Winner of The Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award! After two decades in the trenches of helping companies design and build better, more efficient operations, Karen Martin has pinpointed why performance improvement programs usually fail: Chaos, the sneaky but powerful force that frustrates customers, keeps business leaders awake at night, and saps company morale. In The Outstanding Organization, Karen offers a toolbox for combating chaos by creating the organizational conditions that will allow your improvement efforts to return greater gains. Proven, practical, and surprisingly simple, Karen's system focuses on four key behaviors for organizational excellence--Clarity, Focus, Discipline, Engagement--that, once instilled into a company's DNA, open the door to sustainable growth and profit. This well-organized, inviting-to-read guide reveals everything you need to know about: How the lack of clarity and focus adds millions of dollars of unnecessary labor expense and slows progress on all fronts How you can gain a competitive edge by adopting the type of disciplined behaviors typically found in the military, science, law enforcement, sports, and the arts Why you should stop worrying about employee satisfaction--and start concerning yourself with employee engagement Why adopting various improvement approaches without building a foundation for success won't solve your problems--and will likely create more chaos Although you don't like the chaos that you're currently coping with, you've probably come to accept it. You don’t have to if you follow the path Karen lays out. This no-nonsense book helps you get to the crux of the problem, so you can inject the sensible, disciplined calm that enables the levels of performance and innovation mandated by today's business environment--and help your organization become truly outstanding. Praise for The Outstanding Organization "Too often, outstanding performance seems out of reach. Karen Martin explains, with elegant simplicity, why so many organizations 'can't get there from here.' Better yet, she provides clear, actionable advice on building a foundation that will allow anyone to achieve excellence." -Matthew E. May, author, The Laws of Subtraction "This fast-moving book gives managers a series of practical, proven strategies and tools to improve performance to get better results immediately." -Brian Tracy, author, Full Engagement! "It is within our grasp to create an outstanding organization, but it won't happen without focus and attention. Karen Martin explores organizations that have made this transformation, and she unlocks their secrets for you. Read this book, apply the principles exposed, and you will achieve similar success." -Richard Sheridan, CEO, Menlo Innovations "Karen Martin shares her extensive experience assisting companies in their improvement efforts and identifies capabilities common among organizations that have achieved sustainable outstanding success. Especially noteworthy is Karen's discussion of the Plan-Do-Study-Adjust management cycle. Adapt it as you need, adopt it because you must." -John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute "Powerful and motivating! Whether you are performing aerial feats in a super-sonic fighter jet at low altitude or plotting improvement efforts from the corporate boardroom, this book will help you take your organizational performance to new heights!" -Scott Beare, former Lead Solo Pilot, Blue Angels