ALE – Assignment 5

Carol Longman & Neil Quin

The spinning top is used as a n analogy for a sustainable organisation.

…for the spinning top to spin optimally, it must be designed with a low centre of gravity.

Form

…for an organisation to be sustainable, it is should recruit value aligned employees.

Alignment

likened to the form of the spinning top

Alignment through recruitment

• Aligned employees make sound decision about priorities• Aligned teams are more likely to work as one• Aligned organisations are able to adapt to changing situations

As the form of the spinning top enhances its ability to spin efficiently, so to should the recruitment methodology of the organisation perpetuate its need for value aligned employees to support the succession of people.

…for the spinning top to spin it must remain precisely balanced.

…for an organisation to be sustainable, it is should adopt a values based constitution.

Balance

Culture

likened to the balance of the spinning top

Culture

By spinning the top rapidly, centrifugal force and inertia allows the top to spin around its axis and remain upright, so to should the values constitution of the organisation be the cornerstone for aligned decision making and promote guidance to employees.

• The culture is predicated on Personal responsibility• It promotes consistency and sustainability• It establishes connectivity between people and organisation direction

…the top will continue spinning until acted upon by outside forces (friction and gravity)

Friction

…for an organisation to remain sustainable, it is should establish a platform for all of its people to be engaged.

Engagement

Engaged employees

As would the forces of friction and gravity diminish the tops ability to maintain its balance, and function, so too would the lack of forces to support employee engagement diminish the organisations ability to be sustainable in the long term

Engaged employees…• promote commitment and focus• promote efficiency, productivity and creativity• are more likely to support long term sustainability

The spinning top is designed to support the most efficient use of transferred

(kinetic) energy through the manipulation of internal and external

forces

So too can an organisation only be as sustainable as the construct of its

strategies for multi-generational succession through total engagement of

all of its people