This presentation focuses on how to generate leadership "pull" for transformation initiatives. Those organizations less mature in their strategy execution journey tend to focus on immediate challenges together with the ROI of projects and programs. Strategic alignment is often neglected. In many ways the focus in less mature organizations is a function of the Operational excellence team's ability to control projects, but lesser ability to control or influence the more strategic issues. This ability alone is a key differentiator between those teams that don't make real progress down the maturity continuum and those that do.
So, what are the key factors for success? Firstly, the organization needs to systematically translate strategy into actionable priorities. Easier said than done. Once that's achieved, management somehow need to maintain a real focus on the execution of those priorities. Finally, the executive need to be able to make course corrections early to stay on track.
Let's look at some of the practical ways to achieve these challenging aspirations. The leading organizations are increasingly looking to implement a "closed loop" strategy execution process. The first key step is to choose an appropriate methodology to ensure goals are clear and cascaded in a systematic way. Without doubt, the best way to achieve this is to use the Hoshin planning approach. Hoshin is a structured and systematic way of linking strategic intent with the initiatives required to deliver the intent. A key tool aiding the process is the Hoshin x matrix together with A3's. We will explore the X matrix in greater detail in another presentation. You will be able to find webinars on the topic at our site - www.i-nexus.com. A3's are essentially a visual representation of progress against intent and are very useful in providing real time updates on progress and blockers. One of the key challenges faced by executives is the ability to spot non performance early - to have the leading measures in place. By influencing the leading measures, management give themselves enough time to take corrective action before its too late. As suggested in the presentation, visual management is a key element of achieving day to day focus.Having a strategy execution platform such as i-nexus helps the team to generate and manage the visual reporting required as well as provide full integration of the project initiatives to goals.