When Systems Sing (and When They Don’t)

Photo by Sitraka on Unsplash

Are you a car person? One of those people who can talk about engines, torque, and transmissions all day long? If you’re more like us, you know how to start it, steer it, stop it, and not much beyond that. This means that when it’s time for repairs, you’re already at a disadvantage. You feel it right away in the first question the mechanic asks: “What does it sound like?”

For non–car people, that question can be surprisingly hard. But over time, you start to pick up a kind of language, a shorthand for diagnosing what’s going on. Engines that hum, purr, or whir are usually running smoothly. Engines that rattle, clank, squeal, tick, or grind are telling you something’s wrong.

Organizations aren’t so different.

Just as struggling engines produce audible signs of distress, organizations generate signals too. As organizational consultants, we “listen” for them, though the vocabulary sounds a little different.

In strained organizations, the descriptions include, dysfunctional, misaligned, underperforming, inefficient, reactive, siloed, or overloaded.

Healthier organizations are described as well-functioning, high-performing, aligned, cohesive, efficient, and stable. One of our favorite ways to describe a smoot- running organization is to say that the systems sing. 

Those are the words used. But would you recognize the underlying sounds if you heard them change over time?

Many leaders don’t. Or if they do, they’ve stopped noticing. These distress signals become white noise, fading into the background until they are easy to ignore amid the day-to-day demands. 

Here is a quick diagnostic guide across five key areas that can help you distinguish between an organization that’s limping along versus one that’s working in sync.

FLOW AND EXECUTION

SINGING	STRAINED
Work moves smoothly between people/teams	Work stalls, gets stuck, or is frequently redone
Roles and responsibilities are clear	Confusion about who owns what
Deadlines met without drama or heroics	Deadlines slip or met only through last-minute scrambles
Meetings end with clear next steps and follow through	Meetings end without clear decisions, owners, or next steps
Sounds like:	Sounds like:
I’ve got this part, and I’ll hand it off here when I’m done.”	Wait…Who’s responsible for this?
Here’s what I need from you to move this forward.	That’s not what I understood the deadline to be.
Let’s confirm the next steps so we’re aligned.	Didn’t we say we were going to do X?
We’re on track.	Where is the latest version?

COMMUNICATION

SINGING	STRAINED
Clear, direct, specific communication	Vague, inconsistent, or confusing communication
Shared language and understanding	Different people using different definitions
Information is easy to access and flows freely	Information is withheld or hard to find
Conversations lead to decisions and action	The same issues are discussed repeatedly
Sounds like	Sounds like
Here’s what we’re doing and here is why it matters.	When was that decided?
Just to confirm, we all mean the same thing by this…	I feel like we’re not talking about the same thing.
So, we’ve decided X and the next step is Y.	It depends on who you ask.

ALIGNMENT AND PRIORITY

SINGING	STRAINED
Shared understanding of top priorities	Competing or constantly shifting priorities
Work is clearly tied to mission/purpose	Work feels disconnected or unclear in purpose
Sustained focus allows progress to be made	Frequent pivots disrupt progress
Sounds like	Sounds like
That’s a good idea but it doesn’t align with why we’re here.	We tried that before.
How does that move our mission forward?	Everything is a priority.

TRUST AND ACCOUNTABILITY

SINGING	STRAINED
People follow through on commitments	Responsibilities are accepted, but outcomes are inconsistent
Issues are addressed directly	Avoidance, triangulation, or escalation
People are empowered to make decisions within their scope	Too many decisions require higher approval, creating bottlenecks
Shared ownership of outcomes	Blame, defensiveness, or “not my job”
Sounds like	Sounds like
That’s on me. I didn’t get it done. Here’s when you’ll have it.	We’re still waiting to hear from leadership.
I’ve completed my part. We’re ready for the next step.	What did he say about me after I left?
What’s the real issue we need to solve?	I don’t know. Not my problem.

ADAPTABILITY AND HEALTH

SINGING	STRAINED
Problems surface early and get addressed	Problems are ignored until they become urgent
Healthy, respectful disagreement	Silence or unproductive conflict
The pace is steady and sustainable	People are burned out or continually overwhelmed
Space for reflection and improvement	Constant reactivity, no time to learn
Sounds like	Sounds like
I see it differently because…	Why is this coming up now?
Let’s address this now before it grows	I’m just trying to get through the week.
Can we slow down and reflect on what we’re learning?	We’ll deal with that later (but it doesn’t get dealt with).
Let’s name the tension so we can work with it.	Fine, just do whatever you want.

Now that you know what to listen for, what does your organization sound like? Is it strained or is it singing? Start making notes about what you notice. Next week we’ll talk about how to make things more harmonious.