Linking Improvement to Strategy

You've all read the articles on how execution eats strategy for lunch. But why is that so. What's wrong with creating a sound strategy? Climbing the right wall is just as important as climbing a different wall with tremendous, quality, lead-time and cost efficiency.

What I find in most organizations are two common themes. First, most organizations take on way too much. I was recently in an organization that had 196 improvement projects underway. By the time those improvements get to the front line, there will be over 300 changes and many will likely conflict with one another. Also with so much activity, it will likely be that the chages will need to be prioritized by the line management, with now mechanism to accomplish this activity. So the wrong things might get bypassed.

To resolve the quantity versus quality issue, deselect the many good ideas from the critical few. This is done in world class organizations who typically only choose five key measures; Quality, Lead-time, Cost, Staff Morale/Engagement, and Growth. these measures link to the strategic direction, but drive the priortization of the projects. THe projects that move the key measures get the priority.

Secondly, organizations fail to select strategic outcome measures. This means that every project can fall under the broad strategic themes of customer focus, or operational effectiveness. Can you think of a project that won't fit under these themes. By selectiuon projects that link directly to the outcome measures, you can be assured that the execution is tied directly to the strategy.

World class organizations use a process know as Hoshin Kanri, loosely translated to Policy Deployment for their startegy execution. There is some good literature on this topic, but it takes an experienced coach to move leadership through this process effectively. Also, this is not an add on process, you need to be prepared to unwind your current strategy execution process before taking this approach on.

When improvement is linked to the organizational strategy, several important things are accomplished. First, each improvement, no matter how small, contibutes to meeting your strategic direction and measurable outcomes. Secondly, every employee now can tie their actions directly to advancing the strategy of the organization. this gives them organizational purpose for their daily work, and connects them to the company. It's not complicated, but it takes courage to deselct projects and it takes commitment to measure outcomes and drive improvement related to those outcomes.

Lean Blessings:

Ron

Ron Bercaw
www.breakthroughhorizons.com