Operational Excellence – Achieving Internal Alignment

There are three phases in the project dealing with the identification of the current situation, the definition of the desired situation and the definition and execution of the transition from the current stage to the desired one.

The objective of the first phase is to describe the way the organization currently operates. This means gathering information about the company’s strategy, the customer needs and requirements, the interface between the company and its customers, the structure of the organization and its departments, the processes and activities within the value chain, the systems that support the current activities, the way people work and interrelate.

The process maps, charts, diagrams, flows, and reports that are developed during this phase are complemented by detailed information regarding aspects that are perceived to work against the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization (bottlenecks, overlaps, gaps, deficiencies, weaknesses, constraints, dysfunctional approaches, etc.).

The second stage develops a definition of the future situation of the organization taking into consideration the same areas investigated in the first phase. The approach here is oriented towards pragmatic innovation and creation of new processes, activities, structures, systems and relationships that will determine a superior performance of the company both internally and externally.

Once we describe the current stage and we define the future stage of the organization we can understand the scope and the magnitude of change required within the company and we can define and undertake the third phase of the project – the transition. This includes all the initiatives, actions and steps that will be undertaken by the company in order to achieve its desired stage of performance.