Creating an Executable Business Strategy

Objective
To create a “systems framework” where no walls exist between functional silos and where the interdependencies between the different parts of the organization are acknowledged, providing a platform from which to:

• Create a common business model for how the organization must operate as a single, integrated entity to achieve maximum system-wide performance,
• Develop a business strategy that will create significant and sustainable bottom-line improvement,
• Define a decision-making process that enables all managers to align their efforts and those of their people’s to support the business model and strategy, and
• Develop the supporting tactics to implement and sustain the strategic business plan.

Format
Creating an Executable Business Strategy (CEBS) is done in two parts.

In Part One, the management team acquires an understanding of:

• The cause-and-effect relationships governing the performance of organizations,
• The prevailing erroneous assumptions inhibiting organizational integration and success today, and
• The common sense Theory of Constraints (TOC) solutions that result from looking at the organization wholistically.

Through presentation, exercises, computer simulations and discussion facilitated by a TOC Expert, the management team will explore many, if not all, of the following basic building blocks of managing an organization and how they must tie together to create a successful organization:

• Supply Chain & Distribution
• Supply Chain & Internal Operations
• Finance & Measurements
• Product Development, Program & Project Management
• Market Strategy
• Sales & Achieving Buy-In to Change
• Managing People
• Business Strategy & Tactics

This facilitated process serves to create a common understanding of the types of changes needed to generate significant bottom line improvement and provide the management team with a common language to discuss the implications of theses changes in their own organization and within their own areas of responsibility.

In Part Two, the management team uses the knowledge and insight gained in Part One to reach consensus, commitment and alignment on:

• A translation of their new-found understanding into a model of how they will manage their organization as a whole, and how each manager will manage his/her own area of responsibility,
• A business strategy that will create significant and sustainable bottom-line improvement,
• The bottom line impact of the proposed strategy, and
• The supporting tactics for implementing the strategy across the organization and within each team member’s area of responsibility.

Through the use of a specially designed process employed by the TOC Expert, the management team will use select portions of the TOC Thinking Processes (TP) to:

• Identify the underlying common cause – the Core Conflict - for the problems in each manager’s area of responsibility,
• Understand the specific cause-and-effect relationships that govern the performance of their organization,
• Identify the prevailing erroneous assumptions, policies, measurements and behaviors that must be changed to operate as a single, integrated entity,
• Work collaboratively to design a strategy that leverages TOC concepts, processes and solutions to squeeze the maximum system-wide performance possible,
• Identify the changes that each manager proposes and commits to implement within his/her area of responsibility,
• Circumvent or mitigate any possible negative side-effects that could occur from implementing the integrated strategy,
• Quantify the bottom line impact of the strategy,
• Find ways to overcome the obstacles to implementing the strategy, and
• Construct a coordinated plan of action to implement the strategy.

Consensus, commitment and alignment are systematically built as the team members work alternatively as individuals and as a collective under the guidance of the TOC Expert each and every step of the way.

Results
An action plan to implement the business strategy, the assignment of responsibilities and each individual’s commitment to execute the actions required.

Duration
Part One: four to five days over a period of no more than eight weeks.
Part Two: four days.

For more information, contact us at info@goldratt.com or by calling our Client Relations Department at 1-800-394-GOAL or 1-203-624-9026.