Our evidence base of the direct link between Organizational Maturity and sustained performance and value, has been continuously building since 2013. OMINDEX® studies clearly show that a highly mature company can be up to four times the market capitalization of their nearest competitors, achieving significantly higher margins. It also shows that financial performance, ESG and social impact are mutually inclusive outcomes for mature firms.
The basis for this evidence gathering is MI’s global standard OMINDEX® diagnostic set of questions. Any CEO, who wishes to gain the full advantages of the insights and wisdom that comes with Maturity, should start with these questions. They help to assess, gauge and link their own contribution to their organisation’s ability to create Total Stakeholder Value (TSV).
1. What is the purpose of my organization? Am I here to serve shareholders, customers or society? How can I make serving all key stakeholder groups mutually inclusive?
2. Have I defined value in clear and simple terms? What is our output and at what cost? Are we able to charge premium prices for our products/services because of their high quality? Are we generating revenue, managing out harm and maximising societal impact across the whole business?
3. What is our market value and is it sustainable? Are our advantages easily replicated by others and can we realise greater human value with embedded values that truly differentiate us?
4. Is our business staying in tune with changing societal expectations? Are we maintaining our societal legitimacy, playing catch-up on ESG, or are we governed by minimal complaince with the law?
5. Do our principles of responsible ‘human’ governance apply to all the people we manage or affect? Who is ultimately responsible for our wider obligations to all of the people involved, both inside and outside the organization?
6. Am I trusted? How will I know and what will I do if I lose the trust of our customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and society at large?
7. What are my core values? What values underpin my own thinking, actions and behaviour?
8. Do I live by clear principles? Are my values translated into my guiding principles for myself and the whole of the organization? Do I practise what I preach? Do I act immediately when I witness those principles being ignored by others?
9. Am I driven by the pursuit of maximum value to society? Am I doing everything I can to ensure we create the maximum value we can with all of the resources at our disposal? Do I instil this same drive in all of our people and stakeholders?
10. How far into the future am I prepared to look? What is the reach of my vision? Do I really understand how important it is that it is shared by all our people?
11. What is our immediate mission? I don’t know what the future holds but am I determined enough to set a crystal clear priority over a specific timeframe; against which I am prepared to be judged?
12. What am I accountable for? …. and how will I hold my executive colleagues accountable for their own responsibilities?
13. Do I have a clear, well-conceived and coherent business strategy? ….. and is it cohesive in pulling everyone together, in the same direction?
14. Do we have the right culture? Do I fully appreciate how important it is? Can I accurately articulate the sort of culture we need today and am I constantly aware of how my decisions might affect it? How will I monitor it and will I know when we are deviating from it?
15. Do I really understand the power of the whole system? Is my whole organization working as a smooth and effective whole system? Where are the failures and leaks in the system and am I ensuring we are doing everything possible to resolve them?
16. When I make business decisions do I always consider the full implications for our own people, our customers and the whole of society? Does any cost cutting take into account the full effects on our stakeholders? Is a focus just on sales figures likely to result in greater stress and staff fallout? Do I need to completely re-think the decision-making processes?
17. Am I evidence-based? Do I demand that all decisions are based on the best available evidence? Do all decisions have feedback loops built-in to check whether they have been effectively implemented, adding value and reducing risk?
18. Am I passionate about never-ending improvement? What is my own management philosophy? How can it be anything else other than the pursuit of continuous improvement? How do I express and reinforce this philosophy in everything I do?
19. Do we have an effective quality assurance system? Is everyone checking their work against the needs of the business? How would I react if any employee confronted me with their concerns? Would I respond positively and thereby reinforce the system?
20. Do I encourage and enable all our people to be as innovative as possible? Do we have a simple system in place for employee ideas? Do we ensure they are all properly assessed and effectively implemented? Do we fully recognise and reward good ideas? Do we continuously and assiduously research and access relevant knowledge and insights available?
21. Are we trying to manage a performance process instead of a value system? Do I really understand the difference? Have we got too many KPI’s and how many of them conflict with each other? Shouldn’t we only measure everyone’s contribution to value?
22. Am I running a true, learning organization? Why am I still asking for how many training days we do per year? Shouldn’t I be asking better questions about how we all learn together (including our suppliers and wider stakeholders)?
23. Do I fully factor in the impact our business decisions have on our people? If we increase sales projections do I consider the extra pressure and stress levels? If we reduce headcount what is the downside in terms of output and service quality?
24. What is our return on human capital? Does anyone in my organization have a sensible answer to this one? Do we need to completely re-think our accounting and reporting methods?
25. Are we all doing our best to work together? Is bringing about change here like wading through treacle? Do I really know what a highly cooperative organization feels like? What am I going to do to improve levels of cooperation? Am I as cooperative as I could be when others demand things from me?
26. What do I know about the people risks? Have I got someone regularly assessing our people risks? Are any of our people and those within our key stakeholders by-passing control systems? Do we already have a ‘rogue employee’ in our midst? How will I know? Is my own behaviour increasing risk levels?
27. How do I justify my total remuneration to any employee? On what principles, if any, is my remuneration based? Would I still want to do this job if I got paid a lot less? Is my total commitment to the job determined primarily by money?
28. Do I attach enough importance to my own communication? How often do I ensure someone has received the correct message? How much concern do I have for the way others perceive my communications? What evidence do I have that I am an effective communicator? Am I always open to communications from others, especially those to whom I should be listening?
29. I want us to be flexible and agile but do I know how? Are we organized to be as adaptable as possible? Do we still have a silo mentality? Are we blending the flexibility of a matrix with clear reporting lines for accountability? Have we pushed down decision making to the lowest possible level and have we ensured we have the capability for making the right decisions, at the right time and in the right place?
30. If I had to offer primacy to one stakeholder group which would it be? Isn’t this the wrong question? How can shareholders be more important than society at large – that doesn’t seem to make sense.
31. Is the thinking and behaviour of my top team collegiate? Do we all respect each other and aim to reach the best possible decision with all voices heard? Does anyone dominate decision making? Do we spend enough time in an efficient, decision making process or do we tend to rush into implementation? Do we have one management system across the whole organization?
32. Am I authentic? Does our publicly available company information and reporting truly reflect who I am and the underlying health of our organization; or is the presentation of our image more cosmetic than substantive?
Is it time I found out what my Organization’s Maturity is? You can start by taking this quick 10 minute test and receive an instant summery report:
https://workforce.omindex.co.uk/assessment
For more information please contact Paul Kearns.