In the first three posts of this column, we discussed the steps to implementing a mutual benefit philosophy in your organization.  In this post, we will give you four factors to look at in order to evaluate your companies health relative to mutual benefit.

Systems Theory is designed to look at how systems interact with other systems in the bigger picture.  A central topic of systems theory is self regulating systems, self-correcting through feedback. Self-regulating systems are found in nature, including in human learning processes.

In my view, evaluating a companies health relative to mutual benefit considers all of the following factors:

• Factor One: The presence or absence of inefficiencies (disease) in the individual parts of a system;
• Factor Two: The nature of the relationships between the parts of a system;
• Factor Three: The nature of the relationships between a system and other systems composing a greater whole;
• Factor Four: The nature of the relationship between a system and the greater whole within which it is embedded

Over the next four posts, I will dig deeper into each one of these factors, giving you the opportunity to use the information to do your own company health check.  When looking at your company, a system can be a process within a department, or the processes of the whole department within your company.  If you have done any process improvement in the past, you will probably have Visio diagrams that you will want to review as we move deeper into the concept of mutual benefit.