6 Ways to Ensure Organizational Synchronization
Much as river waters tend to widen and branch off, as do organizations when they grow and expand. Early in an organization’s existence, when there is one “stream”, it’s easier to work together in a cooperative manner. However, the more the company swells, the “current” intensifies and covers more ground, then the likelier it is that distributaries will develop and split from the main river. These new branches may take a slightly different angle from the path most taken, thus causing deviations in the original course of the river and, eventually, in the surrounding landscape.
The above can be demonstrated in a number of ways:
- Regular meetings we used to have but are no longer relevant.
- The need to form new teams to address new issues that arise in the organization.
- Tasks or updates that slip between the cracks.
- Development patterns we thought were right, but now need to be adjusted in light of customer demand.
- Recruiting staff, onboarding, and increasing the number of employees – which can
- challenge the sense of “uniform movement”.
- The existence of these and other indications means it’s high time for a new organizational synchronization system.
Synchronization enables integrated and uniform organizational movement
As mentioned, a growing organization is one in which the volume of events and occurrences increases over time. The amount of work and the number of goals and tasks demand the introduction of tools and systems to allow managers to broadcast on the same wavelength and move in an integrated and synchronized manner.
The ability to synchronize plays a major role in just about everything that happens in an organization and is even more important during a crisis – when the goals and objectives may change or become unclear.
A great deal of power lies in the ability to create a synchronized management model, which serves as an organizational backbone. A coordinated and flexible “spine” in a company is especially valuable when executive action is required in response to fast-moving events and when encountering consequential obstacles and challenges. Furthermore, synchronized managerial teamwork conveys to employees the sense of “parental” and “communal” harmony, which in turn increases their trust in the organization and their will to invest themselves fully in their various tasks.
Conversely, an unsynchronized organizational system may cause a situation of organizational disintegration. This state of affairs disrupts the organization’s flow and leaves too much unsupervised room for managers and employees to fall back on personal interpretations regarding “how things should be done”. The result might be a collapse of teamwork in the organization, leading to miscommunication, miscalculations, and mistakes.
How to produce organizational synchronization?
Here are six top, easily implementable tips, to help improve your organization’s levels of synchronization.
Anchor regular and routine meetings in your schedule with various organizational members. Make sure that these meetings consist only of the people necessary for the topics of discussion, and that holding the meeting actually serves to advance the organization (e.g., R&D meetings, product meetings, customer success meeting, etc.). Furthermore, “clean up” any meetings that do not promote your organization or, alternatively, adapt these meetings’ format to one that adds some value. By anchoring precise interfaces, the necessary information can flow freely and be shared between all relevant members of the organization.
Make a list of topics you would like to discuss at each meeting. More often than not, conversations in meetings have a tendency to veer off from the given topic into unintended avenues. Therefore, it’s best to decide in advance which topics are up for discussion. You may choose to set a standard format for all meetings, or you could set fresh parameters and agendas before each session. Setting agendas is a vital step in making sure that the important topics don’t get missed out.
Allow up to 10 minutes at the end of each meeting to write a summary of the main points. For example, an hour-long time slot for a meeting would mean about 50 minutes for the meeting, and 10 minutes for the summary. Don’t forget to leave room for a table, listing columns of “who”, “what”, and “by when”, then attaching these to relevant action items to be accomplished. Be sure to share and communicate this summary with all parties who should remain in the know.
Management forums are a way great for the organization’s senior executives to build a common agenda. Discussion topics for the forum may include: updates about events in different departments, planning ahead, discussing critical issues facing the organization, problem-solving, etc. As suggested above, we recommend setting a clear agenda for every meeting of the management forum, based on the organization’s current needs, as identified and defined collaboratively.
This tip is especially relevant for senior managers. On a monthly basis, collate all the different “hot” updates from different departments in the organization (sales, R&D, product, etc.) on one unified document, which can then be distributed to all employees at the start or end of each month. This way you can let everyone, at all levels in the organization, remain up to date and synchronized in their knowledge.
Open and honest communication is the most important and effective tool in any organization. You should aim to share your impressions about what’s going on with those in your professional sphere. Synchronization is one of the key factors of good teamwork, and it is important to note that holding back relevant information (which can derive from a wish not to impose or interfere) can sometimes critically impede the flow and development of an organization. So, share! And often!
To summarize, organizational synchronization is a vital factor, that can spell dire ruin or great success for an organization. Integrated cooperation between managers and employees in the organization increases the collective sense of confidence and security and allows those involved to move swiftly and effortlessly to the designated goals and objectives.
