The Sixth Sense of Great Organizations
How 'organizational proprioception' shapes agility, alignment, and seamless execution
I learned something interesting today that reshaped how I think about organizations: proprioception – our body's ability to sense position and movement in space. Often called the 'sixth sense,' it operates beneath our awareness, allowing us to know exactly where our limbs are and how they're moving, even with our eyes closed. When it works well, we are agile and coordinated. When it’s weak, even simple actions become clumsy.
The same is true for organizations.
When 'organizational proprioception' is weak, the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing—or worse, sometimes actively works against it. Information stalls, collaboration suffers, and execution crawls. I've seen this play out a few times, where brilliant strategies crumble not because of poor ideas, but because teams lacked the awareness to execute in sync.
Think of a well-coordinated NBA team. Players anticipate each other’s moves, passing and adjusting with near-instant awareness. They don't need to call out every play; they just know. It's not magic—it's the result of building deep organizational awareness, where each player understands not just their role, but how it fits into the larger whole.
In contrast, some organizations function like a disorganized pickup game—execution bogged down by friction, sub-optimal organization design that pits one team against another, and decisions lost in endless email chains. We've all seen good ideas die—not because they lacked merit, but because of poor organization design, misaligned incentives, or endless approval loops.
Strengthening organizational proprioception is easier said than done, and I wish I had all the answers.
That said, it requires rethinking how information flows and decisions get made. But the principles seem surprisingly simple. For instance, leaders who share early signals through regular staff meetings—transparently discussing business metrics, upcoming challenges, and strategic shifts—help teams adjust proactively rather than reacting too late. When teams have clear decision-making guardrails, they can act autonomously while staying aligned. And when people see how their work fits into the bigger picture, they focus on what truly matters—without needing constant direction.
The result? A faster organizational clock-speed, and seamless execution. But for me, the impact goes beyond mere efficiency. When we cultivate this shared awareness, we foster a sense of collective ownership and our teams become more than just the sum of their parts.