Developing Organizational Capabilities to Compete
Description
Michael Beer’s current research focuses on the question of what makes an Effective Organization. Based on his extensive research and practice about this question Beer has identified six highly interrelated core capabilities:
- Capacity of the organization’s management to develop a clear and compelling strategic and values direction.
- An effective senior team capable of honest conversations about ever changing strategic and organizational problems and opportunities.
- A leader who advocates a direction for the organization and humbly inquiries into organizational barriers to achieving the organization’s direction.
- Coordination and collaboration between functions, businesses, and geographic boundaries essential to executing the organizations strategic direction.
- Developing leadership and general management capabilities in high potential individuals.
- Truth is able to speak to power about the organizations key strengths to be preserved and barriers to executing the business’ strategy.
The research method employed:
To enable truth to speak to power about barriers to organizational effectiveness Beer and his colleagues employed a research and intervention methodology they developed called the Strategic Fitness Process. The method enabled a task force of eight key high performance leaders commissioned by the senior team to conduct confidential interviews of one hundred key people across all parts of the organization. They asked interviewees to tell them what in their experience stood in the way of executing the organization’s business’ strategy and values.
The six capabilities are a syndrome of interdependent barriers that exist in most organizations because they are difficult to develop and maintain. At key inflection points in the organization’s life, they become the major reason for the inability of the organization to respond effectively. A vicious negative cycle develops that is difficult to stop unless leaders enable an honest conversation about them and change how the enterprise is organized, managed and led.