Site Specific Sickness

Working on Organizational Health with charity leaders means I often get an insider look at team dynamics. It’s not always pretty.

Sometimes even organizations that are doing great work are going through seasons of significant tension and dysfunction internally.

Part of my role is helping leadership teams diagnose what isn’t working and what can be done about it.

Sometimes the issues are rooted in Strategy, other times Execution, and frequently it’s about organizational Culture. (Check out my book on how leaders can understand, assess, and improve Culture).

One of the things that still surprises me is how people who struggle badly in one organization can sometimes completely turn around somewhere else.

To be clear, that’s not always the case. A lot of the time people who behave in unhealthy ways in one place go on to bring those same patterns to their next role.

But not always.

Sometimes it seems like someone’s problems that can’t be helped despite best efforts on all sides simply don’t travel with them.

I’m coming to think of it as Site Specific Sickness.

Honestly, it makes me kinda sad. I want to believe that with a sincere desire to address issues, some skilled facilitation, and a mutual openness to change, we can always rebuild trust and find a way to work together.

That may yet be true, but perhaps the cost is just too high.

Maybe sometimes the best outcome is to accept the lack of closure and go our separate ways. We can’t know for sure if a fresh start will really work out until it happens.

There are a couple organizations I’ve advised over the years where addition by subtraction really has done the trick for both those who leave and those who stay.

I’ll continue to give my best efforts to helping address and resolve interpersonal conflicts and underperformance, but I’m going to be more willing to consider the possibility that the healthiest thing to do for everyone could be to find an exit strategy.

Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.

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