The most effective companies are comprised of people who understand and -- hopefully -- embrace their mission and culture. Within those companies are departments that revolve around the twin suns of mission and culture: marketing, sales, advertising and human resources. Those departments, by design, are outwardly focused and inhabited by people who are outwardly focused as well. And if you casually stop any one of them in the hallway and ask him or her to declaim your company's mission and describe its culture, you'll probably walk away satisfied.

But what about those departments which tend to be more inwardly focused and insular by nature? Your information technology and operations departments are filled with very capable executives whose primary responsibilities are to keep your company's nervous and circulatory systems in good working order. However, ask one of those individuals the same mission statement and culture questions and you might get a less satisfactory answer or, perhaps, a blank stare. And if that's the case then that could help explain why the 'business' side of your company has been complaining about its relationship with operations or technology or, for that matter, any department that isn't by its very nature focused on your company's customers.

Whenever we begin a new search for a CIO or COO one of our first priorities is to meet with the client's senior leadership team as well as the technology or operations leadership team. More often than you'd like to imagine, the senior business leaders don't think they're being heard and the technology or operations teams tell us how much more effective they could be if only the business would listen to them. Each side points an accusatory finger at the other and the new CIO or COO is expected to bridge that divide, getting the two sides to respect and appreciate each other.

But is it really the fault of either side? (If your company is divided into two or more 'sides' then you may have bigger issues than you realize.) I suggest the following: Isn't it about time that everyone in your company start thinking of themselves as a member of the 'business'? That's a concept that could involve a considerable transformation in your company's culture. How does that transformation take place and who is ultimately responsible for it? It starts with the CEO and ends with a company in which everyone shares the same culture and values. That company isn't a two tiered organization in which there's a 'business' sitting on top of various support functions.

How would you feel if everyone in your company - in every department - was a salesperson? What would your bottom line look like if everyone knew the mission statement and could describe the company's culture because everyone truly believed they were an integral part of the business? Think about the types of solutions they'll be creating when your customers are also their customers. When that happens, your executive peers, your employees and the business world at large will start describing you as a truly transformational leader.

In my next post, I'll discuss some of the methods you can deploy to lead such a transformation. Please address your comments to Louis Gerzofsky via our on-line Contact Form.