Sun • Dec 20th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 0
do you know what you’re good at and are you good at what you do?
I spent most of two days last week with the staff of the international development agency I’m leading in a self-assessment facilitated by USAID representatives. Through our organization we respond to human suffering in projects in the U.S. and around the world.
During the audit I was reminded that in addition to focusing on doing good things we must pay attention to our organizational infrastructure. It’s like checking the condition of a vehicle before driving to a destination.
Among other things we were asked to evaluate our strategic plan. Where are we going? Do we have a plan to get there? Does planning guide our activities or do we simply respond to the needs or opportunities of the moment?
We were asked about “branding.” That is, what are we known for? How can we become the best in our field? And how do we communicate who we are and what we are good at?
All good questions. The take-away for me was in the challenge put before us – to become the best in our field.
This doesn’t mean that we become competitive with other organizations doing good work. But whether we like it or not we are constantly being compared to others, not in what we do but how good we are what we do. Comparison is not necessarily competition. The question is not whether we are better than others but do we know what we’re good at and are we good at what we do.
Leaders and followers within any organization are responsible for the quality as well as the purpose of their work. We were reminded that our idealism is counterproductive if it blinds us to the need to ask hard questions. We learned that idealism apart from the “how” issues will likely produce unintended negative consequences. Whatever our mission, if we are to succeed we must assess how well we are doing. Good intentions are not enough.
Other than in competitive activities, organizations, enterprises and leaders can become known or legendary for being the best in a particular field or niche. Since no two organizations, or individuals are exactly alike, there are unlimited possibilities for being the best in a field.