Winning Strategies

Why?

It is generally accepted wisdom that any major change should to be supported by good reasons as to why the change is needed, some clear overall goals and a well-defined path to achieve these goals. However, sometimes the most obvious challenges and steps are forgotten in the process of developing a strategy.

It is therefore wise to conduct an independent review of the robustness of a strategic change initiative before committing to the implementation programme.

Measuring robustness of strategy

JBBI look at strategy from a number of angles when we review the robustness of an organisation’s change strategy.

A full review will firstly consider the quality of input data being used and how it has been gathered and analysed.

Secondly it will look at the development of the strategy itself including fundamental questions such as: Why are we doing this? Are we being ambitious enough? How innovative have we been in the process of developing our strategy? Have we considered various scenarios of how the market could evolve and how the competitors may respond? Did we have a healthy challenge process during the strategy development? Etc.

Thirdly the review will consider the quality of the output of the process. Is it a coherent clear strategy that addresses the needs of the customers and stakeholders? Did the process engage the organisation and build buy-in and commitment? Does everyone know their role and how they can contribute to the success of the organisation?

Implementing strategy

The measurement and bench-marking of ambition will in itself create a whole different quality of debate in an organisation.

It is our experience that once an organisation creates a sound debate about ambition and engages staff at all levels, the ambition levels will often increase dramatically. This is especially so around individual’s aspirations for their own performance and how much they want to contribute to the overall goals of the company.

JBBI helps clients set themselves ambitious targets and supports the executive team right through the implementation to make these become reality

“In late 2003 JBBI conducted a comprehensive organisational survey at a loss making utility company and helped the new management team define a compelling vision and clear strategy to turn around the business.

Initially in the transformation programme JBBI was directly involved in establishing buy-in, creating early wins and commencing positive action towards the goals. Gradually over a six month period management was coached and trained to improve their capability in changing behaviours and implementing new ways of operating.

Within 7 months the business had reached break-even. The result for 2004 was a £13million operating profit, a £25million improvement compared to 2003, and the best result in the company’s history.”

Using

Ambition

to Create Step Change

Why?

Ambition can be defined as a strong desire to be successful, a mind set of striving to achieve goals or objectives for which high standards have been set.

Ambition is rarely discussed in organisations today. Most organisations have vision and mission statements but few of these manage to unleash true energy and passion in an organisation. Even once consensus has been reached on the wording of the statements themselves, the debate, challenge and communication may have failed to engage and align the organisation’s ambitions with employees’ personal ambitions.

Everyone in an organisation needs to feel inspired and needs to be driven by ambition. When you successfully create alignment between individuals’ personal ambitions and the organisation’s goals then you can really unleash passion and energy behind a change.

Measuring Ambition

Through evaluating and measuring an organisation’s ambitions JBBI create an openness and a debate about the aspirations of the owners, the board, executives, managers and staff across an organisation – and not only about where they want the organisation to go, but also where they see themselves.

We look at aspects such as: Are your organisation’s vision and goals ambitious? How do the ambitions compare to actual performance? Are you ambitious in all aspects of your business? Are you ambitious in terms of your own personal performance? Are the organisations ambitions clear to everyone? Is there alignment between individuals’ personal and often deeply felt ambitions and where the organisation is going? Do you have a culture where ambitions are discussed and challenged?

Using Ambition to drive step change

The measurement and bench-marking of ambition will in itself create a whole different quality of debate in an organisation.

It is our experience that once an organisation creates a sound debate about ambition and engages staff at all levels, the ambition levels will often increase dramatically. This is especially so around individual’s aspirations for their own performance and how much they want to contribute to the overall goals of the company.

JBBI helps clients set themselves ambitious targets and supports the executive team right through the implementation to make these become reality

“If I had known what we were taking on, I might not have gone ahead. I am extremely pleased that we did, however. I thought I was buying team clarity of vision and mission, with projects and activities to develop my leaders and deliver improved performance. What I actually bought was of much higher value. We have achieved a mindset shift that has enabled us to handle multidimensional change while managing the tension of Business as Usual demands, which are great. The level of individual and collective learning we experienced far exceeded my expectations. Through mobilising a broader leadership community we are really starting to see the benefits in the performance of the operation."

Head of a large shared services division

Deploying

Superior Execution Capacity

Why?

Execution is the real test of conviction and ability of the executive team and the organisation. However, research continues to show that more than 80% of improvement initiatives are unsuccessful in achieving their goals. Superior execution capacity is a real competitive advantage especially as the business environment is changing at an ever increasing pace.

If the high ambitions are shared, the strategy is right, and the market focus strong then the scene is set for successful implementation provided that the organisation has the capacity to execute.

Measuring execution capacity - Mini Case Study

“An IT division in a large UK bank had recently undergone a major restructuring programme fundamentally changing its operating model. The change programme had used external experts to design the new model and communicated extensively with staff during implementation. Financial targets had also been met, but there was growing discontent amongst staff and management was exhausted. Nine months after the change the banks regular organisation-wide survey showed that staff morale in this division was scoring much lower than all other areas – in spite of a programme of initiatives to address these issues. There was a sense of loss of belonging to a team, distrust towards senior management and lack of engagement from staff. It was realised that the foundations for the service and financial improvements were in danger if the staff issues were not addressed effectively.

JBBI’s assessment showed that there was an alarming capability gap in the organisation and that the recent changes were not embedded or sustainable. JBBI supported management in a total review of the operating model where staff and customers were truly engaged in providing insight and challenging the proposals. When a new operating model was presented it was widely endorsed by staff and customers. Implementation was quick and successful. Trust in management, morale and performance increased dramatically witnessed by an outstanding 50% improvement in employee survey scores.”

Developing execution capacity

If gaps are identified in the evaluation of execution capacity or the implementation strategy, appropriate steps must be taken to enhance the capacity to execute the change and ensure that the implementation plans are robust.

Our core tenet is that change needs to be driven by senior management but results are best achieved through effectively engaging the organisation to make change happen. JBBI inspire, challenge and work closely with senior management to lead the change and engage their organisation.

We are hands-on and get involved through-out a change programme as coaches, facilitators and ‘bolt-on’ senior managers – this increases executive capacity, bandwidth and know-how.

We transfer our skills to the client through-out a change programme so the change is sustainable. We help ensure that the new positive cultures and mindsets are embedded in the organisation after we leave. Thus developing and increasing the organisations’ capacity to

Ensuring

Market Focus

Why?

Organisations must remain market focused, even during a transformation process where the natural tendency is to look inwards. This requires clarity of your different customers groups, thorough understanding of what is important to each group and a focus throughout the organisation on how each individual team member directly and indirectly influences the customers’ experience.

One of the key dilemmas of leaders is often how to keep business as usual running while preparing an organisation for change and implementing a transformation. This dilemma often centres around the customers e.g. ‘How do we keep customers satisfied during this time of change and uncertainty for staff?’ and ‘How do we keep sales growing while transforming our business model?’

It is our experience that a strong market focus and drive creates co-operation across entities, enhances innovation and makes for stronger, shared ambitious goals..

Measuring market focus

When evaluating market focus, JBBI look at three aspects: (1) The customers’ perceptions, (2) the organisation’s customer orientation and (3) how the implementation programme ensures market focus throughout.

Customer Orientation

Ensuring market focus during change

When JBBI help organisations through change programmes we find that it is critical to keep in constant focus how the customers will benefit from the changes.

We will challenge the executive team to keep customers at the centre of conversations, and act as role models and champions of the customer both in the short-term of delivering day-to-day and in the long-term of transforming the proposition to the customer.

“JBBI has played a vital role in the successful transformation of our organisation. JBBI had a brief of helping us create a high performance organisation and they have been very successful in delivering this. They helped us create a winning mindset and build a management team and an organisation capable of successfully turning around the business. We are now creating true shareholder value through customer preference because of our people strengths. The combination of insight into the business issues and a fantastic ability to engage and develop people in a practical way have been unique compared to any other experience I have had with consultants in this area. The fact that JBBI linked a large proportion of their fee to business results and measurable improvements in behaviour created a strong alignment between our goals and showed their commitment to making this transformation a success. I have continued to use JBBI in other projects and strongly recommend JBBI.”

Managing Director

OUR SERVICES

FOUR CORNERSTONES OF SUCCESSFUL CHANGE

STEP CHANGE

Measuring robustness of strategy

Measuring Ambition

Measuring market focus

Customer Orientation