SYSTEMIC PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE -STEP 4
SYSTEMIC PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE - DRIVE STRATEGIC FOCUS Organisations are complex systems where many elements come together to enhance or inhibit performance. At Gallus we have developed an approach to creating systemic performance excellence; a performance environment that everybody can believe in. This is the fifth in a series of insights that examine the approach. The first of our series outlined the model; basic elements of the 7 STEPS TO PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE and the 4 PERFORMANCE ENABLERS. In the second and third we looked at the critical factors required to CREATE A SENSE OF PURPOSE and CLARIFY THE BUSINESS MODEL. Our fourth insight examined how to OPTIMISE THE VALUE CHAIN. Over the coming months we will consider each step in detail and explore the practical steps you can take to move towards systemic performance excellence in your organisation. This insight focuses on how to DRIVE STRATEGIC FOCUS....
A believe-able organisation.... Our approach is centred on creating a BELIEVE-ABLE ORGANISATION. In times of growth, change and challenge, belief is the fundamental factor that provides the resilience and tenacity to succeed. In good times, belief is what makes the difference –belief in the purpose, belief in the destination, belief in an approach, belief in the contribution that an individual feels they can make and belief in the ability to succeed.. Our 7 STEPS TO PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE are designed to take the organisation through a process of co-creation that drives belief, facilitates a thinking and planning process, enables everyone in the organisation to perform to the best of their abilities, and ultimately drives the organisation and everyone in it to be the outcome they are aiming to achieve.
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GALLUS CONSULTING Focus is momentum... If knowledge is power; focus is CLARITY and MOMENTUM. Having deeply understood and optimised the value chain (the system that delivers stakeholder value, via products and services, in an effective, efficient and sustainable way), clarity and momentum are gained by focusing all RESOURCES, PROCESSES, CAPABILITIES AND ATTENTION on the right things; the elements that drive an OUTSTANDING CX (customer experience), EXCITED AND COMMITTED EMPLOYEES with the ENERGY, DRIVE, ABILITY and AUTONOMY to create sustained movement towards strategic goals and ultimately generate SUSTAINABLE SHAREHOLDER VALUE. Identifying and managing noise and distraction within the complex organisational system further accelerates systemic performance excellence through habitual continuous improvement. Using evidence based knowledge of exactly what end users of a product or service value, and the experiences of those delivering them, drives better decisions, capability development, focused innovation, capacity generation and revenue.
Strategic Fusion… Sustainable performance excellence can only ever really be achieved where efforts are aligned across the organisation and attention is focused on the right things. An explicit focus ensures that disruptions can be readily dealt with and their impact minimised. Focus demands that everyone knows and, more critically, believes in what the organisation wants to achieve, what future success looks like and how they can be a part of it and benefit from it. Successful organisations know where they want to go, why they want to get there and how they plan to do it – and that’s everyone! Where people, money, capabilities, processes and decisions are all targeted in pursuit of a shared and understood purpose, outcome, and set of values, momentum is amplified and velocity accelerated. FUSION IS AN UNRIVALLED ENERGY SOURCE. It’s all about going with the energy; harnessing individual efforts in a positive way towards the future outcomes you want; removing barriers and making it easy for people to focus on the important stuff…
The Focus equation…for fusion
Focus=C+A+P+E 2 In a complex system it’s often relatively simple interventions that have the most power. The focus equation is just that; a simple representation of the FIVE FOCUS LEVERS that drive the CRITICAL CASCADE required for FOCUS and FUSION...
Clarity Capture and communicate the strategy with clarity
Alignment
Make sure the top team are fully aligned and can carry Make sure you know what you that alignment consistently plan to do, and perhaps more and confidently when importantly, what you plan NOT under pressure or up to do against challenge Challenge and test assumptions Align critical processes, around the meaning of every financial resources, element of the strategic plan capability development and the organisational structure and culture for success
Penetration Drive key messages and expectations through the organisation through a critical cascade process
Engagement
Give people the opportunity to work out HOW they nabled will deliver value in line with Create a framework for Make it easy for people to relate the focus. freedom by developing to the messages and be open guiding principles for and honest about the reasons Make alignment a core expectation but encourage those managing resource for decisions made and the allocation or in decision people to voice concerns, impact that they will have risks and challenges so that making roles their role in strategy Create myths, legends and Actively manage heroes to bring the focus to life execution can be made as distractions, barriers and easy as possible and their obstacles energy can be applied effectively Expect excellence and leadership from everyone, regardless of their role
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SYSTEMIC PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE -STEP 4
Just because the intervention is simple does not mean that it is easy. Leadership teams that attempt to create focus with little thought, dialogue or challenge often fall foul of their own group think or lack the alignment to create a critical cascade of messages, values, frameworks and guiding principles. Redundant or irrelevant processes remain, unimportant decisions are escalated, budgets are counter strategic, distractions metastasise and ultimately focus fails.
Enabling future value.... 4 PERFORMANCE ENABLERS work together to drive VALUE CREATION and to create a SYSTEMIC HIGH PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENT…. ENTERPRISE MINDSET ensures that actions are taken and choices are made with the broader organisational impact in mind. GAME-CHANGING LEADERSHIP models the way in terms of commitment, consistency, capability, collaboration, courage and alignment; drives future value and protects against value erosion and brand collapse. Identification of LEVERS TO LEVERAGE and METRICS THAT MATTER form the basis of experimentation, innovation and a robust guidance system that can propel value creation beyond expectations.
ENTERPRISE MINDSET
GAME-CHANGING LEADERSHIP
• Create an integrated,
• Define Game-changing
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cohesive and collaborative organisation that considers every situation with the bigger picture in mind. Enterprise Mindset ensures that architecture, systems, processes and leaders consider the ambitions, needs and capabilities of the entire organisation and constantly maximise the synergies available to accelerate the achievement of results.
•
leadership in the context of the organisation and ensure that leaders are Committed, Capable, Aligned, Consistent and Courageous. The capability of existing leaders, coupled with the ability to identify, attract, retain and develop the leaders that are needed for the future is vital.
METRICS THAT MATTER
LEVERS TO LEVERAGE • Identify, optimise and
•
leverage the most effective levers for performance excellence across the system every time. By pinpointing the levers for change in an organisation, efforts can be aligned and amplified more effectively. Identifying and aligning the most impactful levers towards the desired outcome creates a clarity of focus and minimises distractions and counter productive messages.
• Targeted metrics and
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analytics that focus on the things that make the difference. Create a performance guidance system that enables dynamic decisions and provides the rigour for strategic loops.
DRIVING STRATEGIC FOCUS demands courage and a willingness to enter into potentially contentious debates and difficult decisions. It demands absolute alignment from the leadership team and an unwavering commitment to the end goal. Being willing to let go of elements that serve no purpose is as important as focusing attention, energy and resources on those that are critical to success. Failure is likely if the process is left to chance, approached half-heartedly or abandoned halfway. Done well, it creates FUSION and releases levels of energy, commitment and resilience that may not have seemed possible. Teamed with a CLEAR BUSINESS MODEL (step one), a SHARED SENSE OF PURPOSE (step two), and a VALUE CHAIN FOCUS (step three) DRIVING STRATEGIC FOCUS can work miracles on the journey towards SYSTEMIC PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE!
Gallus build sustainable, high performance environments that everybody can believe in. With particular expertise in leadership capability and alignment, organisation design, business transformation and enterprise risk management, Gallus challenge assumptions, cultivate belief and drive positive change by making performance excellence systemic. An established business with Headquarters in Northampton, UK and offices in London, Manchester and Aberdeen, Gallus work with ambitious organisations across the world from a wide range of sectors. Find us at www.gallusconsulting.com or call +44(0)20 3751 6345.
0203 751 6345
www.gallusconsulting.com