"First Step" in Operational excellence

Recently, I had a very good experience with a new-age company that expertly packages their products in a service wrapper. The company and its people are in the business of delivering customized products. They need to foresee customer preferences, predict changes & create unique products, provide excellent service - all at the same time or lose business to a compeitor.

Though I was initially engaged for Lean Six Sigma Training for all the service and product managers, creative heads and HR manager, I insisted, as I do with all clients I work with, to start the excercise with establishing the organization's Vision, the Strategy, Objectives, Goals, Tactics and Action plans.

The Vision excercise was done along with their top management, Service & Product managers, HR manager and creative managers. This activity lasted a week with several improvements to the original vision statement. What emerged at the end end of this activity was a distilled view of the entire organization as to

• Who they are
• Where they want to be
• What makes them "who they are"
• How do they appear to their customers

Another interesting aspect of the excercise was a spectrum of reactions on display. While there were those who were thrilled to be a part of the activity that aimed to clearly articulate the Vision of the organization, there were those who were cynical about its usefulness, to those who were bewildered at being included in an activity that is clearly the responsibility of the top management. While there were some who seemed indifferent, there were few who feared what they might be asked to do next. But then, everyone owned this new vision. 

Starting the Six Sigma journey with this approach has several advantages:

1. Establishes a clear line of sight between the strategy and quality improvement initiatives that are taken up as Six Sigma improvement projects.
2. All quality initiatives, including Six Sigma, thrive only if top management(read CEO) is interested in the outcomes. While Vision and strategy is at the top management end of the business, Six Sigma is at the "tactics" end. Without the Vision being tied to Tactics, improvement projects are arbitrary, departmental in nature and rarely address the organizational needs. With nothing to hold the CEO's interest in the new initiative Six Sigma is sure to fail.
3. When Six Sigma improvement projects are tied to Strategy, the CEO supports these projects with the necessary investments, takes interest in the outcomes and thus ensures that all such projects meet their business objectives.
4. People run projects and move processes. When people know that their projects directly address the business needs and contribute positively to the organization's growth, they are more likely to value themselves and the jobs they do
5. Strategy cascade creates an unending pipeline of improvement projects, the life blood of Six Sigma initiative.

The list could go on....... 

Extend this excerise to cover improvement initiatives tied to investments or budgets, people competence and training, hiring to fill skill gaps instead of number gaps......and a clear line of sight is established between the organization's Vision and the daily activities.

Could we, then, say that the first step to achieving operational excellence is Owning The Vision ? 

Jugaad needs heroes; systems don't

There was a time when a manufacturing or technology company got into exporting carpets, incense sticks, leather goods and the like, just to import materials or components essential for their core manufacturing activity.

That is getting around policies that were a major obstacle to doing business. The much celebrated Indian "Jugaad" was born. Jugaad is the Indian( read Hindi) word for working around obstacles. Working around is defined as methods adopted to work around obstacles but those that do not remove or eliminate obstacles. While results, though not always the most ideal ones, are achieved, the problems remain.

The above image is from http://gizmoghost.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/the-jugaad-riding-through-dusty-village-roads/

The celebration is a tribute to innovation at grassroots levels. Where, being a common man is not easy, such innovations are hailed as the spirit of India overcoming obstacles that exist at every step of the way. 

At some point, Jugaad found its way, from the grassroots up into every level, right upto the decision making level. This is when the country, people included, started loosing out on their thought process, work culture, outcomes and opportunities.

Extend the same argument to an organization. How many of us could say that we work in a culture that does not support "working-around". A culture of jugaad creates heroes out of those who find a better way to work around and such heroes are the biggest stumbling blocks in the way of implementing systems that replace "jugaad" with processes. 

Jugaad benefits employees; they get a chance at becoming a hero. It benefits organizations; they get their results, quick and cheap, without bothering about policies or systems. But little do they realize that jugaad eventually works out costlier by way of

• A poor work culture
• Employee burnout
• Whimsical or invented Just-In-Time decisions
• Low respect
• Employee indifference

Jugaad is here to stay unless excellence becomes a foundation upon which every organizational initiative is built. With our attention firmly on short term quarterly results, lowest-cost suppliers, lowest operating costs, does Jugaad have any chance of getting out of our work culture ?

Excellence is an Attitude

Operational excellence, in its true sense, is a combination of high product quality, improving profitability, innovation, market leadership, speed to market, asset utilization, new product or service introduction, continuously reducing cycle time, reduced defects, improving effectiveness and productivity.

What is the common thread that run through each one of these dimensions of excellence ? It is neither knowledge nor special skills. It is ATTITUDE. Excellence is an attitude that needs to be cultivated conciously by the individual, supported by the organization and eventually absorbed in the previaling culture till the only culture that is visible is that of excellence. Excellence, then, becomes the collective character of the organization.