Most business leaders I know are plugged in 24/7, continually searching for business improvement strategies to create a winning organization. It’s true such organizations are rare, yet you know them when you see them. They have the right structure, the right beliefs and waste is under control. It’s almost as if the stars aligned! The best people are attracted to them and the best clients flock to them as well.
How do you create a winning organization? Where do you start? How long will it take? It can take up to a decade to create a winning organization. And though you will make mistakes, let this ignite you with enthusiasm! After all, when were you ever in a position to be 100% right all the time? The following are the proven steps to create and maintain a winning organization.
Step 1 – Choose the best structure for your organization. Identify the right people, right customers, rights products/services and the right cost of manufacture. Expect this stage to take 1 to 2 years. Move to the next stage once you believe you have the right structure in place .
Step 2 – Remove waste from the structure. You’ve hired the right people but are they implementing and executing appropriately? Are they all on the same page or are interpretations of what to do and how to do it different? Expect and search for inefficiencies. Seven areas of waste are overproduction, waiting, transport, inappropriate processing, inventory, motion and defects. Expect this stage to take 1 to 2 years.
Step 3 – Address the beliefs of the people in your organization. For example, if the people in your organization do not feel worthy of success then they will prove themselves right, using the organization to prove it. As a leader, your role is to show people how to develop a belief system of being worthy (successful). By doing so then they prove themselves to be successful using the organization as a vehicle for that success. The result is motivation by creating a win win for both the individual and the organization. This stage can take 2 to 5 years.
Once you have cycled through each of the stages, repeat the cycle. Thus, a continuous business improvement cycle is now built into the business.
With tenacity and your ongoing commitment, you can establish business improvement strategies that lead to your organization being one most rare.