In today's competitive and rapidly changing business climate, it's more important than ever to build organizations that can adapt. In order to do this, it is essential to understand your organization as an adaptive system and to design organizational changes using a systemic approach. Failure to do so can lead to suboptimization or a failure to sustain improvements because key performance variables were missed during analysis. Too often, traditional approaches to process improvement yield excellent results for local problems but fail to deliver as promised for the large, cross-functional processes that are the core of your business.
Our methodology is based on two core concepts:
- The Three Levels of Performance are the organization, process, and performer or people-levels. To effect change in an organization, it is necessary to understand the potential impacts to all three levels. For example, a process change could mean significant changes to job responsibilities and the skills required to execute those responsibilities. Failure to adequately account for these interrelationships is a major cause of failed process implementations.
- The Three Performance Dimensions are goals, design, and management. Having clear goals at each level ensures alignment to desired results; having robust design at each level maximizes the efficiency of operations; and having good management systems at each level ensures that the organization can survive and adapt to changes in the business environment. A failure in any of these dimensions will also lead to performance problems.
Together, the three levels and three dimensions are known as the "nine boxes model." We provide both the tools and methodology to address the critical variables and ensure integration among them.
The Nine Boxes Model
| Goals | Design | Management | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Strategy, operating plans, and metrics. | Organization structure and overall business model. | Performance review practices and management culture. |
| Process | Customer and business requirements. | Process design, systems design, and workspace design. | Process ownership, process management, and continuous improvement. |
| Performer | Job specifications, performance metrics, and individual development plans. | Job roles and responsibilities, skill requirements, procedures, tools, and training. | Performance feedback, consequences, coaching, and support. |