Are you leading a healthy or toxic organization? Perhaps you do not know the answer to that question, or maybe you’ve never really thought about it.
Author and management consultant Patrick Lencioni asserts that organizational health is the single greatest advantage that an organization can have, and it’s free! I would agree with him. However, the problem with organizational health is that many leaders will not do what it takes to create, cultivate, and maintain a healthy work environment. It just feels like too much work because it involves dealing with the dreaded r-word: relationships.
Leaders shy away from dealing with personalities, relationships, and conflict because it’s messy and uncomfortable. Great leaders, however, are able to get out of their comfort zone and deal with conflict head-on. This is what separates great organizations from average ones, and healthy organizations from toxic ones.
In order to help leaders with the often daunting challenge of how to create a healthy culture, Dr. Jeremy Couch has developed the Organizational Health Framework, which provides a road map for leaders and their teams. Within this framework are four key attributes of a healthy organization: