A 5-step Process for Business Transformations and Helping to Build a Stable Organization

Over the past few months we have started the Synergy Centre and Stratejis Marketing and Business Transformations.  The purpose of our new hybrid agency is to develop a new company that focuses in on helping businesses and organizations grow and prosper through a new Level 4 process that takes a company from being just a sales organization, ( developing products, finding customers and selling them) and transforming the company into a 2020 Organization.  

The following is a 5 step process that demonstrates five steps that company will need to consider in order to develop its 2020 Transformation Strategy.  We would like to thank Kamal Hassan is the Founder, President and CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of Innovation 360 for his views found in the 5 Steps outlined below.  His 5 steps provide a good overview of the steps that every organization must follow to go through the transformation process.

Step 1: Mobilize Senior Manager and Senior Leaders 

 

Organizational change begins with executive leadership, and the first step is to redefine the organization’s strategy. A strategy begins with an overall financial objective, such as return on investment or capital. There may also be a need to develop a process that will allow a company to be nimble or work with unique marketing conditions and changing or fickle customers.  This means that you will need to simplify process and perhaps reorganize your infrastructure. It also my mean to think a lot differently then you have in the past, get more creative about your business and enlist the help of staff at all levels since everyone will be part of the new marketing department.

Step 2: Translate Strategy into Simple Processes and Tangible Terms

The second step is to look at the company from a series of tangible perspectives :

• Financial Perspective – What financial objectives must be accomplished to satisfy shareholders?
• Customer Perspective – To achieve the financial objectives, what customer needs must be met?
• Internal Process Perspective – To satisfy both customers and shareholders, what business processes are critical?
• Infrastructure Perspective – To improve and optimize the critical processes, how must the organization be equipped?
   

It will become important to look at how all levels of the organization can get involved including staff, senior or middle managers, distributors and customer.  A lot of companies forget that the customer has a role in purchasing a product and if the the right processes are put into place including the key benefits and advantages for the customer then it will easy for the customer to take a role in the strategy as well.

Step 3: Align Business and Support Units - Structure These Through the Organization

After you identify the systems and processes that are critical to the success of your business, the third step is to assign metrics,For example, if you manufacture products, your core processes are likely marketing and sales, research and development, manufacturing, and purchasing. 

Each of these processes has certain outputs that should be measured by relevant PIs (e.g., an output of the manufacturing process is the number of units produced, which can be measured for a particular time period to establish a baseline metric).

 

The same logic applies to transactional organizations, such as hospitals, government agencies, banks, hotels, etc. The outputs of a service-based process may be less tangible, but they can and should be measured to track whether the organization is achieving optimal service levels.

 

In either case, the trick to aligning infrastructure and processes with strategy is to identify and monitor the metrics, or Performance Indicators, that support the organization’s strategic goals (e.g., Key Performance Indicators).

Step 4: Motivate Teams for Effective Implementation: Link and Reward Performance

. From the CEO to the executive team, mid-managers to project owners, leaders must be able to convey the overall strategy and supporting objectives in a manner that empowers the rest of the organization. This calls for more than simply managing the performance of others. 

 

It means guiding direct reports through activities and projects that will enable the organization to meet specific goals, while still maintaining daily operations. This requires an array of leadership skills, such as the ability to take action, provide direction, identify and eliminate distractions, motivate others and facilitate team success.

 

Leaders must also empower their best and brightest employees to become experts at understanding, improving and simplifying the organization’s core processes. Money and time must be set aside for training and professional development in the areas of Performance Excellence (e.g., Lean Six Sigma), innovation and leadership development. It’s not enough to send a few employees to training and then expect them to make change happen from the bottom up. The commitment to process improvement and organizational stability must be supported from the top and thoughtfully deployed throughout the organization.

Step 5: Strive for Perfection – Repeat the 5-step Strategic Process

 

Finally, this cycle of transformation must be integrated into the organization and embodied at every level. Go beyond these steps as a one-time checklist, and make the continual pursuit of perfection your goal. The hardest part is getting started. Once employees see how their contribution can make a difference, and management begins to see the positive effect on the company’s bottom line, a powerful momentum will motivate change. With each cycle of this five-step process, your organization will become healthier and more stable.