At the recent CCi OpEx Summit we were joined by senior Operations and Supply Chain leaders from The Clorox Company, Cargill, Nice-Pak and FrieslandCampina for a panel discussion on ‘Embedding cultural and behavioral change’. Here are some of the key insights that were shared during the session.
Leadership at the center
All our panelists agreed that for Operational Excellence programs to succeed, it is imperative that leadership is seen to be at the center. Leaders need to model and reinforce cultural change through their actions and their decisions. They need to provide the context as to why the change is happening, articulate the direction and the desired end state, and be able to demonstrate what good looks like. Leaders should also be responsible for recognizing and rewarding the behaviors that contribute towards operational excellence. This sentiment is echoed by CCi CEO, Jay Milligan, in his recent blog, ‘The ripple effect: when leaders champion continuous improvement’.
Articulate the mission
This starts with senior leadership explaining in clear, simple terms what the mission looks like and explaining why it needs to be done. Leaders should be able to articulate clearly defined value drivers, correlated to the objectives of a program. This message should be repeated and cascaded down through the leadership to all levels within the organization.
Bring your team with you on the journey
Teams need to be supported to be successful through coaching, empowering them to identify and deliver improvement opportunities and master problem-solving techniques themselves. To help motivate teams, individuals should also be given responsibility and accountability which should be pushed down to the lowest level possible.
It’s likely you will encounter pockets of resistance to the change. If and when this happens, go back to the ‘why’ and remind detractors what the end state will look like for the business and the positive impact this will have on performance and employees work lives.
Integrate strategy into daily operations
To be able to integrate your improvement strategy into daily operations, an operational excellence framework which connects strategy to execution is needed. There needs to be a system in place to embed and sustain changes into daily operations.
This should be based on continuous improvement standards using continuous improvement methodologies. Start by creating a daily management system, a set of standard procedures that provides the structure teams need to evaluate and continuously improve their day-to-day work through effective decision-making.
Link to performance
Operational excellence programs are most successful when linked to a performance framework with set cadence at all levels in the organization, to monitor performance and take corrective action where necessary. There should be a feedback and escalation mechanism to make further improvements and sustain the change.
Complete the mission
To ensure that the program progresses successfully and stays on track, it is useful to create a sense of urgency and ensure everyone is focused on achieving the program goals. To keep your teams motivated, pause to celebrate project milestones and successes along the way, as well as ensuring you are collectively learning from any setbacks.
Continuous improvement as a way of life
For a business to stay ahead of its competitors, continuous improvement must be embedded into the culture of the organization, until it becomes a way of life. Ensuring this happens is often one of the most challenging aspects on the journey to operational excellence. To learn more about embedding cultural and behavioral change across your organization, download our ‘Managing change across the organization’ how-to-guide.