Tinkering with the carburettor

In one of the recent top team workshops, one analogy just stuck to my mind. A senior leader shared the analogy and it fit in very well with what most top teams in organisations end up doing. Instead of focusing on the road forward and instead of being future centric, instead of aggressively tackling competition they keep tinkering with the carburettor. Those long hours spent resolving for the operational issues which don't seem to get resolved.

Yes I understand, we cannot drive without the carburettor working, but if the leadership team is spending more time fixing it then there is something not working in the larger organisation system that needs to be fixed. And yes, it is a one time fix, not fix the carburettor, which needs maintenance, but the systems that keep the carburettor running. There need to be other teams in the larger organisation whose only job is ensuring the carburettor is working consistently.

Research shows that outstanding top teams deliver results by :

1. Owning and implementing the organisation strategy
2. Mounting an aligned and integrated response to market opportunities and threats
3. Anticipating and adapting quickly - especially in a hyper change market environment
4. Increasing decision making speed and action despite uncertainty
5. Maintaining a high sense of urgency and capitalise on windows of opportunity
6. Delivering high performance - predictably and in a sustainable fashion
7. Increasing stakeholder confidence - internal and external

They delegate the operations and indeed the carburettor to more able teams below whose primarily responsibility is to ensure the car is running at optimal conditions.

Share your perspectives on organisations and the wider systems where the carburettor is a key focus of the top team and not the big wide road and unexplored destinations beyond...what could be implications of such a narrow focus.

#leadershipdevelopment #topteamperformance #fixthecarburettor #topteamalignment