Operational Excellence- Time to eat our own dog food

Bart Reijs has written an article on his interpretation of the Global State of Operational Excellence Survey Report - Critical Challenges & Future Trends - 2018/2019.  Click here to download the full Survey Report 2018/19.  

The Most Comprehensive Study of Critical Challenges and Future Trends within Operational Excellence

With nearly 1000 respondents, 37 insightful questions, detailed analysis & insights from 40 industry thought leaders, and the BTOES Insights executive team, this 130 page report is recognised as the most comprehensive study of critical challenges and future trends within Operational Excellence, and is considered a key resource for the industry. Areas covered include:

• The Critical Operational Excellence Challenges faced by executives.

• The Current Scope of Operational Excellence.

• How is Operational Excellence success measured?

• Key Findings & Roadblocks.

• What are executives focusing on over the next 12-18 months?

• What have been the greatest developments?

• What are the key drivers pushing change in Operational Excellence?

• Industry Perspectives.

• Small, Medium & Large Corporation Perspectives.

• Detail Analysis & Insights from BTOES Insights Executive Team.

• Detailed Analysis & Insights from 40 Industry Thought Leaders.

• Analysis of key themes, including Cultural Transformation, Customer Delight, Sustaining an Operational Excellence program, Need for end-to-end Business Transformation, Keeping up with new technologies/impact of digitalization and Leadership Buy-in & Understanding.

 

 

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Operational Excellence- Time to eat our own dog food

Need for Operational Excellence

We are in the age of Customer Delight, according to Vijay Bajaj, CEO, BTOES Insights, in the opening of this BTOES Insights report “The global state of operational excellence”. Customers “now expect every organization to deliver products and services swiftly, with a seamless user experience.”. To meet the higher and constantly increasing customer expectations organizations must perform at highest levels of responsiveness, under cost pressures, while delivering superior quality products. Above that the products need to be upgraded and improved within constantly shortened life cycles. The need for Operational Excellence seems clearer than it ever has been. Click here to read the full Survey Report 2018/19. 

   

With this, one would expect that Operational Excellence would be in high demand. That it should be in focus and considered as the key to success. That all organizations are turning to Operational Excellence as a logical response to the quest to enchant steadily more demanding customers. However, when reading the BTOES report, a totally different picture arises. Changing & improving the company culture is listed as the major critical challenge. All, but one, major challenges of Operational Excellence listed are linked to or dominated by internal organizational struggles instead of the outward pull to exceed customer service. The report clearly brings forward that Operational Excellence is not as fully embraced as one would expect. It is not understood as an answer to great challenges most organization, globally, are faced with. Click here to read more Articles on The Global State of Operational Excellence: Critical Challenges & Future Trends - Research Report 2018/19.

 

 

So why does operational excellence struggle to get traction, when the circumstances seem so ideal for it to thrive?

In an attempt to answer this, let’s consider Operational Excellence itself as product, or service. Does our product perform along the expectations stated by Vijay. Is our service seamless? Did Opex in 2018 delight our internal customers? Do we succeed to give our colleagues and management an experience 10 times lighter than before? Even when a majority of the surveyed state that the methodologies are growing in popularity the report results sound far from excited and buzzed. 35.6% of respondents cited a top critical challenge is executing sustainable Operational Excellence projects. Not exactly a show of flawless execution and delivery. Then almost a quarter of those responding see a lack of leadership understanding and buy-in. Not a reflection of customer delight.

Out of the BTOES 2018 report speaks little or no customer delight. On the other side, many of the responses sound defensive and not customer oriented. “Lack of Leadership”, “our senior leaders are very hesitant” and the sorts, sounds somewhat like the attitude that drove Borders, Blockbuster and many of those others out of business. The organization and its culture must change, not us!

Basically our major challenge, with 53.5%, translates to the fact that our internal customers don’t like or struggle to understand the importance and the potential of our product. If Opex would feel 10 times lighter than business as usual, why would we need change management programs and need to worry about leadership buy in?

 

 

The sentiment of the report reflects an uphill battle, and a tiresome struggle to be recognized.

A struggle that is reflected by the proposed measures of our success such as copQ, coNQ, coGs, turnover, cost savings, synergies realized or even “no injuries”. Delight feels very much different. Instead shouldn’t our success feel like the Associate Director - Video Operations stated: our primary measure of success as “an employee's desire to come to work each day.”. Wouldn’t increased sales, repeat sales or other quoted measurements like STP-rates follow from that, rather than from change management programs learning people to value our work? Or worse, from putting our colleagues through the over-engineered design thinking workshops? These show how little we understand what the organization does and what makes a real difference. Like a delightful product would.

 

 

 

Opex should in these times be a factor that excites and attracts the best talent.

Because it has the potential to make work more enjoyable. It has the ability to give back the belief that our jobs are secure, instead of being just another cost savings program that increases work load and job pressures. The companies, which apply it, should see this reflected in valuation and stock price. An effect Lean Six Sigma during a short period of time was able to establish.

We need to get better in getting across the potential of the operational excellence. Instead of wanting people and cultures to change, we should make our concepts clear, attractive and compelling. Translate it in understandable irresistible concepts. “Leaders know we need it but don't understand what "it" is and how to execute "it".” says way more about OPEX’s lack of getting its value across than the lack of leadership support.

 

 

Make OpEx a lighter experience

In order to create this we need to make OPEX this seamless experience. Make it 10% a lighter experience than improvement projects so far. And make sure the OPEX projects are executable and sustainable; that is on us. Let’s make our own product as attractive as the products we are set out to support. The foundation of this is to understand what delight looks like. A deep insight is needed into the reality of our customers and what their needs are. For that we must not only master our methods and techniques but also truly understand what challenges and moves our internal clients.

Therewith let’s ensure that next year’s main challenges in the BTOES survey are client focused on items. Challenges for which OPEX is set up to control. Instead of focusing on perceived stumble blocks from outside players. If 53.6% note as the main challenge that they have more demand and expectation than we can handle, we will be on the right way.