Strategic Analysis Best Practice 3 – Identify the Hidden Drivers
Organizational alignment to common goals suggests executive, manager, and employee motivation is largely driven by the company’s strategic plan. However, there are likely some additional, hidden performance drivers unintentionally created by the organization’s processes or embedded as an integral component of the organizations’ history and culture.[wcm_restrict plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]
When performing an organizational assessment, it is important to seek out and identify these hidden performance drivers and then to evaluate their alignment with the organization’s overarching purpose. Likewise, it is important to understand where misalignments exist and whether or not they are resulting in behaviors detrimental to the achievement of the mission.
Hidden drivers are characterized as such because they are not the highly publicized measures of performance or operating philosophies commonly known by all members of the organization and often by stakeholders, shareholders, and the general public. Instead, hidden drivers often go unrecognized; uniquely influencing the individuals or small groups to whom the policy, procedure, or history applies.
Hidden drivers can be in both documented and undocumented form. Examples of documented drivers include: performance incentive program measures, performance incentive program time horizons, policies, procedures, and individual and work group performance measures. Undocumented influencers typically represent organizational culture and biases, including: complacency resulting from unevaluated, repetitive, and long-standing successes; an organizational tendency to shoot the messenger, and preferential treatment given or deferment of decisions to particular business units or individuals perceived as being important.
Hidden drivers are not necessarily detrimental to the organization’s performance. It is important, however, that they be understood and assessed to ensure business planning and execution efforts are not diminished or undermined by these influencers of behavior.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”25541, 25541, 25653″]
Hi there! Gain access to this article with a FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription. It’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.
| Sign-up now for your FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription
In addition to receiving access to Strategic Analysis Best Practice 3 – Identify the Hidden Drivers, you’ll help advance your career and business programs through anytime, anywhere access to:
Best of all, it’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required. |
[/wcm_nonmember]
About the Author
Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Shared experience, organizational pride, and/or conflict avoidance can diminish the criticality of data and conclusion assessment; leading to exaggerated optimism and resulting in an organizational pursuit of unrealistic goals. Inflated expectations may drive investment in projects well outside of the organization’s risk tolerance. In today’s aggressive marketplace and under intense shareholder scrutiny, missteps like these can be disastrous for a company and its executive team.[wcm_restrict plans=”40713, 25542, 25653″]
For any strategic analysis to be effective, it must be done with an open, honest assessment of the facts. Organizations acting with integrity without excuses seek to identify and eliminate instances where fact-based assessment conclusions are diluted by unrelated factors or opinion-based influences. This mitigation often seeks to justify action perceived as desirable when the fact-based evidence would suggest another course. Justification is frequently based on business factors that are not specifically value related or biases lacking a relevant performance basis.[wcm_restrict plans=”25541, 25542, 25653″]
Karen K. Juliano is StrategyDriven‘s Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of Communications and Marketing. Prior to joining the StrategyDriven team, she helped produce weekly programming for a Public Access Television station and served as a production assistant in the public affairs office at United States Naval Base, Philadelphia. To read Karen’s complete biography, 
Strategic analysis is a critical component of the strategic planning process. An integral part of a company’s evaluation and control program, it provides managers with a comprehensive assessment of the organization’s capabilities and market factors; revealing growth opportunities and vulnerabilities. Armed with this information, managers can more effectively choose from among today’s strategic alternatives to create the greatest future reward potential.
