Here are two more ideas that organizations can and should borrow from Obama’s example:

A. Inspirational leadership. When was the last time that you experienced goose bumps when thinking about your organization’s mission or the people who lead it? By powerfully defining aspirations, Obama has created goose-bump experiences for tens of millions of people of all backgrounds. These experiences then mobilized people to want to work jointly and with passion toward those aspirations, with all the hard work entailed in this endeavour. In organizations, creating the types of leadership that can show the way and mobilize people from within is key to success on all fronts.

B. True Collaboration. Obama did not invent true collaboration. In fact, in California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has also been noted for his productive work with political and other adversaries. However, in many organizations collaboration is hindered by a `silo’ approach. These silos may follow formal organizational boundaries (Marketing staff compete with Sales, for example) or construct themselves along informal lines. The challenge for `silo’ organizations is to inspire people to collaborate both vertically and horizontally in ways that transcend differences in status, work-group, expertise, age and background.

It’s not easy, if course, to implement the five principles I’ve discussed. But if Obama could rally people world-wide, there really should be nothing to stop you from doing the same within your organization, should there?

With the inauguration last week of Barack Obama, it is apparent that organizations of all sectors would benefit from applying some of the principles that guided his campaign and first days in office. For example:

A. Vibrant values. In most organizations that I’ve worked with, neither employees nor managers can rhyme off their organization’s values. In Obama’s world, the values he stands for are crystal clear. In his first days in office he took decisive action that powerfully demonstrated his commitment to them. Palpable, actionable values are immensely important to any organization.

B. A `sticky’ message. Obama’s “yes, we can” is a uniting, over-arching message that resonated deeply beyond conventional boundaries. It is `sticky’ in that once you hear it, the message stays with you. Even my yoga instructor this week, as we were struggling with a particularly challenging pose, cheerfully encouraged, “yes, we can!”. And in Toronto, the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation’s message is also simple and sticky: “Conquer Cancer!”

Such messages mobilize massive numbers of people, helping them work in unison towards a common cause.

C. Get them deeply involved. Obama’s grassroots campaign led millions of people to feel that they have a personal stake in his success. He gave them a voice, encouraged initiative and listened attentively to their ideas. Conversely, many organizations have alienated their people into an “us versus them” mentality, leading to rampant disengagement. Shifting to a “let’s involve our people” organizational paradigm is a must for any organization wishing to succeed in today’s world.

I’ll share a couple more Obama-inspired organizational principles in the next blog entry.
In the meantime, I invite you to consider: how can YOUR organization apply these principles?