To what extent is your organisation able to move quickly and decisively?

Already in normal times companies struggle to deliver business targets on-time-in-full. Typically, we find three related main causes: (1) there is no appealing vision that is owned by everyone in the company, (2) the strategic goals are unclear and (3) the organisation is not aligned. As strategies are not unique anymore, it’s delivery fast and in full is, therefore, a real determinant of competitive advantage for your company.

It starts at the top

All successful change management initiatives start at the top, with a committed and well-aligned group of executives. The first step is to ensure that the team will coalesce around a coherent vision on how the company should look and run like. It is the basis for the identification of the three to five strategic goals with challenging targets.

And cascades down the organisation

Next the top team involves the next organisational level down in refining the vision and gives them the challenging targets set. Collectively, they will need to work out how to deliver them. This requires horizontal within the organisational level and vertical alignment between the levels. This process is iterative and continues right through the levels till shopfloor is reached. What happens is alignment top-down and horizontally at each level.

Catch-ball process

The process is not a one-way street, it is a ‘catch-ball’ process. The higher level throughs the ball, i.e. the target to the next level down. They will sort out how to deliver it. It requires the involvement of the various departments at each level as they are interdependent. If they can’t find ways to deliver and substantiate this, they are allowed to through the ball back with an indication of what is achievable. Our experience is that, if done well, this results in challenging targets which are more often than not higher than the top team started with. The process builds on the collective insight, knowledge and experience. What happens is both alignment and ownership of the targets, a great starting point for moving quickly and decisively.