Happy (Part II)

You may sum up that life is but about relationships. No man is an island and being social animals, we cannot survive in solitude. Neither can we be everything to everyone nor do we have all the skills, wisdom, or abilities to achieve everything. We all achieve our goals through others. We leverage, we seek synergies, we work in teams.

Therefore, at the interpersonal level, it is all about relationships. How we build, strengthen, and grow relationships are dependent on the same three elements at the personal level.

We need to observe the natural laws of "personal mastery" and they are self-discipline, rectitude, vision, and leave a legacy". At the interpersonal level, we have another four more components of empathetic listening, synergy, abundance, and leverage. And the conduit of these two sets of natural laws is "engaged".

As we, at the personal level, work from the inside-out, and by engaging others who share similar set of values, dreams, and purpose with us to also work from the inside-out; we achieve two things. One, we are able to engaged another person to also work from inside-out, and because we share similar sets of values, dreams, and purpose; we expand our circle of influence through those that we have engaged.

In a corporate context, the next two levels are evident. Of course, it can apply to the family, not for profit, community, and social context. In any organization, there will be a certain hierarchy where someone reports to someone else. And usually, that someone else is called a "manager" or its equivalent.

Sometimes people mistaken and say, a manager is one that manages people. Well, perhaps in the industrialized age, where workers are managed purely through 'external motivational' factors, such as rules and regulations (e-motivated away) and compensation and benefits (e-motivated towards).

If you still operate within those environment then you may need those external motivated factors. Or, if in your organization, where there are a lot of back-stabbing, politics, or distrust; then those external motivated factors are still needed.

However if you operate in an environment where people are highly valued for their contributions, their creativity and innovativeness, their passion, and their purpose in life, then those external motivated factors are not going to work. Having said that, in any corporate setting, there is a need for both external motivated away and towards factors. Thing is, deciding on what's the balance is indeed more of an art than a science.

Here, at the managerial level is where we talk about systems and processes. You see, every organization needs systems and processes to oil the very wheels that run the firm. Without systems and processes, the situation will be chaotic. Every does things according to their liking and preferences. Imagine, if a bank doesn't have systems and processes, you may get your check cleared in one day some of the time and have it cleared in three days at other times.

What happens here is that, you, the customer, begin to have doubts the next time you does any business transactions with the bank. We see this in some countries, where preferences are given to a select few, where they get their things done faster than others. One example would be in China, where people talk about guan-xi, where if you have it things get done. If you don't have it, then you may have to 'comply' with some customs to get your things through.

Imagine having to work in such an organization, you'd be wondering if you were passed up for that promotion was it because of your abilities or was it because your boss have his favourite. Of course even with systems and processes in place that can still happen. Which is why the last two levels are so critical, that even having systems in place does not guarantee an equitable treatment.

Therefore at this level it is where managers need to manage these systems so that they are effective in achieving the goals and objectives of the departments and organization. So the responsibilities of managers here is to ensure effectiveness through constant monitoring, assessment, and review.

With regards to reviews, we can talk about different levels of reviews; including program reviews, process reviews, and systems reviews. Program reviews will look at the particular program to see how effective it was. Process reviews will look at how the program can be carried out in a more effective and innovative manner, including looking at can we do the same with less.

Systems reviews are key as they look at the program in a larger context and the impact it has on overall goals. But before we can conduct a systemic review, alignment must be established. And that is what happens at the fourth-level, organization, where we look for alignment of systems to the overall goals, culture, and purpose of the organization.

How this can be established is where top management must ensure that every system, process, program, practice, policy, strategy, and structure must be aligned to the goals, culture, and purpose. In other words, if you want a culture of excellence in the pursuit of organization's goals, you must, as top management, ensure that those processes, strategies, etc are indeed encouraging, supporting, or acknowledging those desired behaviors.

Hence, in summary, from the personal level where everyone embarks on their journeys towards personal mastery so that at the interpersonal level they are able to engage each other in a way that is purposeful and given the systems that are effective in helping them achieve their goals, which in turn are aligned to the purpose, culture, and goals of the organization; can this be a happy, sustainable, and great organization.