1. Balance - why it matters

By Dr Mike Florence PhD, MBA Series Link

The key to keeping your Balance is knowing when you’ve lost it. The surfer will know when he’s lost the balance and move to the next wave. In Life and Business, the loss of balance is a lot more subtle. This article will introduce the concept of Balanced Capabilities and how to recognise signs of balance in your organisation or the loss of balance and how to start to re-balance. A further article will share examples of rebuilding capability balance and finally an article on how to rebalance in tough times.

Through many years of my (and my colleagues) experiences- we believe that having a Balanced

set of Capabilities relative to your organisation size, complexity, and aligned with your strategic

objectives, is the key growing your organisation efficiently and with good morale.

Great science and great scientists will always be needed. They are at the heart of bringing

benefits, progress and investor confidence to invest further in R&D. The question is: How to support this great science, with (a) the best balance of capabilities so that the great science will deliver, at the best pace and efficiency? (b) Collaboration, a shared purpose (across disciplines and boundaries)? (c) Time to sustain and build an innovative environment?

We believe that maintaining a balanced set of capabilities that align with your strategic objectives

will help to answer these questions.

The Capabilities we have found to help achieve this balance are:

• People: this represents the capabilities needed by people to work in the organisation at that level of development: skills, roles, leadership, team capabilities

• Processes: how work data information are handled and how services and products are delivered

• Technology: the IT systems or local IT tools used to record, control, communicate and report data and information

• Culture: is the environment and atmosphere that employees work it combining the leadership beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and interactions within the workplace

These capabilities are highly related and interconnected – so addressing issues will require

managing 2,3 or all these areas to regain a sustained balance. If you just focus on one of these

capabilities, such as bringing in new I.T (Tech.) without managing the others, then the balance will

be lost and the investment and benefits will not be fully realised. Similarly, processes and

peoples’ roles grow organically through the best intentions and result in a hugely muddled mix of

inconsistent ways of working.

When in balance then the organisation has the right mix of people – skills, roles, teams,

leadership; processes that efficiently and effectively allow work to flow; technology that allows

data and communication to inform, review and learn; a culture that encourages collaboration,

customer/business focus and learning.

These capabilities can be further defined and refined as shown below:

As an organisation grows, organically and /or with Mergers & Acquisitions and new people,

products, services, customers, geography are added then so does the capabilities needed to

organise, manage, and sustain the delivery across all the teams to the clients/customers and

investors.

However external conditions do change and can force changes within the organisation,

potentially losing people/clients/markets. These times are tough and a reflection, review of

capabilities and vision can lead to becoming the ’best that can be’ and so help sustain business

and be in best position to exploit new opportunities as conditions change.

The next article - How is Your Balance - will show how we calibrate capabilities relative to the organisation’s size & complexity and also show how re-balance actions need to taken with care.

For further information or questions please contact:

Dr Mike Florence PhD, MBA

mike.r.florence@gmail.com www.ibizflo.com