In this video, you will notice that a large number of people are trying to straighten a truck, which got overturned on the mountainside. The rough mountain terrain was not helping and everyone was just too happy to lend a hand. The result: They swamped the truck from all sides and somehow managed to straighten it. But alas, they forgot the rule of gravity! The truck, now back on its wheels, decided to run for it and as is wont is human nature, people moved to make way. The men watched agape as the truck descended down the mountain and crashed… again!

So, what really happened? Everyone was so busy with the task at hand, with the “firefighting” that they forgot the real purpose: Straightening the truck. It was clearly not to make the truck go down the cliff! The same scenario can be applied to business derailers. Everyone is so busy with the now and the present that they often forget the bigger picture. People Matters and C2C conducted a Round Table on “Creating an Organisational Architecture for Business Leadership”, which was the perfect conversation ground to discuss the derailers of business execution.

In order to stem the effect of business derailers, there are a set of questions one needs to answer and they have to ask the right questions in the right order. Firstly, where are we going and why? What is the bigger picture and what is in it for each stakeholder? Secondly, where are we now and thirdly what is next? The questions are as important as the order in which they are asked. If one asks where are we now first, then we have to take a look at our capabilities and context and that limits the possibilities; If one asks what is the plan first, then that limits the impact of the larger purpose or vision.

What goes wrong in organisations? One scenario that one can imagine is that a pilot has to look at 953 indicators in the cockpit. Most of the times, pilots actually just look at three main indicators out of the 953. What are the three main indicators that business leaders should look at?

Elaborating on the three indicators for a business leader, Vinay Kumar, Principal Consultant and Director at C2C Consulting, said, “The 3Cs are Clarity, Climate and Competence. Clarity is the purpose, vision, strategy; the Climate is the culture, the structure, the resources; and the Competence is the knowledge, skills and behaviours in the team. These indicators not only give the leader a feel about how the organisation is doing, but also provides the framework for dialogue.