“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”  ~ Nelson Mandela

Taking a culture that is innovative and market driven, and refocusing that culture on operational excellence, is analogous to changing an organization’s DNA. The sheer magnitude of the problem can be overwhelming.

We have recently discovered some breakdowns in our business processes and procedures, some of which we found to be terribly inefficient and not in the best interests of our clients. Quick fixes such as technology-based solutions or organizational realignments don’t always address the root causes of the problem. Consequently, senior leadership chose to focus on deliberately instilling a mentality of excellence in our business processes, supported by the proper technology and organizational structure. This change in approach has already shown results far greater and longer-lasting than our previous efforts.

The need to improve business processes is not unusual, as cycles of change results in increased complexities which usually cause process costs to increase. Reasons for growing complexity are numerous, including rapid expansion, customer expectations of rapid response time, and more stringent reporting requirements.

The first step of our business process improvement plan was to discover where in the organization value could be captured. Essentially, we have identified the three value creation areas involves process, technology and organizational changes. While assessing our level of process maturity, we have developed a plan of documenting best practices across all our business units, all while determining where we are significantly lagging behind our competitors.

Only then could we ask the bigger question of what needs to be done and how do we do it? Next month’s blog will address our strategies of managing change with our staff.

“To face tomorrow with the thought of using the methods of yesterday is to envision life at a standstill. To keep ahead, each one of us, no matter what our task, must search for new and better methods – for even that which we now do well must be done better tomorrow.”   ~ James F. Bell

VLS/8/31/2015