You cannot create an optimally achieving restaurant business without deep knowledge about the restaurant business.  The same is true for a real estate business.  The same is true for a community theatre group, and any other organization you may want to create.  In part this is because it is a competitive world and you will often need to compete with others who have that knowledge.  Now if you are particularly smart and a fast learner it is possible that you will learn what you need to know about the business fast enough to survive.  Even if you face no competition you still need to learn about the nature of the business or organization you are creating.  You will make mistakes, because you are learning as you go.  In any case you certainly will not have created an optimally achieving organization.  If that is your goal you will now need to change the organization into an optimally achieving organization.  While that is a possibility, our focus here is creating the optimal achieving organization. 

It is not enough to just know the business.  You must understand organization dynamics, which is the point of this discussion.  You need to know what to do and how to do it so that you properly create a positive achievement feedback, selective people filters, and instill the 5 optimal achievement factors into the culture.   

In my simulations I have not considered the mechanics of doing these three things, only the value of doing them.  Thus my simulations to date provide no guidance.  My personal experience supports the primary importance of the people selective filters.  This is not a popular position; however I find that the most successful leaders who create organizations know it, practice it, advocate it.  Above all else focus on the people selective filters. 

If you get the filters right you will find that you will have people who will naturally embrace the positive achievement feedback and the five critical factors.  You might say part of the selection process is to determine who will support feedback and the five factors.  You might be tempted to say that you can teach people these things and that you can teach them to be high achievers.  Unless doing so is the goal of your organization I advise against it.  It is a very difficult task.

It is also a difficult task to determine if a specific person will be a high achiever until you see them exposed to the opportunity.  Past high achievers will likely be high achievers again, but they were once first time high achievers.  You may want those who will be but have not had the opportunity to demonstrate high achievement.  Additionally, it is not always easy to judge if a person really was a high achiever in some prior endeavor.  Just because they say so does not make it so.  When ever possible use references.  But don’t forget to evaluate the person providing the reference.  I think the simplest thing to do is expect those who join you to work hard.  Once you establish a group of people who work hard, those not willing to work hard will see they do not fit in and will select themselves out.  This is, of course, the key characteristic that you should strive for, i.e.  people who select themselves in or out as much as possible, and still leave you with the people who will significantly contribute to the goals of the organization. 

You also need to think about why a person wants to belong to your organization.  The most common problem people I have encountered are those who are there for ego self-aggrandizement.  They are convinced that they are the ones who should tell everyone else what to do and they are the ones who know the best thing to do.  These people tend to drive the competent and the high achiever away.  They tend to attract followers who will unthinkingly do what they are told.   Unless this is the type of organization you want, avoid these people and find a way to select them out.  That is not easy to do.  If you are successful in convincing people that you are creating or have created an organization that achieves outstanding results you will attract these individuals.  Be careful they can be difficult to detect initially.  They will likely be differential to you but want to establish themselves over everyone else, and then over you, once they believe they can take over.  Since the worse ones generally do harm to an organization they rarely stay long.  Just long enough to do harm, blame failure on others and move on. 

Depending upon the specific details of what you are doing, you may need to deal with the social climber, the income maximizes, and any number of others whose personal wants are not in accord with the wants you are trying to create this organization to satisfy. 

I have no magic solution.  You must study hard, observe carefully, see the big picture, perceive every detail, and act wisely.  This is difficult; if it were not so, there we would be many more optimally achieving organizations. 

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(C) 2005-2014 Wayne M. Angel.  All rights reserved.