Today all the organizations are faced with a volatile economy, intense competition and rising energy/material costs. Improving performance has become a necessity not just for margin purposes, but also for long term success. Cost reduction and quality/productivity improvement have now become key levers for gaining competitive advantage.
It is very evident that today’s race has no finish line it has a constantly moving target. What was world class the past is no longer world class! In fact, it might not even exist in the consideration any more. It is ever evolving target. Similarly all the organizations have to strive for world class performance to excel, in order to survive. It is the pursuit of conducting business in a manner that continuously improves the quality of goods and services, reduces costs, increases speed and enhances flexibility to achieve competitive superiority.
World class performance is not a standalone function but it is a blend of strategic excellence, operational excellence and design excellence. Your organizational performance is rested on these 3 legs of the tripod. So you need to manage all three pillars; equally for the stability and continuous improvement in business. Several organizations focus only on one aspect, leading to a lopsided or handicapped approach. The disproportionate focus harms the organizational transformation/ evolution journey in the long run. It has to be just right for the healthy evolution process which, in turn, affects all the stakeholders positively.
All the pillars go hand in hand; example OE will not be achieved unless there is a strategic plan. Strategic plan would be useless without proper execution. Designing the right offering (product/ service) based on what the customer expects is critical and comes before strategy or operations. However, the focus on design aspect is diminished (in most cases) and organizations seek excellence in strategy and operations, only after the offering is ready or conceptualized.
To summarize the complete transformation/ evolution / world class performance journey in true holistic manner for any organization is based on the three pillars of the tripod;
- Strategic Excellence
- Operational Excellence
- Design Excellence
World class performance is not a destination; it is a journey that never ends…!
And as the wise men say – “Journey is the destination..!”
