Normally, when I write about organizational intelligence, I present it as a way of operating within your workplace in order to achieve goals. However, through having conversations with family, friends and colleagues outside of work, I've found that the basic framework behind organizational intelligence can be applied to other aspects of your life in order to make improvements that matter to you.

Developing organizational intelligence at work allows you to:
Deeply understand your organization's mission and purpose;
Effectively navigate within and across your organization's formal and informal structures;
Identify gaps between your organization's mission and reality and;
Work within and across your organization's formal and informal structures in order to align mission with reality

Developing "organizational intelligence" for your every day life allows you to work with the puzzle pieces you've been given in order to create a better picture for yourself.

First, you understand your vision or desired improvement
Second, you consider the people and places in your life that matter to you
Third, you identify what's missing between your vision and the reality and
Finally you seek to better interact with others within and across these environments in order to create a better situation

How is this done? By considering your VIPs: Very important people (the relationships that matter) and Very important places (work, home, school, etc.).

When taking stock of your very important people, ask yourself: what do I want this relationship to be like? What's my vision? Perhaps you'd like to be closer to your siblings. What would that scenario look and feel like? How would your interactions be different? This is where your emotional intelligence comes into play.

When taking stock of your very important places, ask yourself: what do I want to do or achieve here? What’s my vision? Perhaps you'd like to be promoted at work. What would that scenario look and feel like? What circumstances would need to change? How do you move from the current circumstances to the desired circumstances? What are the steps? This is where your spatial intelligence comes into play.

And finally, how can I better work with these very important people in order to make improvements in these very important places? With this question in mind, know that there are many possible paths for creating the vision you want - the majority of which already exist within the people and the places in your current situation. Sometimes, it's as simple as a change of mindset about a particular circumstance rather than taking immediate action.

Your vision is closer than you think. How might you rearrange the puzzle pieces of your life in order to attain the vision that you want? Think about it spatially. And how might you better interact with others to improve your relationships? Think about it emotionally.