In response to a question I received in my mailbox this weekend, I identified that in my view, there are five main drivers for improvement in organisations:
In no particular order
• Strategy
• Lean operations
• Balanced culture
• Customer responsiveness
• Leadership
Strategy sets direction and gives focus to improvement. It must however be deployed throughout the organisation to be effective.
Processes need to be mapped and analysed in a methodical way; projects must be managed; problem symptoms traced to root causes; data must be collected before decisions are taken; trends in customer preferences detached and fed back; improvement activity of any kind reported on and coordinated; improvement action measured. Just about everything should be done to a discipline.
A balanced culture means effective, creative management of people. Customers are served by people; processes are managed by people. Only people can deliver quality improvement. For them to work well they must be empowered, given direction, measured, reviewed and success recognised.
Customer responsiveness keeps the organisation focused on customer needs, reactions and changing requirements.
Finally, leadership ensures that everyone is enthused and supported to work on the strategy, improve processes, serve customers and become active team players.
You may also enjoy "Is Your Organisation Committed To Success?"
Today's News:
Over at Top 10 Sales Articles, we have just announced the Top Sales Article for June - no, I am not going spoil it for you, please check it out here
I am making a concerted effort to read more blogs, particularly those written by fellow Top Sales Experts and I promise to share with you any posts that I think you will enjoy. Dave Brock recounted an interesting experience on his blog last week - "What Did You Sell That For" and Dave Stein had something to say about "Competing On Price"
Tomorrow: My guest is "Mr Inside Sales" - Mike Brooks, who has a brand new book coming out shortly.
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