I’ve had opportunities recently to work with several larger clients and attend a number of conferences in my core spaces of manufacturing, energy and materials. As I listen to comments about talent, scale and process, it’s clear that there has been a shift.
First, let’s just say that we are all really busy. The talent shortage and increasing demand to remove as much cost as possible from operations has really pushed the activity level up for everyone. Busyness is a term that implies that there is more to get done than our bulging calendars can handle (which is true), but also implies that all the work is of equal importance (which is categorically untrue).
Second, while clients and participants are doing committed experimentation with potential breakout programs like IOT, AR and AI, many have not been able to push through the beta phase when it comes to implementation. I’m noticing that the underlying process mindset can be a big part of that.
What I’m observing in terms of process is this: in those firms that have a foundation in the physical world, although we’ve gotten to a shorter path, the truth is that it remains primarily linear with process-based decision milestones.
Those milestones get us to a beta – and then to a wall (a wall we have built)
The “structure of core” works great when we are building into known assets for the production and distribution of the product or service which must be set up to create consistent returns with excellent control of budget, capital expenditures and key resources. Yet it creates wasteful inefficiencies when you are playing the 3D chess necessary to uncover new and valuable client-centric projects:
- The “official” path of an idea through many large firms remains something like a stage gate process. Most of these remain sequential including heavy doses of market research, R&D and internal development before external interaction. Innovation demands parallelism and a lightning fast path of discovery.
- The software teams have created islands of adaptive processes, largely around AGILE. Since software is more adaptive on a given platform, in most cases, increases in the team’s ability to do core product work efficiently is occuring. The issue is that these islands don’t get nearly as much insight into the downstream client and distribution insights, holding back their ability to make bold gains.
- People are test driving lean product development processes, but in many firms, unless a really strong sponsor emerges, getting real breakthrough work done takes a tremendous act of will. Simply mapping the best practices of the software process (like AGILE) to asset-intensive businesses (like most high-volume manufacturers) is not a solution.
Taken together, this burns resources and builds a pile of “demos” that are rarely activated. What we need instead, is a system that doesn’t leave demos piled in front of a “gate.”
So how do we get this turned around?
High-performing breakouts are the purview of teams that are cross functional, and can put careful slices of the whole of the firm to work in service of the emerging needs of the client.
It starts with acknowledging where we are starting from. The key assumption of working in the core – that the program needs to create a copy of the existing structure – is precisely why it doesn’t function well when the need is iterative:
- It’s too slow. We tend to “drop” ideas at the doorstep of the process and expect good output. Spiral iterations are not mapped in, yet we have learned that they are key to discovery.
- It’s resource inefficient and numbs new talent. Work in the core has been carefully functionally divided, which serves efficiency for the firm and not the emerging client.
- It lacks innate customer focus. The core serves the “common denominator” client, not the crisp insight from the emerging client. When a trade off comes, even with the best intentions, an internal functional team decision will be made on the basis of what’s good for the team (i.e., lets build on this platform rather then really listening to the customer).
- It promotes “off the books” work. When creative people are onboarded, they will find a way to create, and the truth is that most of them are doing it locally and in their small domains with limited information.
The bottom line is this: using the old mindset results in the “leaking” of time, money and resources. What’s needed is a process that allows sourcing of the best team members and process elements in a value discovery engine (rapid collaborative exploration and tightly partitioned risk).
More than a tweak..
This is more than a patch to the existing process…this is something new for firms. We need to have an approach that removes “chasms” and “islands” while doing the high performance development work so that we have:
- Clear delineation between processes for the “core” and processes for rapidly seeking value
- A light process that brings the best people together along the full value chain
- Emphasis on finding the sweet spot of an enterprise’s most relevant competence aligned with the client groupings most pressing emergent issue
Building a new path takes the best of both and applies human talent and ingenuity to create options.
I have been teaching the STRIDE model to firms to get this high value work done and it has allowed for a change in dialogue. Rather than getting into a food fight over a flavor of the month version of AGILE or LEAN, we drill into the essentials of emergent business success via razor tight focus on the client – and bring the entire weight of the firm to bear.
When we deploy STRIDE, we make sure we are working with the “whole brain” of the firm to form the strongest value proposition and pave the way for rapid deployment. The most unique elements are end-to-end participation, high cadence work, prioritizing early work by risk to success, followed by optimization once the core innovation has been secured. For more on this process, see posts here, here and here.
To really take advantage of this process, we need leaders with very specific characteristics. To build bench strength is this area, we have been using Complete Growth Leader to assess and strengthen the core leaders who sense, form and champion new projects and programs. Once coached and deployed, Growth Leaders are the human assets that keep the firm from missing “small signals” in the market. This keeps the pipeline fresh.
If your intuition says that you’ve got value locked up in this tension between the linear and adaptive processes, I can help with some diagnostic tools that I’ve used with other firms in your space. We can quickly zero on the essential next steps and provide support that will allow you to serve your emergent clients and your key talented team members.
You can reach me at (847) 651-1014 or use this link to set up a 20-minute, (no-strings-attached) consult.
