Your Organization Needs a Workout Plan: Building Endurance
I used to have a workout buddy who loved strength training but hated cardio, sustained activities like running, biking, swimming. If you haven’t been doing it regularly, it can be daunting to build up endurance – huffing and puffing along the way to build up cardio capacity. We’ve all been there. But just like the healthy longevity many of us are seeking in our personal lives, it’s important for our organizations too – to move with efficiency and to maximize our capacity for the long haul.
So, for the second subject of the Organizational Workout series – ENDURANCE!
Just like strength, endurance is extremely important for organizations. When you build endurance you are building the effectiveness and capacity of your team and that makes you more likely to be able to weather the challenges of a dynamic business environment.
Strategic planning, goal-setting, and building team capacity are great ways to build energy and establish forward momentum as an organization. But sometimes, even the most achievable plans can fall by the wayside when teams lack the endurance to see them through.
Having organizational endurance is just another way of saying your team has the skill, capacity, and patience to be consistent with good practices, even when the final outcome feels uncertain or far away. When you are working towards any goal, it’s not about sprinting to the finish line and stacking up wins right away. It’s about knowing what you want to achieve, trusting the plan, and celebrating incremental progress.
Here’s one example: when we begin the planning process with our clients, the first step is identifying a strong goal, such as building depth and ensuring that your team has the bench strength to achieve high-quality work and weather business challenges. But knowing the goal is only step one. Achieving results happens through being consistent with action steps, staying regular with check-ins, and being purposeful about investing in the development opportunities that will help your people achieve their goals.
A WORKOUT PLAN FOR ENDURANCE BUILDING
Ultimately endurance helps you both reach your immediate goals but also ensures sustainability for the long haul.
By following the steps I’ve outlined below, you can help your people and organization cultivate the endurance to achieve their goals — especially the big, exciting, “is it even possible?" ones.
Build a strategic business plan that includes the goals and tactics to get there. Practice follow up by agreeing on action steps and scheduling regular check-ins.
Look at operational effectiveness. Where are there inefficiencies and redundancies, and how can technology can help? Do an operationally focused SWOT to get started determining hot spots and opportunities as it relates to your strategic plan.
Focus on long term people strategy (macro)–understand your risks and needs as it relates to your business strategy. Understand the team you will need to get where you are going. So, focus on talent planning and succession planning.
Focus on the micro of your people strategy too –that means career development discussions and investing in leadership development so you can retain and grow people for the future.
Increasing team capacity. Do a team capacity matrix. It will feel a lot like a coaches game plan by asking yourself — who do I have, what can they do now, what is their capacity in the future? It can help you see how you might deploy the team more effectively, where there are gaps and needs for training, development, performance improvement, reorganizing, or hiring.
Building an enduring organization doesn’t happen overnight. The goal of cultivating endurance and consistency in your organization is to be operationally sound and to develop a pipeline of talent that is equipped to perform, lead teams and drive success at every level. Even when people leave or change positions, good organizational and operational habits are in place and can continue seamlessly, building a culture of positive momentum throughout your entire organization. This establishes an incredibly strong foundation for getting your organization in shape from and endurance and capacity standpoint.
Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For 40 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to grow leaders, build teams and drive results through great people strategy. Contact us to get proactive about expanding your company’s potential, and stay up-to-date with our latest news and leadership development updates here.
