Examples:
- Mission: To provide value for money and service with a smile. (From Bargain Books)
- Values: Profit, respect for the individual, teamworking, integrity, honesty, technical excellence, managerial excellence, listening to customers (internal and external), belief in knowledge.
- Guiding Principals: The need for continual learning to achieve values and mission, the establishment of a "Learning Organisation," listening to the customer within their thinking framework, differentiation between Leadership and management, the opportunities that arise from capturing the motivation of the individual.
- Theoretical Assumptions in the context of: how we think, systems thinking, variation, psychology, how we learn, etc
The aim should be seen as a potent statement of intent that facilitates the challenging of our every day actions.
"If I take this action, or design that procedure, am I in line with the aims and values of the company?"
Recognition of Where We Are Now
Having identified our vision - where we are going - we take time to consider our starting point. What are the principles or theoretical assumptions that form the basis of our present organisational thinking? The starting point is identified by listening to staff, studying control and improvement operations, considering how the company views motivation, examining reports and how they are presented, reviewing how measurement is used, considering the style and effectiveness of communication, gauging the morale of employees, etc. If appropriate it may use the format identified in the comparison between old and new management concepts identified elsewhere on this site.
The conclusion of the 'where are we now exercise' is a report expressing a view of the present position, supported by evidence and with various recommendations. These recommendations are discussed at length with senior management and agreement is secured as to the structure and format of a future improvement initiative.
Appreciating Alternative Management Principles
The objective of this part of the implementation programme is to allow senior executives to compare the management principles that at present underpin their organisation in contrast to those principles that have evolved out of modern management research.
This is not an easy exercise. Our perception of how we manage is deeply held by us all. We all find it extremely difficult to challenge and change management principles that have guided our success in past years. We would not underestimate the difficulty of the "unlearning" process. We therefore suggest a series of workshops that takes the findings of modern principles and relates them to the practical situation on the ground. These workshops would be ongoing throughout the change process. . And finally we recognise that not all new research will be appropriate to your organisation at this point in its development.
Building a Shared Vision
Our employees come to work wanting to do a good job, wanting to take pride in their work. They are already motivated. The energy is there. The difficulty is that we all see our jobs from our own perspective. We form our own view of what has to be done. The result is lack of alignment.
Our employees express their commitment from localised perspectives and chaos ensues. We can counteract this tendency through formalised instructions, job descriptions and control mechanisms. Unfortunately this approach seriously damages the inherent motivation of the employee - it also puts considerable strain on management. The alternative is to build a shared vision, a shared sense of purpose and direction. The following two quotations form Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline) encapsulates the challenge:
"Without a strong vision individuals will have a tendency to develop their own agendas, which if not recognised will degenerate into competition between members"
"Few, if any, forces in human affairs are as powerful as a shared vision"
Building a shared vision is a long-term challenge. At a weekend retreat the senior executives may by able to agree an aim with vision statements, but securing the 'hearts and minds' of everybody within the organisation takes time plus a willingness to ruthlessly eliminate any system or practice that contradicts the vision.
Training of a Facilitation Team
There is a lot of work in designing robust systems, recording the systems, facilitating continual improvement, designing performance measurement systems, collecting and analysing the data etc. Who is going to do this work? It may be the Quality/Safety Manager or a separate staff group or for smaller organisations the consultant himself. (This group does need the full support of the Directors)
The initial training programme for this individual or group is therefore likely to be an adaptation of the "Leadership and Management in the New Millennium" training course mentioned elsewhere on this site.
In this process we will have established that the systems in which we all work have an inordinate effect on the results that we achieve. This is especially true in the context of the organisation as a whole. We stress yet again that if the enterprise has sound and robust systems then quality and service will be the outcome. If on the other hand the systems are poorly defined and chaotic then the outcomes will be characterised by poor service, low profit and reduced morale.
Emphasis is therefore placed on trained the facilitation team in the application of systems thinking - especially in the use of flow maps to facilitate the recording and studying of systems.
While some minor improvements can be readily gained, the more challenging problems require careful consideration backed by sound data. The team is therefore trained in the structuring of an improvement programme and in the collection and analysis of data. In this process techniques such as Pareto analysis, control charts and 'cause and effect' diagrams are addressed.
We would also expect the facilitators to encourage original thinking. Techniques such as brainstorming, lateral thinking, parallel thinking and mind mapping are covered.
Perhaps the main impediment to progress is our mindsets or paradigms. Consideration is therefore given to recognition of how our mindsets have been developed, our difficulty in seeing new perspectives and how we might facilitate the change process.
Those working in the system are the customers of the design of the system. We develop approaches to studying the customer using the systems designed for them.
We consider how people are motivated, their motivation profile and how they respond to a team-working scenario.
With the aim of securing commitment to change from those working in the system, consideration is given as to how to involve staff in the improvement process.
Design of Management Systems
The actual design of the management systems is the crux of the whole improvement exercise. It is the design and implementation of these new systems on the basis of modern researched concepts that will yield the quantum leap forward in profit, service and morale.
We start the design process by drawing a high level map that depicts the cyclical service provided by the organisation. It includes both the customer and the suppliers. An example is shown below:
From this high level diagram we can, as shown below, breakdown parts of the system into greater detail. We draw lower level deployment flow diagrams and continue to break down the system into its component parts. The object is to study and improve the parts while retaining the concept of the whole.
The deployment flow map package used above is supplied by Management- New Style and the actual package can be viewed on their web site: http://www.flowmap.com. Mandos also provide the Promanade Software for flow mapping, more information on which is avaialable from their web site is http://www.mandos.co.uk
The beauty of these packages is that it allows us to define our systems and sub-systems with little documentation and the minimum of words. And with the use of the various link functions it allows the user to quickly get to the piece of information that they require. Organisations that use flow map packages find that they are extremely helpful in the design of systems and in their acceptance by those using the system.
In designing or specifying each system or sub-system we do have to ensure that there is a clear focus on the aim and each system clearly contributes to the overall aim and values of the company.
Our first consideration of systems usually yields readily identified improvements. We would take action to implement these improvements so that the programme starts to provide early results.
However the long-term aim is to design what we call "robust" systems. We therefore continue to study the system and collect data as to its present performance. We continue searching for improvement.
Involvement of Staff
As we have mentioned above those working in the system are the customers of the system. They are therefore the richest source of new ideas. Furthermore giving those in the system the opportunity to lead the improvement process captures considerable progressive energy and commitment to new systems and new thinking. Involvement of staff is a very powerful tool in communicating a new trusting and empowering culture.
The primary mechanism for involving staff is the establishment of "Quality Improvement Teams." By this stage we will have already trained the facilitators such that they will be able to establish and co-ordinate the contributions of the improvement teams. For smaller organisations the consultant acts as the facilitator.
The individual or team that redesigns the system retains ownership of the system. In this way staff know where to direct any future developments of the system. They do not have to go through the hierarchical channels, they can go direct to the improvement team.
Measurement of the Systems
Having designed the system we move onto measures that give an indication of the effectiveness of the system. To enable us to differentiate between expected and unexpected variation we would display the data on a control chart.
In seeking measurement we 'study the customer using the service.' We would consider the service in the three tiers covering:
- The basic requirements
- Performance enhancing characteristics
- Those attributes that will delight the customer.
Continual Improvement
In designing systems we will have established a continual improvement process. (The new ISO 9000 2000 standard recognises this need by having a specific section titled "Measurement, analysis and improvement.")
We would look to staff members to be the main drivers of continual improvement - especially in the context of systems.
One of the principal tools of continual improvement is what is referred to as the PDSA cycle. We Plan an improvement based on sound theory, Do it, then Study the results and finally take Action relative to our findings. And then go through the cycle again - and again - securing improvement with each cycle. The organisation would encourage experimentation and risk. And secure gains by recording each system development onto the appropriate deployment flowmaps. This is the process by which the organisation develops its knowledge.
If our staff are going to be the main drivers of improvement then it is logical for the organisation to maintain a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. The knowledge available on the management of the human potential is to say the least extensive - there is much to know - and our understanding is continuing to develop.
And this takes us right back to the beginning. Securing improvement in profit, service and morale is a continuos and cyclical process.
The book by Margaret Wheatley titled "A Simpler Way" encapsulates our objective. If given the scope and leadership we have the ability to be self organising, to create self organising systems. While we recognise management is complex, our aim is to work through that complexity and discover a simpler way. The simpler way is based on systems, trust and a unified vision.
Accreditation
Having gone through the above process the organisation will have achieved real improvements to their profit (or cost effectiveness), service and morale. They will also be in a position to gain accreditation to whichever standard they choose. Be it ISO 9000, IiP, The Business Excellence Model, 1st Point Assessment etc etc.