Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler (Albert Einstein). There is incredible power in simplicity; power that rarely gets released within organisations.
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If you've ever worried about inconsistent results, you’ll appreciate how we help your team learn how to predict and deliver the results you need - consistently.
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When you select OMS as your business partner, you’ll gain significant value through our coaching approach to the work we do together.
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Right now, your business has an operating model; it’s the way the business runs. But there are two critical questions that need to be asked about your operating model:
Both of these questions are important because they will immediately indicate the size of opportunity in your business. As the quote above highlights, we must know our processes and focus on improving them; the outcome is simply the result those processes deliver.Your business is a system of connected processes. The output from this system delivers your business results.
As Deming highlights below, no matter how good your team is, if you do not have a good system of connected processes, your team cannot add their greatest value to your business.
The OMS approach has four processes. These simple processes have been developed while integrating multiple, complex theories and models.
Each theory or model is integral to improving the performance of your business results. When an operating model (or any performance improvement initiative for that matter) ignores these theories or models, the likelihood of sustainably improving your results reduces significantly. Here’s how we will help you improve the way you operate and the results you achieve
We begin with the Define Process which looks at your current operating model. This process incorporates conversations with leaders and team members; reviewing policies and procedures, and analysing your existing system of connected processes.
This process provides you with a unique perspective of your business. We consider what you do; how you do it and why you do what you do.
At the same time, we’re assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of your processes and broader organisational elements such as organisational design and whether the culture is psychologically safe. This last point is critical if you want to tap into the diverse views (and value) that your whole team offers. Using a collaborative coaching approach, working with your team, this phase defines the current state of your operating model.
The Define Process ends when you have provided feedback to the Existing Operating Model – Report.
Having reviewed the qualitative and quantitative data from the Define phase together, we start the Develop Process by agreeing on what changes will be made. Once the key stakeholders have agreed on the scope of the change; timeframes and budget, the Develop Process focuses on developing a robust project plan for implementing the change. Developing this project plan is a highly consultative process and requires input from multiple stakeholders.
This process integrates elements of Agile Project Management; Change Management; Lean/Six Sigma process improvement methods; systems theory, organisational coaching and organisational design. The Develop Process ends when the project plan has been reviewed and ‘signed-off’ by key stakeholders in the business.
It is now time to deliver the plan. The Deliver Process requires both agility and discipline.
The team at OMS use an Agile Project Management methodology, which is quite different from the traditional waterfall approach to project management. The latter often results in a project going over budget and time – without delivering the value initially promised. The Deliver Process ensures the project team and business leaders understand and agree on roles; responsibilities; stage gates and delivering the work commitments required by the plan. The timeframe for this phase is determined by the work that must be completed.
The Deliver Process ends when the tasks on the project plan have been completed.
A critical element in any system of connected processes, is the element of reviewing and improving the processes in the system (continual improvement) and the system itself (continuous improvement). The Drive Process focuses on building the skills, knowledge and capacity within your business to be able to continually review and improve your processes and system.
We work with specific team members within your business, coaching them on how they should review and improve processes. This is critical as many organisations do not have the correct understanding of when, or how to improve a process. All too often, experienced employees rely on their gut-feeling and this can prove incredibly costly when they get it wrong.
OMS prefers to use a Statistical Process Control (SPC) approach. This provides certainty and importantly visibility about the health of a process. It clearly identifies when processes need to be improved; the type of improvement required and the value of that process improvement. It also identifies when a process ‘owner’ should leave the process alone.
We also help your leaders understand how to view the health of the broader business – as a system of connected processes. The Drive Process ends when the business has completed a Review & Improve cycle.
One of the benefits of the ‘good times,’ is that it’s much easier to make a profit; and a healthy one at that. When your business makes a significant profit, almost every aspect of life improves. Things at work seem to relax; employees are happier; there is less stress and life away from work gets better as well. For most business owners and…
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When leaders are asked to describe their operating model, they will often look confused. When they discover it refers to how their business runs, they quickly reach for the whiteboard markers and get ready to draw. Initially, most leaders draw a high level image of their business. It may show…
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Your business has its own groove, and growth can quickly interrupt this groove causing chaos. Now groove isn’t the most technical (or academic) phrase I could have used; I could have said, ‘Your business enjoys the property of homeostasis.’ If I’d written that, I wonder if your eyes would have begun to glaze over. Inside your business, there will be visible and…
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