“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”.

We kept this clever saying at the top of our minds as we taught our young children to memorize their home address. We showed them that it’s good to know where home is and which roads will lead you there, and I find that the same principle applies to organizations.

I recently reviewed North Group’s first Organizational Health and Performance Assessment.

The client needed to know their “home address,” and they wanted to know what roads they could take to get there. So, like we still do today, we began by getting a clear view of their current organizational state. We focused on the client’s mission, core values, culture, leadership, financial performance, strategic approaches, and much more, then provided it to them in a final report.

As I read this report 25 years later, I found that our insights then were similar to what we often find today. We commonly hear that the client knew much of what we state in our reports. Yet the clear articulation of the organizational issues does the important work of moving the conversation from the back page to the front page, from the lunch room to the Board room.

In addition, it is a rare assessment report that does not simultaneously bring to light an issue that previously existed only in the dark recesses of the firm. And what hides in the dark often holds the organization back. Brought into the light, there is a clear opportunity – and even a responsibility – to act on it and make organizational life, health and performance better. However, this is usually easier said than done.

I clearly remember an assessment from a number of years ago. The organization was well known and highly successful. However, they were entering a time of transition and were beginning to prepare for a future leadership transition. Unfortunately, it became abundantly clear that an executive termination was imperative. While highly unusual, the organization thrived after the difficult decision was made.

We are fortunate to maintain significant contact with the organization we assisted 25 years ago. They have excellent leadership, a clear focus, and are bringing exponential benefit to their employees, clients, and community. They found their “home address.”

The assessment process is not complicated. Though our methods evolve over time, the value of our findings are timeless. Like teaching our children how to find their way home, our North Group team uses the assessment process to make the home address clear to everyone, providing roads to success, filling potholes, and addressing speed bumps along the way.

C.S. Lewis once said, “By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets,” and so it is with organizations. The organizational assessment shines a brighter light on the organization’s “home address” and clarifies roads to a brighter future.