Operational Improvement Frameworks

In today’s highly competitive market, the primary goal of any business is to continuously improve operations to meet market demands and provide value to the customers. To achieve this goal, management needs to think and act strategically. Their actions must be based on facts and focus on factors that create or add value and predict organizational and operational success. It is through knowing and understanding these facts that businesses can make informed decisions and initiate necessary improvements. We cannot improve what we cannot measure and more so, we cannot improve what we do not understand.

There are several methodologies that companies can implement to help drive operational and performance excellence to improve overall business results. Some of these methodologies include: Balanced Scorecard, Malcolm Baldrige Criteria, and Six Sigma. Each of these practices runs on data, provides success measures, and identifies specific goals. They all depend on factual information and reliable data to measure and analyze the quality of given processes to improve organizational and operational performance. Their scope of measuring performance goes beyond evaluating traditional quantity indicators such as financial or accounting-based productivity considerations. These tools are fact-based decision-making mechanisms that can aid organizations in performing analyses to appraise and control processes, and boost performance. They aim to streamline systematic series of actions and improve market position.

The Balanced Scorecard approach uses “a carefully selected set of quantifiable measures derived from an organization’s strategy” (Niven, 2006, p. 13). The goal of using the Balanced Scorecard is to translate strategies into action and metrics. “I see this tool as three things: communication tool, measurement system, and strategic management system” (Niven, 2006, p. 13). It explores a strategy using four perspectives: financial, internal, customer, and innovation and learning perspectives. When these perspectives are integrated, the Balanced Scorecard can provide a system to track, assess and capitalize on crucial success factors.

Companies or organizations use the Balanced Scorecard to address three significant challenges: fully measure organizational and operational performance, effectively monitor and extract the value of intangible assets, and successfully implement strategy. The weakness of the Balanced Scorecard is that it does not show relationships and dependencies between its four designed quadrants. An example would be making a change in one quadrant may degrade or upgrade performance in another quadrant. In order to bridge this gap, it is important to have a good understanding of how critical indicators are developed and what processes these indicators depend on.

The methodology that uses Malcolm Baldrige Criteria is “built on a set of core values and concepts” (George, n.d., para. 2). George noted that the Criteria for Performance Excellence booklet states, “the Criteria are designed to help provide organizations with an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in delivery of ever-improving value to patients/customers/students improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities organizational and personal learning” (para. 1). It is known to assist organizations use a more focused and methodical approach to performance management. It can address governance and ethics-related concerns and take into account important decisions driving both short-term and long-term organizational sustainability. This approach defines a combined framework and a set of fundamental practices for a high-performance management system. However, it does not recommend starting points nor specific quality tools and techniques. To address this weakness, it would be ideal to utilize a systematic and process-oriented methodology such as Six Sigma.

Gygi, DeCarlo, and Williams (2005) described Six Sigma as the single most effective problem-solving methodology for improving business and organizational performance. It is a systematic and data-driven approach that addresses and solves process-related challenges to achieve bottom-line results. It can reveal the cost of poor quality in factual terms and provide direction as to how it can be improved or corrected.

The focal point of Six Sigma is on changing or improving results by focusing on inputs, modifying these inputs and controlling them. Properly applying Six Sigma tools can yield great results when implemented. Its weakness, however, is that it does not cover all the elements required to optimize organizational performance.

These methodologies can all be used individually as operational improvement tools but to address the weakness of each practice, a combination of systems would be the most effective solution. The success of any or a combination of these quality management tools highly depends on corporate buy-in and mindset. Equally important is the commitment to change management practices for improvement and engaging workforce and customers to ensure proper alignment of processes and resources.

“The most effective integrated management system would be one in which an organization uses the Baldrige Criteria as a method of establishing a “culture of excellence,” assessing performance, and prioritizing initiatives” (Grizzell, 2004, para. 10). It is highly recommended that either Six Sigma or Balanced Scorecard methods be used within the context of a Baldrige-based integrated culture of performance excellence. Combining the tool sets of Six Sigma or the Balance Scorecard methods with a framework for high performance management could assist companies as they drive to operational excellence.

Dollars and Sense of Providing Value

In order to understand value in your organization, you need to develop a value chain.  This means methodically analyze your core and supporting activities and how everything is connected and where there’s a disconnect with your processes, resources, and the overall understanding of value as defined by the customer.  It’s not so much about what you think is of value to a customer but more of what the customers perceive is of value.  

In order to create value, you need to know your customers and understand their perception of “value” of the product or service you provide.  You also need to know how processes positively or negatively impact customer service, customer loyalty, customer retention, and customer satisfaction.

A customer’s idea of what represents value for money may well vary from one customer to another and can also shift through time, season, or even day to day.  At the most basic level, customers with tight budgets will think of value as getting more for their dollar.  Other customers may be prepared to pay more in order to receive a higher quality of service.  There are others who are willing to pay a higher price tag on the psychological value in being able to say that they are able to afford to be customers of high-status names even though in some cases, their products or services may not be any better than a lower-priced product or service company.  

As managers, you must be aware of the full range of influences on the customers’ assessment of value.  A key element in this understanding is the relationship between the service brand values as communicated to the customer and the potential variance or incongruence in terms of customer experience. 

Sustainable business makes dollars and sense.  Are you providing value that makes dollars and sense?  

Til next time….  be well and be blessed.

Service Design

Design is both an art and action of conceiving and producing a plan or drawing illustrating the thought process behind an action.  Regardless what it is you’re designing, be it a product or service, certain things involved such as:  goals, tasks, tools, actions, and results will always be different.  However, whether you’re designing a product or service, it requires planning, organizing, and set of processes.  These processes determine the quality of your products and/or services.  In order to improve products and/or services, processes need to be improved along with the design process itself.  This involves knowing and understanding what your company is about, your products and services, your customer base, and the value that you provide your customers.

Service offerings for example, requires key strategic design choices to be effective and to get the best return on investment.  They must be relevant to the market, provide value to the customer, and increase revenue.  In addition, there are also certain product characteristics (complexity, customization level, customer knowledge, capacity) and process characteristics (technology, tasks) including touch points (customer, employees, and system interaction) to take into account.  Each of these decisions affect the final outcome measured by performance metrics (customer satisfaction, customer retention, market and economic indicators).  

Success in this area is not simply about performing a good technical task or delivering on projects.  Success is also about making a wider contribution to the success of the organization.  When dealing with service-oriented functions, value is critical.  You need to provide customer value, deliver brand values, contribute to the bottom line and deliver organizational contribution.  

These internal and external components are very important aspects to take into consideration not only to design new services but also improving existing ones.  We cannot improve what we cannot measure and more so, we cannot improve what we do not understand.

Stay tuned for our next topic on “value”. 

Building Your Brand

This is a follow-up post to my post, Branding the Product Called…. YOU.  Brand identity is your key to success.  In order to create and establish your own brand identity, you need to make time, have the passion, focus and dedication.  It’s a brand new world out there, folks!  Branding is no longer just about tech giants like Microsoft, Google, etc. or products like Sony, Dell, Apple, Nike, etc.  We’re talking about personal brand — YOU.  

There are people who try so hard to blend in, fit in, just be like everybody else and no matter what they do, they’re just “different” and somehow, just can’t be “just like everybody else”.  Well, sometimes, that’s just it — you’re different.  Don’t try so hard to fit in when you are meant to stand out.  Embrace it!    

Strong brands stand out.  Differentiation separates them from competition.  If you want to beat competition, just like the big companies, you, too can be different.  You, too can develop your own brand.  Are you ready to take on the challenge and be the Marketing Director of your own product called YOU?  :)

Here are some tips on how you can get started in building your own brand:

• THINK and think hard about you, what you have to offer, your value, what’s special and unique about you and what sets you apart from competition.
• Think about what message and/or image you want to convey.  What impression will it give others?  
• Connect your answers.  Think about your answers and determine what “brand” it’s revealing to you or about you.  Be truthful.  Is that really “you”?  If it is and you found your strong suit that you can capitalize on, create your brand statement not only for your general audience but also your target market.
• Once you create your brand identity or brand statement, develop a strategy to promote your brand —YOU.  
• In all that you do, ensure to think about if it is helping to establish, maintain, support and protect your brand.
• Be consistent in your message based on your words, actions, values, and image.  
• Maintain and protect your reputation.  This is your brand.

In your career, be clear about your brand.  Execute and deliver based on this brand.  Continue to develop your skills, hone your abilities, take on new challenges.  As you move along, figure out how to differentiate yourself from all the other very smart people you’re working with.  Later on, figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself.  So long as you’re willing to invest in yourself, continue to learn, improve, enhance your skills, you, too have the opportunity to stand out and have a chance to have that brand worthy of remark.

Branding the Product Called You

Do you know what your most important asset is?  I found this question posted by Mike Muhney whom I’ve met online.  Mr. Muhney is the co-inventor of the ACT! software and has been recognized as a global visionary and powerful speaker worldwide.  As a motivational speaker, he covered subjects pertaining to effective business relationships such as improving the way companies do business, entrepreneurship, market creation, penetration and leadership, global expansion, and motivational speaking.

If you follow the link, you’ll find that people answered this question differently.  I can see how some identified their customers, their skills, education, people, etc. as their most important asset.  Personally, what I consider as my most valuable asset from a business and professional standpoint is my reputation of executing on decisions and delivering results.  This is what I’ve been known for and if I were a product, this is what my brand would communicate about who I am.  A strong and well-established brand can stand the test of time.  They have the capability to navigate and maneuver through tough times.  So, depending on your “brand”, you’ll have the opportunity to be well-known and carry a certain differentiation among others.  :)

The world of work has changed over the last few decades.  In the 50’s, people wore their corporate uniforms and their value was linked to their loyalty and longevity.  So long as they didn’t rock the boat or create any waves, they worked for that same company forever and retired with a pension.  Few decades later, things changed as we gained access to the internet.  This was the 80’s…  This expanded our reach as far as the world wide web can take us.  We were able to contribute more and with a more relaxed work environment, we were also able to wear the corporate uniform of casual attires.  This was no longer the era of being recognized by loyalty and longevity but more of our individuality.  Job security also declined a bit but not as much as we have in the 21st century, where things changed yet again.  In this day and age, we are pretty much judged everyday and our new corporate uniform is a suit of armor.  This armor plate IS your brand.  It will say a lot about your product.  

In our current economic climate, employable, qualified professionals should think beyond a knock-out resume and titles especially when it comes to job search or advancing their careers.  

Food for Thought:  Given the fierce competition, what makes you unique or better than a million others?  How are you different?  Did you also factor in the fact that commodities compete on price?  What is your brand?  How does your day to day support your brand?  In my opinion, saying you have the credentials and that you’re loyal, you do a great job and hard working, etc., etc. doesn’t cut it anymore.  Think about buying a car.  The tires are not extra value-added features.  They come with the car and therefore, an expected component.  :)    

 In this tough economy and highly competitive job market, can you really afford not to have a strategy, a brand for the product called, “You”?  

Interested to know the “how” of creating your brand?  Stay tuned!

Business and Marketing Strategy

Earlier this month, we talked about the Key Elements to Basic Strengths but skipped the business and marketing strategy technobabble and saved it for another day which is today’s entry.  

Business strategy doesn’t mean very much without marketing strategy.  You can have a good business strategy for a product or service but without an effective marketing strategy, the business strategy won’t go very far.  The key to any successful strategy is the unique value proposition you execute on and actually deliver to the customers.  The thing is, there’s nothing more challenging and more dynamic than creating, supporting, and maintaining these unique value propositions.  

A company’s most important asset other than their people includes their relationship and reputation in the marketplace and their customer base.  But regardless of the strategy or manner in which a company tries to create a certain experience for their customers, to entice them, to simply deliver best in class type of service of great value, or a blend of any of these elements, the competitors are working on taking advantage of certain opportunities to pry these customers and take business opportunities away.  In order to prevent this or at least minimize the possibility is to successfully secure and expand new and existing relationships with your customers.  For example:  there’s been many times when companies that are rich in intellectual capital who have significantly under leveraged this important asset at the market and customer interfaces.  For the competitor, this opens up a wide-array of opportunities to tap into these customers and take the business.  

Few weeks back, I was talking to an executive and we discussed knowledge-based CRM where you design and build as an integral part of a business this intellectual capital or the knowledge, experiences, expertise, and processes and integrate them within your customers’ processes.  This is not only a proactive measure but also a way of partnering with your customers.  It is also known as first-mover advantage play, so get going! 

Opportunities You Might Be Interested In...

I’ve been very busy over the last week reaching out to people, connecting them with helpful information, possible job leads and other resources.  It’s amazing how much you’ll learn by getting involved.  Personally, I find it rewarding to be able to help out.  The last couple days, I met some people for coffee, some for lunch to just catch up and reach out.  Last night, I was at the PMI-SNC meeting and I’ve met some good people.  I even met someone I worked with years ago and another gentleman that I’ve only known online.  Before I start today’s post, I want to say “Hello” to my new connections — Bill, James, Adam, Tamyalew, and Verner.  Welcome to my corner on the web.  :)

Considering there’s been more and more job-related information I’m receiving, I might have to create a separate category for job seekers that will contain job postings, announcements, free services, unemployment info, etc.  This will also help me reduce my typing and yapping.  :)

Before I get into today’s post, just a friendly reminder and disclosure, I am NOT affiliated nor do I have direct connection nor compensated by any of these companies.  I’m simply volunteering my time and sharing information that I come across.  Please contact them directly for job opportunities you’re interested in.  Thank you.

In Las Vegas, NV:

• Regional Field Operations Manager

In Southern California (San Diego, Oceanside, San Marcos, Carlsbad area):

• Innovation Director
• Finance Director
• Sales, Stock and Customer Service
• QA Director
• Systems Specialist
• VP/Director of Finance

Although there are tons of jobs posted online, I highly recommend building and growing your professional network and remain connected with your contacts.  Networking is key to your next opportunity.  Considering almost everybody under the sun that’s unemployed is going on the internet for job search, that really makes your chance of getting a job slim to zilch.  Majority of the jobs are filled internally .  The rest, through referrals.  There’s only a small percentage that get their foot in the door through job boards.  Here’s a study conducted by CareerXRoads.  You can increase your chances tremendously going for the unadvertised jobs by connecting with people.  

Build your profile on LinkedIn for professional networking.  Join social networks such as FaceBook.  Get onTwitter.  One other thing that I’m passionate about and highly recommend is volunteering.  Remember my post on giving first before receiving???  Well, here’s your chance.  Visit Volunteer Match for more info.  To take it a step further, be THE CHANGE America needs.  I’m a citizen co-sponsor of the Serve America Act. Don’t wait for change. Change starts with each and everyone of us.  Get involved.  Let’s make service central to citizenship and building a brighter future for our people and our children.  To become a citizen co-sponsor, click here.  To learn more about the Serve America Act, visit Be The Change Action online.