Grow Your Organization's Grit (#111)
At least in the United States, we appear to be turning the corner of the pandemic. My numbers were a little off on Monday’s post. As of Wednesday, the CDC reports that 97.6 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, including about 54.6 million people who are completely vaccinated (out of an estimated adult population of 255 million) which is 38 percent. We’re not out of the woods yet — so get your shot(s) if you haven’t already. I get shot #2 on April 13th. But, as you take stock of the past year of your team’s performance in the pandemic, how would you assess your accomplishments? Good? Bad? Ugly?
Over the past 13 months, I stood up a company; wrote 111 blog posts; helped a dozen companies enhance their leadership, grit, processes, and strategy; and wrote a book. TFCG is taking off like a rocket ship (hence the photo). All-in-all, I’d say TFCG had a pretty gritty year full of growth, development, and the accomplishment of goals. But, I’m biased.
Since December, I have talked extensively about growing your team’s organizational grit. As many of you know, organizational grit is “the group’s will to persevere to achieve long term goals.” If you want to learn more about how to grow your group into a gritty organization, I will be publishing Grow Your Grit: Overcome Obstacles, Thrive, and Accomplish Your Goals on July 13, 2021. Head to Amazon to reserve your ebook now by using this link. The paperback and hardback won’t be available for pre-order for a little while.
I was fortunate enough to get invited to talk about grit, the book, and some of my military service on the Vertical Momentum podcast with its wonderful, veteran host, Richard Kaufman. We talk about grit in life and business. Here is the link.
After looking at sports teams, the units I was part of in the Army, corporate examples, companies I’ve worked with, and other examples, I have developed a theory on the formation of organizational grit. I find that organizational grit is grown through:
Providing the team a purpose. See Post #104 to develop or refine your organizational purpose.
Providing the group goal and a plan of how to get there. See Post #105 and #106 for some ideas on planning.
Providing the organization a scoreboard that tracks the progress
Modeling and growing an organizational culture that values daily small wins (“every day a little better”), self-discipline, and resiliency. For more on growing your gritty culture see Post #107.
Developing trust in the team that is grown through shared experiences and hardships. See Post #108 for more on team building.
The most important, but often the hidden element, behind the growth of organizational grit is leadership. Leaders, like Sam Walton, help inculcate grit in their organizations. Throughout the process, leaders in these organizations demonstrated grit and led by example, using their position to instill determination, energy, and leadership within each of their followers on an individual basis.
However, it’s not enough to just read about and contemplate your group’s grit. Take these articles or buy the book, read or re-read them, and develop a plan to build your group’s grit. Understand your organization’s purpose, select a goal, provide some leadership, and get to work.
You may need some help getting your group out of the pandemic rut and operating in the new normal. Let’s see if I can help — send me a note here and we can see if executive coaching or a talk to your group might help your team accomplish its long term goals over the next twelve months.
As I wrote, thought, and talked about grit, I have found I enjoy hearing gritty stories of both success and failure. If you have a good one from the past year, send me an email here and we can set up a call so I can hear your story.