Care Of Your SELF

Take good care of your SELF: Vital signs of healthy organizations

by Forrest C. Greenslade, Ph.D.

From The Simple-Minded Manager, Cutting Through Your Work-Life Chaos

An organization is healthy only if it is composed of healthy individuals. If you read a lot about management and organization development, you see a great deal about organizational self. The discussions around organizational self are not overt, but we are constantly urged to make our organizations:

self-actualizing
self-adjusting
self-directing
self-evaluating
self-interpreting
self-inventing
self-maintaining
self-motivating
self-policing
self-scrutinizing
self searching
self-sustaining
...and the list goes on and on and on.

So, what is an organization's self? A dictionary definition of self is "complete individuality, nature or character" -- probably as applicable to organizations as it is to individuals. But I have a different concept of organizational SELF, a set of organizational vital signs that monitor essential organizational health.

S is for Serve -- and it relates primarily to an organization's Board of Directors.

What does it mean when you say, "I serve on a Board"? I'm not talking about hiring, firing and fiscal responsibility. What does it really mean to serve? The word serve has the following connotations:

to act as a servant
to wait on
to render assistance
to be of use
to do duty.

Look at these synonyms for serve.

attend
benefit
minister
advance.

EKG If you are a member of a BOD, ask yourself -- How well do I Serve the organization and its people?

E is for Execute -- This is primarily related to the CEO, the Chief Executive Officer. What does it mean to execute?

to carry out fully
to put completely into effect
to do what is required
to give force to
to give validity to
to put to death (There are times when a project or a product must be terminated for the health of the organization).

Synonyms for execute include:

perform
achieve
fulfill
govern.

EKG If you are the CEO of an organization, ask yourself -- How well do I Execute the mission, policies, principles and initiatives of this organization?

L is for Lead -- This is primarily important to the management team. Lead means:

to guide on a way, especially by going in advance
to set a course or direction
to bring to a conclusion
to go through, as to lead an exemplary life.

Synonyms include:

guide
conduct
direct
escort, shepherd
pilot, show, steer.

EKG If you are on the management team, ask yourself -- How well do I Lead both the Board and the Staff?

F is for Follow -- This is critical to everyone in the organization. I want to dispel any negative feelings that you might have about the idea of following. Follow means:

to come after in sequence, order or time, as in a proud tradition
to accept as a guide, such as a mission or corporate culture
to act in accordance with, as a set of principles
to keep up with and understand, as the events that impact on the organization.

Synonyms are:

Ensue
succeed
engage, pursue
proceed
to attend or serve!!!!!!

I think that it is interesting that we have come full circle, in that we are back to the word "serve".

EKG And so, I ask each person in every organization to ask yourself -- How well do I Follow the mission, goals and initiatives of this organization?

I ask each person in every organization to check these organizational vital signs:

BOD: How well do I	Serve?
CEO: How well do I	Execute?
Management: How well do I	Lead?
Everyone: How well do I	Follow?

For a healthy organization:

Take good care of your selves -- an organization is healthy only if it is composed of healthy individuals.
Take good care of each other -- an organization is healthy only if truly senses its aggregate identity.

Take good care of your SELF -- Serve, Execute, Lead and Follow.

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