You are Greek, too!

Are you already “Greek-sick” after all the headlines of the past weeks? We are, yet we could not resist to draw some lessons from this case. A state is like an organisation, it can be mismanaged, and face the same challenges: 

1. Reality is never what it seems to be. In different locations, cultures, or business units people have a completely different view on reality. What is imperative for some might be facultative for the others. And even numbers and "hard facts" are virtually never absolute, at least not for all of the stakeholders.
2. No high performance without discipline. However, to motivate people for discipline requires always a shared vision and a clear strategy. Do all states share the same vision of Europe? You know the answer. What about your company's vision and strategy? Are they clear to everyone?
3. Strategy execution – our favourite topic. What we saw in Greece and the EU is nothing else than poor strategy execution. The vision might be great, but turning it into daily action with all sorts of stakeholders is a different story. Well, there are methods around, and perhaps the EU leadership team should look into best practices from private organisations – it’s never too late to learn.

What do you think, should New Pace offer support to the EU leadership team to achieve better strategy execution? Comments welcome.

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Comments

[Bill Morrison]

I think that both the EU and tge Greek government are good examples of organisations which have real goals that are different from their stated aims.

Both are to a large extent made up of special interest groups with competing and often conflicting agendas. Neither really has a unifying mission that everyone understands so trying to support either by trying to help them achieve what you think their goals are would not be a very productive project.

Just like dealing with most large corporations. The problem the customer tells you about is virtaully never the real issue.

[Arndt]

Well, there is a difference between states and organizations after all ...

Management's incentive is to delivery results. As long as states are run by politicians, popularity seems to be a greater incentive. (Over-) spending tax-payer's money has helped a lot of politicians to stay popular. That'll change now.

Cheers,

Arndt