How can you ensure an operational excellence program is sustainable?

The firm's top management should convene to deliberate and define their vision and objectives. Simon Sinek's golden circle, with "why" at its core, comes to mind. Firms that can articulate their "whys" will likely outperform others in the long term. This vision should inform a roadmap, leading to objectives. I suggest leveraging the OKR framework for optimal results. Objectives should align with the firm's strategy, culture, market positioning, and values. From my experience, culture is shaped from the top down; toxic leadership can permeate the entire organization. Open communication within the firm catalyzes these efforts.

First, obtain alignment amongst leaders on the path forward. Second, develop a comprehensive strategy with key messages as well as metrics for improvement. Third, develop a timeline / roadmap for implementation and action. Fourth, communication along the way is key to all stakeholders groups involved in the change. Five, develop a comprehensive training program to support the operational excellence program. Six, after training, be sure to implement a 30/60/90/120 plan to continue to monitor performance and impact of the programs effectiveness. Assure that the program will be supported after implementation.

First, communicate the necessity of the new system/process to the entire team. Second, encourage active participation and gather ideas from the team for its implementation. Third, it is important that management is completely aligned with the new system/process to be implemented. Fourth, provide thorough on-the-job training for the new system/process. Fifth, design new RACI, KPIs, and job descriptions to implement new system. Finally, generate extrinsic motivation through situational auditing mechanisms to ensure sustainability. Conduct audits until the new system becomes ingrained in the company culture.

To ensure sustainability in an operational excellence program, it's crucial to foster a culture of continuous improvement by engaging all stakeholders, setting clear goals aligned with organizational objectives, providing ongoing training and support, leveraging technology for efficiency gains, regularly monitoring progress, and adapting strategies based on feedback and changing business needs. Collaboration, communication, and leadership commitment are key for long-term success.

Engaging team members revolves around three key elements: 1) Team ownership: Involving them in the process and allowing them to take ownership. Regular workshops and town halls provide opportunities for expressing ideas and opinions. 2) Empowering the team: Empowering them with skills and tools through regular trainings, fostering an operations excellence mindset. 3) Encouraging the team: Recognizing and rewarding team members' contributions is crucial. Encouraging words from top management can sometimes be more motivating than tangible rewards

Equip teams with problem-solving tools and resources. Track team progress with clear metrics like cost reduction or customer satisfaction. Most important, celebrate wins to maintain momentum.

In my experience, adhering to a system with clearly defined processes is crucial for sustaining operational excellence efforts. Processes provide predictability and stability to the system, shielding us from the uncertainties associated with human involvement. However, as the team becomes more process-oriented, agility may diminish. In my opinion, striking a fine balance between agility and stability is essential, facilitated by robust processes. Well-documented processes enable the team to manage risks and changes more effectively, ensuring that feedback loops are functional and operationalizing iterative course corrections. It's beneficial to adopt a holistic approach and optimize at the system level to mitigate unexpected behavior.

In my experience, an effective organizational structure plays a crucial role in supporting and enhancing operational excellence programs. Here's how it can help: 1. Clarity of Roles and Responsibilities 2. Centralized coordination 3. Empowerment and decision making 4. Cross functional collaboration 5. Resources allocation and prioritization 6. Change Management and Adoption 7. Learning and knowledge sharing 8. Alignment with Strategy

Embedding a culture of excellence is indeed crucial for ensuring the sustainability of operational excellence initiatives: 1. Leaders should exemplify the values & behaviors associated with operational excellence. 2. Define a clear vision & set of values that align with operational excellence principles. Communicate these values consistently throughout the organization, emphasizing their importance in achieving business objectives. 3. Engage employees at all levels of the organization in the development & implementation of the program. 4. Empower employees to take ownership of their work & contribute to process improvements. 5. Recognize & reward employees who demonstrate behaviors and actions that support operational excellence.

Building a strong culture is indeed essential for sustaining operational excellence efforts. From my experience, cultivating a positive culture is challenging, as it's largely driven top-down and influenced by the values of top management. Firms must deliberate and invest quality time in defining their vision, mission, and subsequent culture to reinforce and enhance both. A compelling, clear vision provides purpose and ensures focus on the long-term roadmap, vital for culture sustainability. A firm with a strong culture is akin to having an army that can adapt to market changes effectively.

Sustenance of Operational Initiatives is a bigger challenge for most companies, than implementing it. In my experience, initiatives sustain and improve, if the activities below are done consistently – 1. Regular participation by the leadership in communicating the importance of CI, reviewing, & rewarding performance 2. KPI led discussions, with focus on CI. Focus is on process improvement resulting in KPI progress 3. Alignment & involvement of supervisors, line managers, operators in CI initiatives. Very important for building CI culture. 4. Integrating CI activities as core part of job, instead of an additional initiative It’s like going to a gym, It must be a practice that is done day in and day out to stay healthy.

Implementation n sustainability are the key to OPEX. We do drive KPI’s , SOP’s etc but how it climbs towards the measurable value in top leaders table . In simpler way , difference between non-linear trend to linearity should clearly reflect otherwise OPEX will dissolve. End of the Quality thinking should be one of metric at top level.

Embed Operational Excellence in the Culture: Integrate continuous improvement into daily work, like Toyota's kaizen philosophy. Make it a natural reflex to identify and fix inefficiencies.

The sustainability of an operational excellence program relies heavily on periodic reviews that drive continuous improvement. Robust processes facilitating these reviews are essential. While focusing on metrics driving the overall program is important, it's crucial not to lose sight of the bigger picture. The Goodhart Law warns that when a measure becomes a target, it loses its effectiveness as a measure. Lastly, effective communication with all stakeholders, both internal and external, is key. The message should be clear, simple, and actionable, and the SMART framework can aid in articulating it. Ultimately, the success of the program hinges on the ownership of each employee.

1. All best / lean practices identified during the operations excellence exercise should be embedded permanently into the To-Be processes of the organisation. Once that is done, now management must emphasis on process based working only and should discourage relying on individual's wisdom. 2. Achieve the benchmark performance in the trial runs and record the evidence (through videos, data logs etc.) of demonstrated achievements to showcase the employees for the training purpose. 3. Define control mechanism to sustain changes through following two ways : 3.1 Define KPIs for the process owners as per the benchmark performance 3.2 Have a periodic audit mechanism in place which would highlight all non-compliances to the best practices

One should never "reinvent the wheel." It is prudent to start by incorporating existing wisdom rather than starting from scratch. One of the better ways to go about it is to speak to college seniors, colleagues, and industry experts who have implemented operational excellence programs before. Learning through observation and analytics is superior to qualitative inquiry. Though qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups will orient us in the right direction. All this is based on the mindset that there is so much that can be learned from others' experiences. Seeking help and realizing that not everything can be solved by us alone is the cornerstone of any sustainable effort.

Sustainability in an operational excellence program hinges on several factors. Start by fostering a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that employees at all levels are engaged and committed to the program's goals. Regularly review and update processes to adapt to changing business environments and evolving best practices. Additionally, monitor key performance indicators to track progress and make data-driven decisions. Finally, provide ongoing training and education to keep the workforce aligned with the program's principles. Sustainability is achieved by making operational excellence an integral part of your organization's DNA.

Et aussi tout au long du programme : Valoriser l'écoute active et le feedback constructif? Favoriser la créativité et l'innovation en encourageant la prise de risques et l'expérimentation. Reconna?tre et récompenser les efforts de chacun

Ensure senior leaders champion the defined operational excellence program. Their active participation and communication are crucial for buy-in across all levels. Example: Imagine a manufacturing plant implements an operational excellence program to reduce waste. They focus on employee involvement (cultural shift), track production line efficiency (metrics), and get leadership to spearhead improvement initiatives (leadership buy-in). This holistic approach increases sustainability.

Another important aspect is to integrate pokayoke into the process to eliminate human errors and guarantee mistake proofing in this way.