Posts Tagged ‘continuous improvement’

Strategic Planning is No Longer a Discretionary Decision!

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

It has been said, “We’d better pay attention to the future because that’s where we’re going to spend the rest of our lives.”

Success in any business is a clear picture of where the business is going and even though there is technically no “end,” What will the end result look like? The propensity of most management teams right now is to focus on the present, to put out fires, and manage by crisis. With all of the changes in the business environment of the last 24 months, that propensity is understandable; however, crisis management doesn’t prepare your organization for future growth and opportunity. Planning your business’s future is no longer a discretionary decision. If you want to control the destiny of your business then you need to create it!

The preparation of a strategic plan is a multi-step process encompassing vision, mission, objectives, values, goals, and specific action steps. The process we use successfully with clients can be boiled down into these stages:

Stage 1. Visioning

A company’s vision is a statement of potential. A vision statement is a description of what your organization wants to become.

Stage 2. Strategic Thinking and Planning

The term strategic thinking can be defined as the process that determines the future direction of the organization. This process addresses all aspects of your business and its resources. Its foundation is a strategic thinking process and its conclusion is a logical and well thought out plan that when implemented will ensure the organization’s success.

Stage 3. Business Planning

Business planning is the process that actualizes the strategic plan. During the business planning process, your mission is crystallized into specific goal categories. These categories then become actionable through goals and actions steps. If there are multiple departments each will have a mission and business plan which is their contribution to the organization’s mission. The progressive achievement of the mission or all of the departmental missions will propel the entire organization toward the realization of its vision.

Stage 4. Implementing the Plan

The real key to the success of this process is action. Vision alone does not ensure success. Even the most comprehensive plan will not ensure success without action steps and measurement. Without action steps, time frames, and accountability the process is just a mental exercise that, while it may be stimulating is meaningless or a waste of time and energy.

Stage 5. Review and Continuous Improvement

Without measurement, it is difficult to see progress, and it is impossible to manage a business. Creating a dashboard for the communication of goals and objectives is critical for measurement. Everything relies on execution. Success requires continued learning and improvement. There is always something you can do to gain control over any situation. There is always something we can learn to become better!

Take a moment and be honest. Do you have an actionable strategic plan for your business? Do you know where you want to take your business one year from now, five years from now? Do you want to learn how to better manage the inevitable fires while focusing on growth opportunities? Make the commitment with your management team to develop a strategic plan now as your future results depend on it!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve sustainable results through management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For information on creating an actionable strategic plan visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

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Building a Successful Team

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Everyone in an organization plays an important role in its overall performance.

It’s no longer enough to be good, you must be exceptional. It is no longer enough to have satisfied customers, you must seek to develop a loyal and delighted customer base. It’s no longer enough to maintain. You must be aggressive, responsive, and quick. Your challenge is getting everyone on your team or in your department committed and focused on achieving organizational success. As an effective team leader, your role is to build the best, strongest, most productive team possible. Your team or department’s results, or lack thereof, will be in direct proportion to the cohesiveness of your team.

Creating a winning team begins with creating a culture in which your employees are encouraged to challenge, to question, to create, and to innovate. Surround yourself with the best people the organization has to offer. Don’t limit yourself by focusing only on people with seniority or rank. Bring people into the team as they are needed based upon their expertise or abilities. The ideal team should include all four types of thinkers, so you get a blend of perspectives. For example, some team members will naturally focus on short-term efficiency issues (doing things right) while others will focus on short term effectiveness (doing the right things). Others should be selected for their natural inclination to focus on long-term efficiency, while others should be selected for their natural focus on long-term effectiveness.

Create a culture where people are encouraged to be their best and perform their best. As the goals or projects dictate, you may want to involve multiple team members in different aspects of the project as needed. Furthermore, it may not always be necessary to involve everyone from beginning to end. Always be sure; however, the goals are specific and that they are aligned with the vision, values, and strategies of the organization as defined by management. Alignment must also occur between the department’s activities and its outcomes. If continuous improvement is to occur, your team needs to focus on continuous improvement in all areas. Therefore, measurements and expectations must be developed and reviewed regularly. Get team members involved and delegate ownership of processes and challenges which rightfully belong to them.

The momentum of the team keeps a project going so the probability of success is enhanced. A team’s collective power is much greater than that of any one individual!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

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Finding the Hidden Money Through Cycle Time Reduction

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Cycle Time Reduction is the application of the principles and practices of continuous improvement to production and business processes as viewed through the lens of SPEED.

Cycle Time Reduction (CTR) focuses on improving or redesigning production and business processes. Dr. W. Edward Deming is quoted as saying “85-90% of an organization’s challenges are process-based and only 10-15% are people-related.” Therefore the greatest gains to an organization can be had by evaluating and improving its core processes. If the speed of these core processes can be reduced and the efficiencies increased, your organization will see immediate and significant return for your CTR efforts. Building speed into a process can be achieved by reducing non-value-added activities, redundancies, and/or waste, such as money, time, materials, and/or manpower … all of which equates to lost profits, lost customers, and decreased competitive advantage. We recently helped an organization identify and implement changes within a small business process which saved the organization $100,000 a month or 1.2M dollars a year. That hidden money has been a huge help to this company during recent times.

The difference between wasted and value-added time can be illustrated in a typical football game. The actual lapsed time it takes to play a regulation NFL game is approximately 180 minutes; however, the official playing time is 60 minutes. Believe it or not only 23 minutes are actually spent on running plays. That means that during a typical football game 88% of the game is spent on non-play activity. Is a portion of the 88% necessary for the successful outcome of a game? Absolutely. The coaching moments, play calling, and strategizing are certainly necessary for a positive outcome.

Football season is fast approaching so pay particular attention as you watch your favorite team. Watch and observe all of the activities taking place on and off the field, and really look to see what activities are truly value-added and what activities have no impact on the final score. Now, take and use that same perspective and apply it to the processes inside your organization or company. Where does your organization have non-value steps that if eliminated would positively impact your financial future?

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