Assessing the Impact of Organizational Systems
One of the single largest, most consistent oversights is not understanding that corporate and organisational systems – those written and unwritten policies, procedures and instructions to which everyone operates – are crucial parts of the strategic and operational plan of the enterprise. Very simply, if your corporate systems are not designed, implemented, and consistently reviewed and enforced with your organizational strategy in mind, then you are guaranteed to put unnecessary obstacles in your own way.
Corporate systems, in and of themselves, seem harmless. They provide guidance and everything from compensation, vacation entitlement, attendance, and retirement programs to supplier and customer relations systems, product and service policies, and procedures and more.
The intent of the systems is positive. They are there to protect the organization and its employees from harm and to ensure as fair and positive a workplace as possible. The problem is that they develop in a patchwork over time – usually in response to a particular need or problem of the day which may or may not exist any longer. But the system continues to exist – and it has little or no connections with the strategic direction and needs of the enterprise today.
By stepping back and reviewing your systems from a strategic perspective, you’ll be able to quickly identify those systems that are working toward your goals – and which are not. It’s easy. Simply ask yourself: How does this policy/procedure/ instruction help to achieve our strategic goals, vision and mission? If you can identify how – and clearly see that its implementation is consistent with that goal – then keep it. If not, there is your opportunity for positive change. And when you make that change, you’ll have created a direct line to a new worlds of innovation and profit increases.
Techniques for Improving Corporate Systems
Improving corporate systems is no different from improving any other aspect of the enterprise. It begins with an assessment, leading to specific actions that remove obstacles and create new opportunities. Where the difference appears is in the far-reaching outcomes of seemingly simple improvements. Remember these are systems – not just single actions. Each time you make a change, you are creating a ripple effect that positively impacts everyone within and outside the enterprise. That makes systems improvement all the more exciting and satisfying to pursue.
Understand the Impact of Organizational Systems
To understand how your corporate system are impacting the organization, you first need to put the systems in context. That means that, before you look at what you want to change, you first have to take overarching look at the enterprise. Whether you are the most senior executive, small business entrepreneur, or member of a management team, you need to take objective look at what you are responsible for – in effect, the part of the organization you own – then ask yourself: Is the organization operating the way I want it to? Are we, in fact, designed to succeed? Once you take that objective look and give yourself an honest answer, you are ready to take on the corporate systems that are affecting your ability to succeed.
From that point, the next questions are:
- Which policies, procedures, rules, regulations, and instructions within the organizational systems infrastructure support the organization’s strategic goals? Which do not?
- Which systems cannot be changed? For example, because of law or government regulation?
- Of those systems that can be changed, what must we do to make sure that the systems that direct and drive the organization are designed to help us succeed?
- Which systems have been unintentionally imposed or supported and can now be let go?
Once you have the answers to those questions, you are ready to move toward active improvement – and you have a good head start on how to achieve it quickly, painlessly, and profitably.
Align Your Systems with Your Strategy
Once you’ve identified the systems to which you are working, assess how each is helping – or hindering – the strategic goals of the organization. Just as you tie your strategic plan to operational and execution plans, slot the systems into place within that larger context. If the systems aren’t working toward your goals, they need to be changed. If they are imposed by law or government regulation, find out whether your interpretation is correct and if there is any way to maneuver within those laws and regulations to give you more room to succeed.
Review your Metrics
Take a look at how your organization is measured. Look at the metrics used internally and externally. Each of the corporate systems is tied to a measure – whether you know it, like it, or not. As you identify the systems to which the organization operates, you should also be able to identify the specific measures impacted by those systems. Whether the measures are internally designed and driven or the types that analysts use when assessing publicly held companies, each system has a measurable – and financial – impact. So, as you review your metrics, also take a look at the costs attached. That, too, will drive your decisions regarding the priority order of the systems change process.
Create an Active Systems Redesign Process
Once you know where to put your attention, create an ongoing system that reviews the system in place and continually assesses whether they are serving the best interests of your organization – whether by function or for the overall enterprise. With each review of the strategy, incorporate a review of the systems and their progress toward improvement or dissolution. Make sure that your customer and supplier data are incorporated into this process as well. They, too, account for a great deal of your success – financial and otherwise.
Conclusion
To be best of breed, whether a small local business just starting up or a multinational looking for ever larger pieces of the global market, you have to make sure that all your pieces fit and that the glue that holds them together – your corporate systems – are designed to help every step of the way.
The more stakeholders – within and outside the organization – you involve, the more and better the information you’ll get, and the more and faster you’ll be able to streamline how you do what you do. From hiring the best of the best to making your customers ecstatic, it all comes from devising, implementing, managing, and enforcing corporate systems that are designed for organizational success.
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