Organisational health is usually the least utilised competitive advantage. It can determine whether you miss or make opportunities, and it hinges heavily on the cohesion of your workforce.
Organisational Health is not related only to the classic, “softer” values such as the health of the employees. Whilst employee well-being is important, the overall health of an organisation goes beyond this to provide a more holistic view of the company’s culture. A company that solely focuses employee engagement and not the quality and efficacy of operations will not stay in the market for very long. Neither will a company that solely focuses on profits and shareholder values whilst neglecting the well-being of its employees.
In our view organisational health is deeply correlated with performance sustainability as it is an indicator of company’s ability to align around and achieve strategic goals. It seeks to look at whether the workforce is able to generate value in one part of the organisation without impeding value in another. Whether your employees are engaged and their potential maximised. Whether your processes are able to support the challenges ahead. Many say there is a contradiction between the “softer” and “harder” values of running a business, but extensive experience along with multidisciplinary research tells us there is not.