As you can see from the lack of posts over the last nearly 3 months, motivation has been one thing that has been lacking on my part. Yes, I’ve been busy with grad school, family, and work, but in reality, it comes down to motivation. It is obvious that if you don’t have motivation, then you won’t accomplish anything.

The same goes for organizations. In order to become as effective as you can possibly be as an organization, everyone from the top down needs to be motivated. And it has to be genuine motivation – not some fake, ra-ra crap put on at a ‘corporate rally’. In organization development, it is said that change won’t occur unless there is a felt need. The same goes for achieving an optimal level of effectiveness – the organization has to realize that improvements can and should be made, and individuals are willing to commit to make these changes a reality. That is where the true motivation comes from. It is a result of commitment to change and improvement.

Being the best – whether it is being the top firm in your industry or reaching a maximum level of effectiveness (which very well may lead you to the top of the industry) – takes work. People, and organizations, rarely make it to the top by luck only. It takes hard work. It takes effort. It takes commitment. And it takes motivation to keep working towards the goal. Tiger Woods has a goal in mind, and dedicates himself to reaching that goal and motivating himself to achieve his goals. The same should go for you and your organization. Set goals to improve effectiveness and stay motivated to achieving success and reaping the rewards of achieving your goal.

I view organizations like giant puzzles. There are many pieces involved, all uniquely shaped and designed to fit in a particular place. In order for the whole picture to look right, every piece has to be in place. With an organization, it won’t look – or function – right unless all of the pieces are in place.

Take an automotive engine. Consisting of many moving parts, each one which performs a different function. What happens if one of the parts is missing? Or is installed incorrectly? The engine won’t work. And neither will your organization. A crankshaft won’t do its job if it isn’t the right size, or isn’t designed to work with the engine. Which part of your organization is an incorrect crankshaft?

Nadler’s Congruence Model of Change is all about the fit:

This concept of fit is crucial to understanding the organizational model I’ve been describing. In systems the interaction of the components is more important than the components themselves. In terms of the organization, its overall effectiveness relies on the internal congruence, or fit, of its basic components. The tighter the fit, the greater the effectiveness.

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This, then, is the essence of the congruence model: the greater the congruence among the internal components, the more effective organizations will be in transforming their strategies into performance.

In my post about what an effective organization is, I mentioned the importance of delivering on processes and achieving stated goals. Nadler reinforces this message: if the parts of the organization don’t fit, you won’t be able to perform at the highest level – and thus, won’t be able to fully deliver on your processes.

Take a look at your organization. Does it resemble a puzzle after a 3 year old has gone through the box? Or like a haphazardly designed engine? Make sure the parts fit – don’t try to shove that square peg through the round hole.