help to guide you on the journey.  But it is worth it to have a healthy business environment and engaged employees.

If you need help creating clarity in your organization, contact us.  https://opalpg.com/contact-us/

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When many people hear the word “structure” in a business sense, they immediately think about the organizational structure or the org chart.  That’s an important element of structure, but it is not the only one by far.

In the Operations hierarchy, Structure is any framework that allows you to measure the outcomes of your efforts or that helps protect you by planning for the unforeseen.

Structure is focused on performance, protection, and compliance.  Elements of Structure for your business may include:

  • KPIs
  • Financial reports
  • Protective agreements (MSAs, NDAs, customer and vendor contracts)
  • Business continuity plans
  • Disaster recovery plans
  • Compliance with governmental rules and regulations

Why Structure is Vital

Certain aspects of Structure are readily identifiable.  People are inherently that employees need to know who they report to or who has the authority to make decisions that affect customers and the business.

Going further, most business owners and executives know they need to measure how their business is doing.

Are you succeeding or heading for troubled waters?
Financial reports are necessary to understand the fiscal health of your business.  Look for trends in your financials to ensure a problem isn’t slowly overtaking you.

Likewise, your team needs and wants to know if they are winning.  Having good Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or published team goals allows everyone to know if they are on track.

Other aspects of Structure aren’t as obvious but just as important.  Planning ahead for a negative event isn’t fun but it cannot be avoided.  You don’t want to figure out what to do when you lose a big customer, your building burns, or the economy tanks after it happens.  If you wait until disaster strikes, you may be operating out of fear and emotion.  Having a clear plan of action determined in advance makes navigating tough events easier. 

Other elements of Structure include being compliant with rules and regulations, having strong contracts, and having good documentation so you can have the best possible outcome if a legal issue arises.

Structure connects your Process to your Strategy by gauging your company’s performance and protecting your investment.