“It’s not finance.
It’s not strategy or technology.
It’s teamwork that generates the ultimate competitive advantage.”
(Recent CEO Notes newsletter headline)
That doesn’t happen automatically by giving a work-group a team name. It takes structured methods that enable a work-group with the tools needed to become a real team.
Most Business Operations Improvement projects are focused on the tangible nuts-and-bolts of how work gets done to meet customer demands. So the subjects look like the usual Technical Processes.
But, it’s the People Processes that make the world-beater companies so successful.
There is a saying about business competition that sums it up:
“Technologies can be easily borrowed or imitated.
But people-based business differentiators are difficult to copy,
and are often the basis of sustainable competitive advantage.”
We have said that so often in recent years that it seems like we coined the concept. But we’re pretty sure it’s a paraphrase of something from one of the management gurus. We would give him/her credit if we knew who said it.
In any case, you can probably think of experiences where the effectiveness of businesses you came in contact with was so obvious that you could see why they lead the market.
And in most of those cases, if you thought about the key to their success it’s likely you would conclude it’s not in the technologies they use because the technologies look like those at all the competitors. Rather, you could see the difference in how their people perform within their business processes that makes them so effective. It’s their people-based differentiators that give them their edge.
So how can you lay out a game plan to expand your people-based differentiators?
Team Effectiveness Assessment
We don’t wish to bias your responses, but try to keep the above perspective in mind when you answer the questions in the following survey. You can use them to identify issues standing in the way of your team-based business culture. At the end of this article we have outlined the next few articles that further address those issues.
Take a general perspective of process improvement teams or project teams. Or, if you want to do a more focused diagnostic, you can answer the questions for separate groups. For example:
• Ad hoc problem-solving groups in the general workforce
• Project teams
• Operating teams
• Management teams
With separate group assessments you can determine more specific development opportunities for each from the up-coming article series.
Use a four-point scale for ratings vs. the competitors on the questions:
4 Excellent, highly effective
3 Better than average
2 Average
1 Below average
0 Ineffective, inadequate or failure
NA Not applicable
Team Effectiveness Ratings
1. How quickly do your process improvement teams get the results implemented? ____
2. To what extent do the accomplishments of teams exceed the expectations that were laid out when the team was launched? ____
3. At the end of the day, after the teams have done their thing, to what extent do the changes drop through to visible and measurable changes to the business? ____
4. When improvements are implemented by teams, to what extent do the fixes stay fixed? ____
5. When improvements are implemented by teams, to what extent do the solutions address root causes? ____
6. To what extent do teams test multiple (workable) solutions before choosing one? (Especially for complex or political problems.) ____
7. To what extent does the “voice of the customer” drive improvement activities? (Versus an internal view of setting priorities.) ____
8. How consistently do teams use dependable methods (DMAIC, 6-Sigma, etc.) for problem-solving and project management? (For comprehensive results and project efficiency.) ____
9. To what extent do people in the organization work as cross-functional team members beyond the walls of their work group or department? ____
10. To what extent do teams use a rigorous set of metrics to guide their analysis activities, support changes to be made and ensure that “root causes” are addressed? ____
11. To what extent are the purposes (reasons for existence) of a team clear in the minds of team members, team sponsors and the people in the organization impacted by that team? Especially at the time of team launch. ____
Total Score = _______
¸ 11
Overall Average Rating = _______
Look at your scores, individually and overall average. Acceptable? Or are opportunities apparent? Where are your best opportunities for more effective team-based business improvement? There is no pat answer to that question. It depends on your current business situation, strategic goals and organizational readiness to adopt new methods.
If your scores are not where you would like, then do something about it. It’s not rocket science. Given enough time, your organization could probably improve its scores on its own. But, if it is important to improve quickly, and if you do not want to reinvent the wheel, then consider getting outside assistance. Feel free to contact us, or use another resource that has experience in this space.
Our advice is to approach those decisions with the same methodical gravity you invest in other fundamental business planning decisions. They’re all critical components of a fine-tuned infrastructure that ensures industry-leading business performance.
Team-Based Enterprise Methods
People-based differentiators look like structured team-work methods. As we said earlier, over the next few newsletters we will address the methodologies you need to make team-based business improvement predictable:
§ Break-Through Methods — For ad hoc problem-solving sessions
- Work session set-up
- Team-based creative methods
- Concrete follow-through implementation plans
§ Agile Team Methods — For projects, operations and management teams
- “Nuts-and-bolts” organization steps for team effectiveness
- Situation-specific methods training
- Adoption of team-based learning and decision-making methods
§ Enterprise-Wide Continual Improvement (CI) — To pull it all together
- Seamless process, makes CI automatic
- Both incremental and quantum-leap improvements
- In-house capability for development of team-based CI
Read on for a brief preview of the up-coming articles…
Break-Through Methods
Business teams are often confronted with problems that are viewed differently based on the viewers’ positions in the business. They often find it difficult to agree on a course of action if they don’t have effective methods to achieve a common view.
Business teams are usually surprised at how effective they are when using good work session methods. The surprise comes with discovering team-based methods that are typically not part of business-school curriculums, despite the fact that team-based methods are a key ingredient in leading businesses. Fortunately, with some coaching, effective work session methods can become a common paradigm in any business culture.
Agile Teams — Projects, Operations and Management
The complexity of many management issues tends to act as a barrier to timely decisions. But effective work session methods can add speed and clarity to management decisions. Managers are often the most appreciative of such methods since adding them is like breaking the logjam that they seem to be perpetually fighting to get things done faster than the competitors. Adopting efficient decision-making methods is like acquiring a giant lever that takes the backbreaking-work out of working together.
Team-based project methods produce huge improvements in critical, cross-functional processes like proposal preparation, material logistics and production maintenance. Indeed, it’s practically impossible to effect major improvements in such processes without cross-functional team participation. But convening a group of people does not make them a cohesive team. Training in process improvement, project management and team development methods are needed to enable them for self-directed team performance.
Company-Wide Rapid Continual Improvement (CI)
The best company-wide CI approaches are team-based processes for continual improvement in products, services, operating processes and working relationships. Again, there is ample proof that team-based methods are key to broad-based business performance improvement programs. Those that ignore the team development issues rarely survive in the long run. But those that include structured team-work methods survive, thrive and lead.
Look for the up-coming articles with methods used by industry leaders like Motorola, Johnsonville Foods, Nascote Industries and GE Capital. Choose and employ the methods carefully. Reap the rewards.
Good luck!
The CUMBERLAND Group
For additional information contact Rainmakers at 847/251-3327
