Achieving Operational Excellence Through People (A journey towards Everlasting Excellence)
My attempt to
provide insights on this subject is based on my own individual experience and
things that I have seen happening in India and abroad.
At an individual
level, attributes such as intelligence, discipline, work ethic, skills and
expertise define the potential of an individual. Some of us are able to use
these individual attributes to deliver above average and sometimes brilliant
performance in our own chosen spheres. An individual’s ability to use this
potential to perform consistently leads to excellence at individual level.
Rafalel Nadal
and Roger Federer are examples of individuals who have evolved from being
potentially good, to legends in their own right, through a consistent
exhibition of individual brilliance that scales new heights as they mature.
There are
examples of excellent teams too. The West Indies Cricket Team of late seventies
and eighties was a consistent world beater. The brilliance of their performance
was not a flash in the pan; they were individually brilliant and collectively
the world beaters.
However as most
of you- who are familiar with the recent history of world cricket know, West
Indies is no longer a big force in world cricket. The brilliance of eighties
has given way to mediocrity and indiscipline.
Amongst the
corporate sector too, we continue to see some of the past greats just being that…
PAST GREATS; And amongst all this, there are some shining examples of companies
that exhibit EVERLASTING EXCELLENCE. DuPont
has had nearly 300 continuous quarters of profit… is this everlasting
excellence?
I have been with
organizations and teams that have created a belief in me that people play a
very important role in fostering excellence. My talk today is about four points
that play a key role in
“Achieving
Operational Excellence through people.”
1. Organization
vision and individual dreams:
Vision
of the organization and dreams of its people are inseparable, People matter and
their dreams matter too.
We spend
a lot of time in creating strategy, defining goals and articulating vision for
organizations.
Smaller
organizations find it easier to create an environment where the organizational
vision and individual dreams often merge. Individual brilliance, strong and
visionary leadership, a brilliant idea, an easy to understand purpose and
performance culture; form vital ingredients for driving excellence through
people in such organizations.
For
Example; Most technology startups display Vitality, Drive and singleness of
purpose amongst a large spectrum of individuals.
Motivating
People in such organizations is generally not a challenge at least in the
startup years. However startups face different challenges. The vision, dreams
and motivation are often based on an unproven idea and shaky business model.
Angel or Venture funded organizations, early stage companies are places full of
dreamers where conservatives don’t enter.
Here you
see examples of individual and collective excellence driven by belief in an
idea, trust in the leader’s belief and sometimes an idiotic streak that runs
through the organization. Those of you who have been a part of startup
organizations would have experienced this madness and probably enjoyed every
bit of the experience.
I ran a
startup company ten years back. And ten years after the failure of this startup
venture, and after being through two relatively successful stints after this
failure; I continue to believe that the time that I spent with this startup
venture was the best of my professional career.
The reason is simple. “Organization’s vision
was no different from individual dreams.” This created a workplace where a
small and young team gave the best they could, to shape a collective dream. We
cared for each other just like family members would, we enjoyed each other’s
success, and we worked day and night because we knew that failure would mean
the end.
The ethos
of such an organization is mostly built on a few champions who quickly acquire
a cult status. The very same factors which created initial success become the
bottleneck as the start ups mature. The initial exuberance of common goal and
group success could give way to individual growth needs.
Probably
the challenge lies in preserving this vitality and vibrancy. I firmly believe
that smaller groups, with enough empowerment in larger organizations are also
able to create exactly this…. excellence through People by creating a workplace
where people are willing to give their best. It makes for a creative, dynamic,
vibrant and high performance organization.
2. Organization
values and beliefs
The other important ingredient for Excellence in an organization is
percolation of the leadership’s values and beliefs through the organization;
Values matter
-
Certain organizations have come to represent
value driven approach (e.g. Tata Group in India). It is important to be seen as
a set of people who stand for something that is beyond the products, technology
and profits that the organization represents. People instinctively relate to
such softer but larger than life values and tend to strive harder just to
demonstrate the values. I believe that a bunch of people striving to deliver
values also create a work place where excellence is like ‘understated
performance’.
-
Communicating, demonstrating and practicing the
values at leadership level creates believers
-
Champions amongst believers are critical to
ensure that values turn in to a culture
-
Everlasting Excellence is one of the natural outcomes
of value driven business practices.
My own belief in the strength of beliefs stems from the success of
organizations such as ISRO and BARC. If you meet the scientists working in
these organizations you may discover one common trait…. the belief in self and
sense of patriotism that drives them. This belief is a big factor behind
success of Pokhran and Chandrayan.
3. Operational
Excellence in global environment
This
point is more about processes; because Processes matter and people are very
much a part and parcel of processes that they run.
-
Individualism and leader centric approach
typifies many Indian organizations. I may be raising some controversy here; but
somehow we tend to look for a leader… I do not know whether this is to do with
our more recent exposure to democracy… but we seem to thrive in an environment
where there is an omnipresent manager/ leader. And in most organizations he is
the one who is getting the work done, driving people to deliver, setting daily,
weekly and monthly tasks and being a task master. In most Indian organization,
the manager is an Activity Manager.
-
Process oriented approach and work breakdown
based industrial processes typify most global companies. Most managers in these
companies are process managers. They define the process, train their people,
create systems, implement technology to bring in efficiency and then expect
people to perform as per pre-determined benchmarks
Our company has operation in 22 different countries through subsidiaries.
The Indian subsidiary looks after the Indian business and like all subs we have
a Sales Head. He is responsible for Sales and market share. He is a brilliant
individual with successful track record. He travels around the country visiting
all our branch offices and also meets customers especially to conduct final
negotiations for closing the contract. He is very successful.
Last year I visited our subsidiary in Brazil and they too have a Sales
Head. The Sales Head has hired 22 territory managers, who in turn have dealers
and engineers in their territories. He visits the regions, meets customers but
in most cases not for conducting negotiations. He is primarily managing the
process while letting the people in the field handle negotiations. He is also
very successful.
These are two distinct approaches to the same job. Is it that the culture
in our country expects large and complex negotiations to be conducted by
someone with a heavy title?
What is more suitable for sustainable, everlasting
excellence? Will we have to change towards a more process oriented style of
management? I believe so.
Because sound processes are the foundation of everlasting
excellence.
4. Involving
people in shaping organization strategies:
Organization and Business Strategy are normally seen as the
responsibilities of senior management. And they definitely are. The senior
management carries the responsibility of organization’s success or failure.
In my experience, involving people in strategy making process creates an
excellent ground for successful implementation and also lays a foundation of
everlasting excellence; because, how people think matters
Try this:
Analyze people in your organization by their thinking preferences. The
way we think influences the way we behave. Very often you will find 4 type of
people, based on their thinking preferences
o The
dreamers- who like to experiment/take risks. They are insightful and
imaginative. They articulate a vision and can be vocal about their views. They
have good ideas but sometimes lack the method to implement their ideas. They
are passionate; we need to keep them passionate.
o There
are the analysts- for whom facts matter. They are logical and analytical. They
act as a counterbalance to the men and women with ideas. Sometimes they lack
the power of communication to articulate their views but can provide an edge to
the dreamers with their sharp data based instincts. They are the rationalists
and we need them.
o Then
there are the Conservatives- who avoid risk. They are very organized and detail
oriented. Very often they end up being seen by the dreamers and Analysts as
conservative laggards. However they are an essential element to any winning
combination.
o And
finally there are the Emotionals – for whom people and their well being comes
first. They pick up the non verbal clues; they are compassionate and
persuasive. There is no argument; we need them on board.
Now your challenge is:
-
How do you get them in one room to create a
whole brained approach to strategy
-
How do you get employees from all levels to
participate in evolving a strategy
-
How do you communicate strategic objectives
-
How do you make people partner in the process of
implementation
-
How do you make them stakeholders
If an
organization is able to do this year after year, it will create a foundation of
Everlasting Excellence. It will probably lead to Creating an Institution and a Culture
where people are involved in strategy making and also in delivering excellence.
Finally I am
reminded of what Joel Baker said many years ago
Vision with
action is a dream
Action without
vision is passing the time
Vision with action
can change the world
And my own bit…action
needs a method, a rationale and a lot of compassion.
All people in
the organization have an ability to influence the course of strategic thinking
of their organization; because irrespective of whether you are a visionary or a
so called conservative laggard; you have a role to play in creating everlasting
excellence.
posted by Unknown @ 1:51 PM
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