Back to Business Transformation. Back to the leadership at the top. The trigger today is provided by an excellent article that appeared in tThe Business Standard, Strategist, of Nov 22 2005. The article asks, Why do some chief executives succeed in dramatically improving the performance of their companies, whereas others flounder in a mire of failed initiatives? Read the article at Management & Marketing The article rightly mentions the importance of operational changes for successful business transformation. However the article fails to mention these crucial aspects - right strategy advise, mentoring, and using business processes as a platform of transformation. It is quite likely that even an able leader may fail to see certain crucial issues in time, given the quality of information and signal reaching him or her. A mentor, a strategist and a business process consultant can provide those crucial inputs. Sometimes you can get them all in one person. This was my take from my work with one of my clients. Yes, that person- a mentor, a stragist, and a process consultant is me! Call me! See my contact details on www.exponient.com Hemant
I know a company, whose CEO said to me that with good top line growth and cost control his company will have a better future. That’s the way to go. The company has grown more that 30% over last year, but is still without profits. It has competition both at at high end and at low end. Its entire operating cash flow goes towards repayment and interest payments on loans. It has idle assets and surplus people. Its debtors and creditor days (age) are increasing. The company has good growth prospects but needs to rollout better products. Can such a company just grow out of trouble? Hemant
The concept of strategy has earned a bad name. One reason is the kind of fluffy stuff being thrown around. here is an example An article on Wharton Education web site. Three Reasons Why Good Strategies Fail: Execution, Execution… - Knowledge@Wharton Three Reasons Why Good Strategies Fail: Execution, Execution… Quote From Vivendi to Webvan, the shortcomings of a bad strategy are usually painfully obvious — at least in retrospect. But good strategies fail too, and when that happens, it’s often harder to pinpoint the reasons. Yet despite the obvious importance of good planning and execution, relatively few management thinkers have focused on what kinds of processes and leadership are best for turning a strategy into results. UNQUOTE A lot of stuff to read. My experience of strategy implementation as a consultant and coach is that a business process measurement, management, and improvement framework has to be established for strategy implementation. Business process management can alone give necessary tools and levers to operating managers. The people angle has to be brought in through systematic application of process specific values. This works. Cut out the the rest of the fluff. Visit Exponient website Hemant
Harvard Business Review’s July / August 05 issue carried this article on Job design Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company : Organizations : HBS Working Knowledge QUOTE To understand what determines whether a job is designed for high performance, you must put yourself in the shoes of your organization’s managers. To carry out his or her job, each employee has to know the answer to four basic questions: * “What resources do I control to accomplish my tasks?” * “What measures will be used to evaluate my performance?” * “Who do I need to interact with and influence to achieve my goals?” * “How much support can I expect when I reach out to others for help?” The questions correspond to what I call the four basic spans of a job: control, accountability, influence, and support. Each span can be adjusted so that it is narrow or wide or somewhere in between. ENDQUOTE You can read article by follwing the link. I feel this is a very superficial way of designing jobs. At the most basic level questions to be asked are -which business processes are being performed through the job holder? -what kind of projects will be executed involving the job-holder -what knowledge and abilities are critical for success -what operating values are critical for success Failed jobs or jobs which leave the job-holder fending for herself happen because above questions are never raised. I feel that the four spans arise out of answers to above questions. The answers to the basic questions which I have mentioned will lead to a good job design. Hemant
