My Thoughts on Organizational Development

Successful management of financial matters is heavily reliant upon Effective Teamwork.

Chaos is not a prudent state-of-affairs. Sustainable success comes hand-in-hand with effective teamwork.

Amidst the construction do you perceive effective teamwork or chaos?   

It’s important to see your team and processes objectively in order to quantify your success - rather than qualify it with subjectivity.

The GRPI Model.

For Much Of My Career, I Have Used An Approach Originally Introduced In The 1970’S By Richard Beckhard, An Organizational Development Expert And Professor At MIT.  Beckhard’s GRIP Model (Pronounced “Gripee”) Is Used To Diagnose, Correct And Manage The Function/Dysfunction Of A Team Using Four Dimensions.

Note: I have slightly modified Beckhard’s model by prioritizing the “I” over the “P” in favor of focusing on team members.*

G - Goals

What The Team Wants To Achieve

R - Roles

What Needs To Be Done And Who Will Do It

I - Interpersonal

How The Team Members Interact On A Personal Level

P - Processes

How The Team Collaborates And Communicates

In My Experience, Growing Organizations Benefit From A Close Examination Of Each Dimension.  I Have Often Found That The Goals Of Leaders Are Fairly Clear, Yet Those Very Goals Have Not Been Accurately Conveyed To All - Which Means That They Won’t Have Been Accepted By All.  Measuring Performance Against These Goals Is Also Critical And Is Often Lacking.  Goals Need To Be Clearly Defined, Communicated, Accepted And Measured.

Using The GRPI Model Not Only Helps To Examine A Financial Team, But Also To Examine The Larger Organization. Finance And Accounting Cannot Thrive Without Effective Collaboration Across Various Aspects Of The Entire Business. Conversely, The Business As A Whole Cannot Thrive Without Effective Finance And Accounting.