This is the Introduction & Chapter 1 for the Shingo Award-winning The Outstanding Organization. The book addresses the 4 fundamental organizational behaviors required for outstanding performance: clarity, focus, discipline, and engagement. For more information, visit http://www.ksmartin.com/TOO.
The document describes five common problem solving approaches: 1) Hypothesis-led, which structures, hypothesizes, and efficiently solves problems; 2) Advanced Analytics, which uses data to discover non-obvious insights; 3) Design Thinking, which reframes problems in a people-centric way and prototypes solutions; 4) Domain IP-led, which applies tested expertise to known problems; and 5) Engineering, which iteratively builds minimum viable products to test assumptions. Each approach is detailed with typical problem types and step-by-step processes.
The document provides an overview of an Agile Basics presentation. It includes an agenda that covers why Agile is used, popular Agile implementations like Scrum and Extreme Programming, and the landscape of Agile adoption. It also discusses benefits of Agile like releasing working software frequently and collaborating with customers, as well as common Agile practices.
10 steps to a successsful enterprise agile transformation global scrum 2018Agile Velocity
Presented at Scrum Gathering Minneapolis, Senior Agile Coach and Trainer Mike Hall provides leaders and managers 10 steps to a successful enterprise Agile transformation.
Presentation to OU Agile special interest group 25 January 2017. Agile basics, Agile myths, and stories of breakthroughs and breakdowns in Agile adoption in learning design and course production.
The document provides an introduction to agile methods for executives. It discusses how agile approaches can help organizations adapt to increasingly volatile business environments. The key benefits of agile include shorter time to market, increased productivity, improved alignment with business needs, and greater predictability. The document outlines agile concepts like iterative development, minimal viable products, continuous delivery and focus on customer value. It also summarizes common agile frameworks like Scrum and how agility can be scaled in large organizations.
This is one hour free webinar about Agile principles for software development.
Main purpose for this webinar is to give attendees overview of Agile methodology for software development and provide understanding of main Agile principles.
An attempt at investigating how complexity theory can be applied to further improve thinking in Lean software development.
http://www.noop.nl
http://www.jurgenappelo.com
The document describes five common problem solving approaches: 1) Hypothesis-led, which structures, hypothesizes, and efficiently solves problems; 2) Advanced Analytics, which uses data to discover non-obvious insights; 3) Design Thinking, which reframes problems in a people-centric way and prototypes solutions; 4) Domain IP-led, which applies tested expertise to known problems; and 5) Engineering, which iteratively builds minimum viable products to test assumptions. Each approach is detailed with typical problem types and step-by-step processes.
The document provides an overview of an Agile Basics presentation. It includes an agenda that covers why Agile is used, popular Agile implementations like Scrum and Extreme Programming, and the landscape of Agile adoption. It also discusses benefits of Agile like releasing working software frequently and collaborating with customers, as well as common Agile practices.
10 steps to a successsful enterprise agile transformation global scrum 2018Agile Velocity
Presented at Scrum Gathering Minneapolis, Senior Agile Coach and Trainer Mike Hall provides leaders and managers 10 steps to a successful enterprise Agile transformation.
Presentation to OU Agile special interest group 25 January 2017. Agile basics, Agile myths, and stories of breakthroughs and breakdowns in Agile adoption in learning design and course production.
The document provides an introduction to agile methods for executives. It discusses how agile approaches can help organizations adapt to increasingly volatile business environments. The key benefits of agile include shorter time to market, increased productivity, improved alignment with business needs, and greater predictability. The document outlines agile concepts like iterative development, minimal viable products, continuous delivery and focus on customer value. It also summarizes common agile frameworks like Scrum and how agility can be scaled in large organizations.
This is one hour free webinar about Agile principles for software development.
Main purpose for this webinar is to give attendees overview of Agile methodology for software development and provide understanding of main Agile principles.
An attempt at investigating how complexity theory can be applied to further improve thinking in Lean software development.
http://www.noop.nl
http://www.jurgenappelo.com
Digital and Innovation Strategies for the Infrastructure Industry: Tim McManu...Smart City
Productivity in the engineering and construction industry has been stagnant for decades. The proliferation of digital solutions has made it difficult for users to develop a coherent strategy. Companies who are able to successfully navigate the new digital landscape are on the brink of a transformation that will see top performers reduce overall project costs by 20-45%. However, digital transformations require developing digital capability across all aspects of the organization. Therefore, each entity involved in the industry must understand its critical challenges in order to guide its path to increased digital capability.
Metrics at Every (Flight) Level [2020 Agile Kanban Istanbul FlowConf]Matthew Philip
Slides as presented on Dec 8, 2020 at FlowConf organized by Agile Kanban Istanbul. https://www.flowconf.com/
Organizational change often stalls out at departmental boundaries, whether that is IT or another division. How do we help organizations connect vertically and horizontally to realize the outcomes that they have when undertaking large-scale change efforts?
Join this session to learn from a case study of a bank that combined flight levels and metrics to bridge their departmental boundaries and recognize gains not only in software delivery effectiveness but unifying higher-level strategy.
The slides are for a course that is LIVE on Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/product-roadmap-101/)
The slides outline how to build an effective product by translating product strategy into product roadmap for enterprise products.
This document discusses the myths and realities of cloud adoption. It presents 7 myths about cloud computing and rebuts each with realities based on research. It then estimates that adopting cloud technologies could provide $1 trillion in value for Fortune 500 companies through cost savings, innovation, and growth. Lastly, it provides examples of banking use cases that could leverage cloud technologies.
A community of practice (CoP) is a group that shares a domain of interest and deepens their expertise through regular interaction. The CoP discussed in the document focuses on agile best practices and is comprised of scrum masters from different teams. The CoP aims to improve knowledge sharing, address challenges, and disseminate lessons learned across teams. Benefits include increased expertise, problem solving, and adoption of best practices organization-wide.
The document discusses product roadmaps in an agile context. It defines a product roadmap as a plan showing how a product will evolve over coming months or versions. Roadmaps provide continuity, alignment, and communicate strategy. Goal-oriented rather than feature-based roadmaps are recommended. The roadmap sits within the wider product strategy and helps focus the product backlog. Regular reviews ensure the roadmap stays dynamic and aligned with goals.
SAFe portfolio management @ Knowit nov 28Knowit_TM
The document discusses program portfolio management in SAFe. It describes the roles and responsibilities of the program portfolio management team, which includes senior executives and managers. Their responsibilities include setting the portfolio vision and strategy, allocating funding to investment themes, and governing program execution. The portfolio management team aims to transform traditional portfolio management approaches to more "agilean" approaches through practices like decentralized decision-making, continuous value delivery, light-weight business cases, and self-organizing Agile Release Trains.
Scaled Agile, Inc., is the provider of SAFe®, the world’s leading framework for business agility. Through learning and certification, a global partner network, and a growing community of over 800,000 trained professionals, Scaled Agile helps enterprises build agility into their culture so they can quickly identify and deliver customer value, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and improve business outcomes. Learn more at scaledagile.com.
Are you ready to realize the strategic value of a carve-out? Too often, companies consider carve-outs only when they feel a part of the business has become too weak or troubled to keep. The result: They miss opportunities to create significant value, actively destroy value, or both. More companies need to recognize that carve-outs are a key strategy to enhance competitiveness by building a portfolio that’s more sharply focused on the most promising markets and customers.
Learn more about Carve-outs: http://bit.ly/1teoIjB
The Boston Consulting Group was hired to help the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its central office support functions. Over several phases of work, BCG conducted a comprehensive assessment, identified opportunities through process improvements, IT enhancements, organizational redesign, and cultural changes. This included recommending a more property-centric operating model. BCG estimated the changes could achieve significant cost savings and allow NYCHA to redirect resources to front-line operations.
While American optimism on economic recovery continues to recover, over half of US consumers do not expect their routines to return until the latter half of 2021.
These exhibits are based on survey data collected in US from November 9–13, 2020. Check back for regular updates on American consumer sentiments, behaviors, income, spending, and expectations.
The document discusses goals for adopting agile practices like predictability, quality, early ROI, lower costs, and innovation. It then covers considerations for transformation based on organization size, dependencies between teams, and resistance to change. Finally, it outlines key elements of transformation including backlogs, teams, and working tested software and discusses governance structures with portfolio, program, and delivery teams.
Learn about the importance of measuring the right things and how to use metrics and data to improve performance. Get the right metrics and KPIs to improve performance so you can deliver on your organization’s most important initiatives.
Read The Seven Deadly Sins of Agile Measurement http://2ral.ly/Zqa to make sure you’re measuring performance in a way that actually improves results.
Like other prosperous American cities, greater Seattle currently finds itself in the unenviable position of possessing both enormous amounts of wealth and staggering levels of homelessness. These slides accompany the McKinsey & Company report that looks at homelessness in King County, published in January 2020.
Pioneering One Africa: The Companies Blazing a Trail Across the ContinentBoston Consulting Group
Despite multiple barriers, economic integration in Africa is not only taking place, but also gathering speed. The primary drivers of this process are African businesses.
The enterprise software industry is being transformed by substantial investor capital, Cloud 2.0, artificial intelligence, data protection, preferred platforms, and a talent shortage, leading stakeholders of all kinds to make big changes, and big choices.
The document summarizes McKinsey & Company's research on promoting gender diversity in organizations over several years from 2007 to 2012. Some of the key findings include: (1) Companies with more women in top executive positions tend to have better financial performance; (2) Leadership behaviors more commonly seen in female leaders (such as people development) improve organizational health; (3) Getting more women into leadership requires action at societal, governmental, company and individual levels.
Creating a Continuous Improvement CultureTKMG, Inc.
Recorded webinar: http://slidesha.re/M4Zyhu
Subscribe: http://www.ksmartin.com/subscribe
Karen’s Books: http://ksmartin.com/books
Lean has been in popular use since the late 1990's in some circles and since the mid-2000's in others. Yet very few organizations have establishing true continuous improvement cultures. Why?
In this webinar you will learn the essential elements for infusing C.I. into your organization's DNA--including the must-have leadership and management behaviors--and tips for selling these needs to your leadership team.
The Outstanding Organization: The Power of DisciplineTKMG, Inc.
Recorded webinar: http://slidesha.re/1e1RFU6
Subscribe: http://www.ksmartin.com/subscribe
To purchase the book: http://bit.ly/TOObk
Excellence and consistency in achieving it is only possible through having a disciplined approach to business management and improvement. In this webinar, you'll learn how to create and sustain a disciplined approach to problem-solving and process management through practice, in a way that builds deep organizational capabilities and accelerates transformation.
Digital and Innovation Strategies for the Infrastructure Industry: Tim McManu...Smart City
Productivity in the engineering and construction industry has been stagnant for decades. The proliferation of digital solutions has made it difficult for users to develop a coherent strategy. Companies who are able to successfully navigate the new digital landscape are on the brink of a transformation that will see top performers reduce overall project costs by 20-45%. However, digital transformations require developing digital capability across all aspects of the organization. Therefore, each entity involved in the industry must understand its critical challenges in order to guide its path to increased digital capability.
Metrics at Every (Flight) Level [2020 Agile Kanban Istanbul FlowConf]Matthew Philip
Slides as presented on Dec 8, 2020 at FlowConf organized by Agile Kanban Istanbul. https://www.flowconf.com/
Organizational change often stalls out at departmental boundaries, whether that is IT or another division. How do we help organizations connect vertically and horizontally to realize the outcomes that they have when undertaking large-scale change efforts?
Join this session to learn from a case study of a bank that combined flight levels and metrics to bridge their departmental boundaries and recognize gains not only in software delivery effectiveness but unifying higher-level strategy.
The slides are for a course that is LIVE on Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/product-roadmap-101/)
The slides outline how to build an effective product by translating product strategy into product roadmap for enterprise products.
This document discusses the myths and realities of cloud adoption. It presents 7 myths about cloud computing and rebuts each with realities based on research. It then estimates that adopting cloud technologies could provide $1 trillion in value for Fortune 500 companies through cost savings, innovation, and growth. Lastly, it provides examples of banking use cases that could leverage cloud technologies.
A community of practice (CoP) is a group that shares a domain of interest and deepens their expertise through regular interaction. The CoP discussed in the document focuses on agile best practices and is comprised of scrum masters from different teams. The CoP aims to improve knowledge sharing, address challenges, and disseminate lessons learned across teams. Benefits include increased expertise, problem solving, and adoption of best practices organization-wide.
The document discusses product roadmaps in an agile context. It defines a product roadmap as a plan showing how a product will evolve over coming months or versions. Roadmaps provide continuity, alignment, and communicate strategy. Goal-oriented rather than feature-based roadmaps are recommended. The roadmap sits within the wider product strategy and helps focus the product backlog. Regular reviews ensure the roadmap stays dynamic and aligned with goals.
SAFe portfolio management @ Knowit nov 28Knowit_TM
The document discusses program portfolio management in SAFe. It describes the roles and responsibilities of the program portfolio management team, which includes senior executives and managers. Their responsibilities include setting the portfolio vision and strategy, allocating funding to investment themes, and governing program execution. The portfolio management team aims to transform traditional portfolio management approaches to more "agilean" approaches through practices like decentralized decision-making, continuous value delivery, light-weight business cases, and self-organizing Agile Release Trains.
Scaled Agile, Inc., is the provider of SAFe®, the world’s leading framework for business agility. Through learning and certification, a global partner network, and a growing community of over 800,000 trained professionals, Scaled Agile helps enterprises build agility into their culture so they can quickly identify and deliver customer value, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and improve business outcomes. Learn more at scaledagile.com.
Are you ready to realize the strategic value of a carve-out? Too often, companies consider carve-outs only when they feel a part of the business has become too weak or troubled to keep. The result: They miss opportunities to create significant value, actively destroy value, or both. More companies need to recognize that carve-outs are a key strategy to enhance competitiveness by building a portfolio that’s more sharply focused on the most promising markets and customers.
Learn more about Carve-outs: http://bit.ly/1teoIjB
The Boston Consulting Group was hired to help the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its central office support functions. Over several phases of work, BCG conducted a comprehensive assessment, identified opportunities through process improvements, IT enhancements, organizational redesign, and cultural changes. This included recommending a more property-centric operating model. BCG estimated the changes could achieve significant cost savings and allow NYCHA to redirect resources to front-line operations.
While American optimism on economic recovery continues to recover, over half of US consumers do not expect their routines to return until the latter half of 2021.
These exhibits are based on survey data collected in US from November 9–13, 2020. Check back for regular updates on American consumer sentiments, behaviors, income, spending, and expectations.
The document discusses goals for adopting agile practices like predictability, quality, early ROI, lower costs, and innovation. It then covers considerations for transformation based on organization size, dependencies between teams, and resistance to change. Finally, it outlines key elements of transformation including backlogs, teams, and working tested software and discusses governance structures with portfolio, program, and delivery teams.
Learn about the importance of measuring the right things and how to use metrics and data to improve performance. Get the right metrics and KPIs to improve performance so you can deliver on your organization’s most important initiatives.
Read The Seven Deadly Sins of Agile Measurement http://2ral.ly/Zqa to make sure you’re measuring performance in a way that actually improves results.
Like other prosperous American cities, greater Seattle currently finds itself in the unenviable position of possessing both enormous amounts of wealth and staggering levels of homelessness. These slides accompany the McKinsey & Company report that looks at homelessness in King County, published in January 2020.
Pioneering One Africa: The Companies Blazing a Trail Across the ContinentBoston Consulting Group
Despite multiple barriers, economic integration in Africa is not only taking place, but also gathering speed. The primary drivers of this process are African businesses.
The enterprise software industry is being transformed by substantial investor capital, Cloud 2.0, artificial intelligence, data protection, preferred platforms, and a talent shortage, leading stakeholders of all kinds to make big changes, and big choices.
The document summarizes McKinsey & Company's research on promoting gender diversity in organizations over several years from 2007 to 2012. Some of the key findings include: (1) Companies with more women in top executive positions tend to have better financial performance; (2) Leadership behaviors more commonly seen in female leaders (such as people development) improve organizational health; (3) Getting more women into leadership requires action at societal, governmental, company and individual levels.
Creating a Continuous Improvement CultureTKMG, Inc.
Recorded webinar: http://slidesha.re/M4Zyhu
Subscribe: http://www.ksmartin.com/subscribe
Karen’s Books: http://ksmartin.com/books
Lean has been in popular use since the late 1990's in some circles and since the mid-2000's in others. Yet very few organizations have establishing true continuous improvement cultures. Why?
In this webinar you will learn the essential elements for infusing C.I. into your organization's DNA--including the must-have leadership and management behaviors--and tips for selling these needs to your leadership team.
The Outstanding Organization: The Power of DisciplineTKMG, Inc.
Recorded webinar: http://slidesha.re/1e1RFU6
Subscribe: http://www.ksmartin.com/subscribe
To purchase the book: http://bit.ly/TOObk
Excellence and consistency in achieving it is only possible through having a disciplined approach to business management and improvement. In this webinar, you'll learn how to create and sustain a disciplined approach to problem-solving and process management through practice, in a way that builds deep organizational capabilities and accelerates transformation.
This document contains information about unemployment from a macroeconomics lecture. It defines key terms related to unemployment such as the unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, natural rate of unemployment, and types of unemployment like cyclical, frictional, and structural unemployment. It also provides details on how unemployment is measured in the U.S. by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through different surveys. Tables show breakdowns of the population, labor force, and unemployment rates.
This document contains quotes from various religious leaders about the importance of family history and genealogy. It discusses how family relationships can endure after death through celestial marriage. It encourages members to perform temple ordinances, write personal and family history, and participate in name extraction to ensure salvation for their ancestors. The quotes emphasize the urgency of redeeming the dead and how the spirits of ancestors will help guide living relatives to find records to perform saving ordinances on their behalf.
The document provides a monthly budget breakdown that lists $2,682.67 in income from wages and bonuses and $2,649 in expenses across categories such as mortgage, utilities, food, transportation, insurance, and personal expenses. This results in a monthly balance of $44 after accounting for all income and expenses.
Freedom, Money, Time and the Key to Creative SuccessPaul Smith
A creative person needs three things to be happy Freedom, Money, Time Usually, you’re lucky if you get two out of the three. But if one of them is missing, it compromises the other two.
THE UK Stars OF 2015’s Christmas Advertising - InfographicKantar
Millward Brown’s Christmas advertising study explores the performance of 18 of this year’s leading TV ads, testing them with consumer audiences using its AdExpress tool.
Viewers reviewed and scored each on 12 factors proven to drive sales and build a brand: Branding, Involvement, Enjoyment, Made me love the brand, Sets the trends, Persuasion, New and different information, Relevance, Believability, Different from others, Meets my needs.
The 18 ads reviewed are from brands and retailers: Asda, Argos, Boots, Burberry, Cadbury’s, Celebrations, Debenhams, dfs, John Lewis, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Mulberry, PayPal, Sainsbury’s, Sky Movies, Very, Waitrose and Warburtons.
This real estate report summarizes home sales data for Magnolia, TX (zip code 77354) over a two-year period from October 2010 to October 2012. It includes charts showing the average and median sold prices, average price per square foot, and average days on the market on a monthly basis. It also lists the number of homes sold each month along with the average and median sold prices, average price per square foot, and average days on the market.
Dr Paul Bowyer - Aspergillosis Study Day May 1st 2012Graham Atherton
Dr Paul Bowyer is the Principle Scientist at the National Aspergillosis Centre. This talk was given to a group of professionals allied to medicine who are attending an education & awareness day at the Centre.
Dr Bowyer summarises our current understanding of the pathogenic processes that lead to an aspergillus infection.
Magnolia Residences @ New Manila Quezon CityNorman Garcia
The Magnolia Town Square is the first master-planned, mixed-use high-rise residential and commercial complex in New Manila. Within it is the Magnolia Residences, a two-hectare residential area to be comprised of our four condominium towers. Aside from its easy access to school and hospitals, the project\'s proximity to the LRT II lines makes travelling to different parts of the metropolis a breeze.
Millward Brown AdReaction Multiscreen 2014 InfographicKantar
AdReaction delivers insights on perceptions of advertising, particularly digital formats. AdReaction 2014 explores multiscreen advertising and consumer receptivity to ads on TV, smartphones, laptops and tablets.
Kate Grenville's novel The Secret River follows a group of British settlers in early colonial Australia and their interactions with the indigenous Aboriginal people. The characters have differing views on the Aboriginals, ranging from Thomas Blackwood's belief that they should be treated respectfully to Smasher Sullivan's more hostile attitude. The story explores the conflicting beliefs between the settlers and the Aboriginal people during this period of colonial expansion and settlement in Australia.
How is your company responding to the new realities of the market?
Is it evolving or going back to 'business-as-usual'?
How is the behavior of your company and in your company getting in the way of sustained, improved performance?
Business Plans that Work_ A Guide for Small Business ( PDFDrive ).pdfSunilSaraf11
This chapter introduces entrepreneurship and its importance in America. Entrepreneurship runs deep in American culture, with many famous companies founded during recessions, including over half of 2009 Fortune 500 companies. The chapter encourages the reader that now may be the time to pursue entrepreneurial dreams, as over 26 million Americans own or are starting new businesses. Entrepreneurs create new jobs and the future by combining resources in novel ways to exploit opportunities.
This document discusses risk management practices in the banking industry. It notes that the pandemic has impacted risk management controls and increased costs. It recommends that banks redesign processes to streamline and automate underwriting, monitoring, and reporting. Short term updates include implementing a plan with check-ins and milestones to track cost reductions. Long term changes involve reorganizing the risk management function and comparing processes and costs to other institutions. The document advocates updating practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Online Reputation and Crisis Management ManualLudi García
This document discusses online reputation and crisis management. It defines online reputation as the perceptions stakeholders have of a company or individual based on information found online. Building a strong online reputation requires monitoring all content about your brand, understanding both visible and hidden ("iceberg") information, and generating positive content through owned, earned and shared channels. It also discusses how to respond appropriately to negative uncontrolled content or crises by accepting responsibility but focusing on moving forward in a positive manner. The key is to avoid generating new negative content and build your reputation based on reality through openness and consistency.
The biggest problems facing marketers today is how to drive business amidst the rapidly changing environment. This presentation details the effects of limitless media on consumers, their changes in their desires, and how to systematically build marketing programs to drive demand in the infinite media landscape.
Authentic state-of-the-art articles are what make the PECB Insights Magazine an unequaled source of information and inspiration.
In this issue, each story is a unique discovery; a meticulous blend of the informative and artistic dimensions in a matrix, the keyword of which is interactivity. The combination of the best of leadership, technology, business & leisure, travel and much more inspire transformation and invite the reader to spend free time tastefully. This magazine edition is packed with straight-forward, yet sophisticated pieces related to industry trends, from Artificial Intelligence, to 3d printing and traveling experiences which take your breath away through the exhilarating experiences portrayed by personal stories.
Our readers are at the top of their game, and they drive us to be at the top of ours!
Here are a few key points regarding environmental liability and due process in this case:
- As subsequent owners of the contaminated land, the Reardons could potentially face liability under environmental laws like CERCLA, even though they did not cause the contamination. The intent of these laws is to hold responsible parties accountable for cleanup costs.
- However, imposing liability without sufficient due process could violate the Reardons' constitutional rights. They should have an opportunity to contest liability and scientific evidence against them. A hearing would allow them to challenge the testing methods, results, and conclusions reached by the state agency.
- The Reardons could argue they did not know and had no reasonable way to know about the contamination when they purchased the
UE Startups -- 9 Factors in Raising Funding in Silicon ValleyPeter Szymanski
9 Factors Silicon Valley investors consider for European startups, how to choose an angel or venture capital investor, and market trends that support growing a startup outside the USA.
The expansion-sale-four-must-win-conversations-to-keep-and-grow-your-customer...An Le Truong
Lê Trường An – Dịch giả – Tác giả – Marketer – chuyên thực hiện các dự án SEO, Social Media, Dịch thuật và xuất bản nội dung. Ngoài ra, Lê Trường An liên tục cập nhật nội dung blog với các chủ đề SEO, Marketing và nhiều hơn nữa…
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Content Creator Lê Trường An
Chuyên viên Marketing – Tác giả - Dịch giả tại letruongan.com
Chuyên viên Marketing tại BrainCoach
Chuyên viên Content Marketing tại FoogleSEO
Dịch vụ Marketing – SEO – Content Marketing
This document summarizes a report written by experts at Heidrick & Struggles on accelerating organizational performance. It discusses how industries are being disrupted at a faster pace due to digital innovation. It also notes that many institutions are failing to adapt to changes in the environment. The report identifies 13 factors that can either drive or impede acceleration. It also outlines four capabilities that leaders need to develop in order to mobilize, execute, and transform their organizations with agility. The document examines what differentiates high-performing organizations and provides a framework for developing an agenda to improve acceleration.
The biggest problems facing marketers today is how to drive business amidst the rapidly changing environment. This presentation details the effects of limitless media on consumers, their changes in their desires, and how to systematically build marketing programs to drive demand in the infinite media landscape.
This summary discusses the risks of growth and how boards can better manage them:
- Many companies become so obsessed with growth that they forget the risks, which can destroy business value. Pursuing only growth and size is misguided and has led companies like Toyota and Starbucks into problems.
- Smart growth means managing the risks of growth. As companies prepare for better prospects after the financial crisis, boards must examine what growth means and how to mitigate its risks.
- A panel of directors and executives discussed that growth should not always be the top priority. It is important to maintain capabilities and invest in people as the business changes. Rapid growth that overstretches a company can lead to failures.
- Bo
Christmas Writing Paper Have Fun TeachingKatie Booth
The document provides instructions for creating an account and submitting assignment requests on the HelpWriting.net website. It outlines a 5-step process: 1) Create an account with a password and email. 2) Complete a form with assignment details. 3) Review bids from writers and select one. 4) Review the completed paper and authorize payment. 5) Request revisions until satisfied with the work. The site promises original, high-quality content and refunds for plagiarized work.
A guide to to building your company reputation onlineIgniyte
Our free e-book – A Guide to Building Your Company Reputation Online is designed to help companies of all types and sizes understand how to manage their online reputation in a strategic and thoughtfully planned way. It explains how to maintain an effective online reputation, provides a range of useful tools and resources, and explores some real-life scenarios.
The document provides guidance on developing an enterprise social media strategy. It discusses the key elements of listening, measurement and analysis, and engagement. For listening, it recommends providing tools to listen to customers and gain competitive insights. Measurement involves metrics like reach, share of conversation, and referrals. Engagement requires preparing an organization by designating leadership, creating guidelines, and communicating. The basics of engagement are to be real, relevant, practical, patient, and active. It also provides tips for B2B social media and announces an upcoming discussion at Dreamforce 2011.
Sarah Carter, VP of Marketing at Actiance, will present a workshop on social media security and compliance for financial institutions. She will discuss why social media is important for reaching younger customers, who is using it effectively in the industry, and key requirements for adoption like content distribution, analytics, and sales integration. The workshop will also address participants' questions and concerns around their firms' social media policies and adoption challenges. Carter aims to provide best practices for financial organizations to safely harness the opportunities in social media.
Otto Freijser - Perpetulon - Lean Startup Night Warsaw - Feb 13th, 2018 Bartek Janowicz
Otto Freijser discusses scaling lean startup principles in large enterprises. He outlines how traditional product development differs from lean startup by emphasizing building without validating assumptions first. Freijser advocates adopting lean startup practices like customer discovery, minimum viable products, and continuous iteration to increase success rates for new products. Large companies can apply these principles through innovation teams, flexible structures, and empowering teams to launch smaller experiments.
1) Marketing is one of the greatest drivers of upside leverage and exponential business growth. By improving marketing effectiveness even slightly, through modeling best practices from within or outside the industry, businesses can see massive increases in revenue, sales, profits, and overall growth.
2) Strategy is the second major driver. Most businesses focus on tactics rather than a strategic vision, but changing strategy alone can instantly transform results. An effective strategy proactively guides long-term goals and how every business element integrates to achieve them.
3) The document outlines nine total drivers of upside leverage and exponential growth, with marketing and strategy as the two most impactful. Adaptation of best practices is key to improving performance for both.
Similar a The Outstanding Organization Introduction & Chapter 1 (20)
These slides are from the Metrics-Based Process Mapping webinar delivered 09-29-2021.
Companion resources:
• View the recording - https://tkmg.com/webinars/metrics-based-process-mapping-3/
• Buy the book - https://tkmgacademy.com/products/metrics-based-process-mapping/
• Take the TKMG Academy course - https://tkmgacademy.com/courses/metrics-based-process-mapping/
These are the slides for the webinar https://vimeo.com/507636848
Since releasing her book, Clarity First, Karen has continued to analyze, experiment, and reflect on the strong connection between operating with clarity and successfully deploying Lean management—or any improvement-centric management philosophy. She’s learned that addressing the need for clarity head-on is an accelerant.
In this webinar, Karen discusses:
• The personal and organizational benefits of operating with clarity
• The three ways people approach clarity
• How to use Lean Management practices—the 5 P’s—to cultivate clarity
With a strong appetite for and courage to operate with clarity, there's no limit to individual and organizational performance!
To supplement the webinar, visit www.tkmg.com/books/clarity-first -- take our free quiz to assess how you and your organization currently rate, download the first chapter of the book or the CLEAR Problem Solving card mentioned in the webinar, and more.
If you’re interested in learning more about the clarity practices Karen discussed in the webinar, check out www.tkmgacademy.com, our online learning arm.
These are the slides for the webinar https://vimeo.com/480910753
Since releasing her book, Clarity First, Karen has continued to analyze, experiment, and reflect on the strong connection between operating with clarity and successfully deploying Lean management—or any improvement-centric management philosophy. She’s learned that addressing the need for clarity head-on is an accelerant.
In this webinar, Karen discusses:
• The personal and organizational benefits of operating with clarity
• The three ways people approach clarity
• How to use Lean Management practices—the 5 P’s—to cultivate clarity
With a strong appetite for and courage to operate with clarity, there's no limit to individual and organizational performance!
To supplement the webinar, visit www.tkmg.com/books/clarity-first -- take our free quiz to assess how you and your organization currently rate, download the first chapter of the book, and more.
If you’re interested in learning more about the clarity practices Karen discussed in the webinar, check out www.tkmgacademy.com, our online learning arm.
These are the questions I suggest people use to solve problems more effectively. I've mapped it here to PDSA, but it can also be mapping to DMAIC, 8D, OODA, etc.
For more information, see Karen's latest book, Clarity First, pp 168-209. www.clarityfirstbook.com
Clarity First: What it is. Why you need it. How to get it.TKMG, Inc.
These are the slides for the webinar https://vimeo.com/manage/296007941
A lack of clarity costs companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits billions of dollars a year. Beyond the red ink, this lack of clarity also inserts unnecessary risk, demotivates team members, and causes customers to question whether the organization can deliver value.
On a personal front, a lack of clarity creates interpersonal tension and hurts the mission of otherwise well-meaning leaders.
In this webinar, Karen shares what clarity is and how a lack of clarity leads to poor performance--both organizationally and personally--and eroding trust. She shares powerful ways to operate with greater clarity to unleash the potential of people and organizations alike.
To supplement the webinar, consider taking our free quiz to assess how you and your organization currently rate (www.clarityfirstquiz.com) or purchase the book (www.clarityfirstbook.com).
This document provides an overview and summary of key concepts from the book "Clarity First" about gaining clarity. It discusses what clarity is, why it is needed, and how to achieve it. Specific techniques presented for improving clarity include using the "Five P's" of purpose, priorities, process, performance and problem solving. The document also discusses different "types" of clarity in terms of being a clarity pursuer, avoider or blind. It provides tips for writing clear emails and asking clarifying questions. Overall, the document promotes the idea that clarity allows for faster and easier task completion, builds confidence and trust, and emphasizes mindfulness and metacognition as keys to operating with clarity.
Of all the organizational capabilities to be developed, problem solving takes the top spot. Yet all too often organizations lack a clear and effective method for solving problems that the entire workforce is proficient in.
These are the slides for the webinar of the same name, available at www.ksmartin.com/webinars
In the webinar--the 4th of 5 webinars based on content from Karen’s latest book, Clarity First--you learn a question-based problem solving method (CLEAR) that helps people at all levels of the organization become stronger problem solvers. You'll also learn the proper way to build these capabilities at all levels of your organization.
If you haven't taken it already, we recommend you take the Clarity First Quiz to see how you and your organization rate (www.clarityfirstquiz.com). You may also be interested in purchasing the book to obtain a deeper understanding that can lead to deeper understanding - www.clarityfirstbook.com.
These are the slides that accompany the webinar found at: https://vimeo.com/280459431
Operating with clear processes makes or breaks organizational performance and it's an aspect of operations that is often fairly weak. Measuring organizational performance—whether overall performance or the performance of a small work team—is another area that we find often organizations struggling with.
In this webinar—the 3rd of 5 webinars based on content from my latest book, Clarity First—you'll learn the five criteria for robust process management and best practices for measuring and managing performance at any level in the organization. Additional topics will include creating and using standard work, how to properly roll out process changes, and avoiding measurement that drives the wrong behaviors.
This document provides information about organizational clarity and strategy deployment. It includes links and summaries of books and resources on clarity, as well as descriptions of the five Ps (purpose, priorities, process, performance, problem solving). There are also explanations and examples of strategy deployment phases and tools, including developing a strategy deployment plan, gaining consensus through catchball, and key features like alignment, focus, consensus, execution, visual management and results.
Clarity First: Overview (1 of 5 webinars)TKMG, Inc.
A lack of clarity costs companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits billions of dollars a year. Beyond the red ink, this lack of clarity also inserts unnecessary risk, creates demotivating workplaces, and causes customers to question whether the organization can deliver value.
These are the slides for the first of 5 webinars based on the content in Karen’s latest book, Clarity First. In this webinar, Karen shares what clarity is and why people and organizations need it. She also shows how pursuing clarity is at the core of Lean management systems, and is both the greatest reason for resistance and the most powerful way to unleash the potential of people and organizations alike.
To purchase Clarity First, visit www.clarityfirstbook.com. You may also want to take The Clarity Quiz to learn the degree to which you and your organization operate with clarity: www.clarityfirstquiz.com.
Know How Data is Calculated - OEE exampleTKMG, Inc.
This is a section from the performance chapter in my new book, Clarity First, which addresses a problem we often see with measuring OEE (overall equipment effectiveness). To order the book: www.clarityfirstbook.com.
The document discusses daily management systems (DMS) which are used to manage processes through standard work and visual controls. It describes the components of a DMS including area readiness, performance tracking, problem solving, and communication. Standard work is emphasized as the key to maintaining processes and preventing backsliding. Effective strategy deployment is also highlighted as important for organizational alignment. Various examples of DMS boards, structures, and best practices for implementation are provided.
The Trust Factor: Eliminating Waste with a Reliable SystemTKMG, Inc.
One of my first written pieces on Lean, this was the feature article in the March 2006 issue of Industrial Engineer. (As a note, I didn't write the sidebar on trust-building exercises and wasn't thrilled that the editors added content without my permission.)
Over the 16 years that we've been providing support to organizations at nearly every stage of the Lean journey, leadership has consistently emerged as the single most important determinant of success. Those organizations with strong leadership engagement soar, while those who don't fail to experience significant transformation.
These are the materials for Karen's third (and final) of three webinars on Lean Leadership. In this webinar, Karen reviewed the system of Lean principles, management practices, and tools, and then focuses on the role of leaders in understanding their organization's value streams, setting the strategic direction for value stream transformation, and monitoring the cycle of improvement.
The webinar recording is available at:http://www.slideshare.net/KarenMartinGroup/lean-leadership-part-3-of-3-webinars-67941809
Not a subscriber? To receive automatic notification of future webinars, gain access to our library of free assessments and templates, and receive our occasional newsletter with improvement tips: www.ksmartin.com/subscribe.
This document outlines many of the core components and principles of Lean Management, including analytical tools, value stream analysis, metrics-based process mapping, root cause analysis techniques, waste elimination strategies, standard work, visual management, pull systems, cellular layouts, level loading, work balancing, batch size reduction, setup reduction, cross-training, strategy deployment, key performance indicators, daily kaizen, problem solving processes, gemba walks, and continuous improvement of processes, products and services to deliver value to customers. The overall goal is to eliminate waste and create continuous flow to maximize efficiency, quality and customer value.
These are the slides for the webinar delivered on 8-9-2016. The recording is available at http://www.slideshare.net/KarenMartinGroup/lean-leadership-part-1-of-3-webinars
Over the 16 years that we've been providing support to organizations at nearly every stage of the Lean journey, leadership has consistently emerged as the single most important determinant of success. Those organizations with deep leadership engagement soar, while those who don't fail to experience significant transformation.
In this first of three webinars, Karen shares the perspective and content that she and her team use when working with executives and senior leadership teams within the firm's clients.
She review the system of Lean principles, management practices, and tools, and then focuses on 6 of the topics leaders most commonly misunderstand or are unaware of:
1. Three of the core values that underlie Lean management
2. Key performance indicators
3. Visual management
4. Work standardization
5. Go and see (Gemba) management
6. The one environmental "don't" that destroys all Lean effort
Not a subscriber? To receive automatic notification of future webinars, gain access to our library of free assessments and templates, and receive our occasional newsletter with improvement tips: http://www.ksmartin.com/subscribe.
Building the Fit Organization (with guest presenter Dan Markovitz)TKMG, Inc.
Slides for a webinar hosted by Karen Martin on January 21, 2016 and delivered by Dan Markovitz.
Video & webinar description: http://www.slideshare.net/KarenMartinGroup/building-the-fit-organization-with-guest-presenter-dan-markovitz-57375703
Subscribe: www.ksmartin.com/subscribe.
Book: http://amzn.to/1lCeAwj
value stream mapping and metrics based process mappingTKMG, Inc.
Since Mike Osterling and I released our latest book, Value Stream Mapping, we've received a lot of questions about which level of mapping--value stream vs. process--people should opt for and why/when. We've also continued to hear people claim that value stream mapping team members should include the front-line staff. Not so.
These are the slides for a webinar delivered on 12-17-2015. The recording is available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/KarenMartinGroup/value-stream-and-process-mapping-when-you-opt-for-each or http://ksmartin.com/webinars.
For more information, we invite you to consider http://bit.ly/VSM-AMZ for VSM and http://bit.ly/MBPM-AMZ for MBPM. (Please note: MBPM is priced high because it includes an extensive Excel tool to document maps and auto-calculate results.)
Process Change: Communication & Training TipsTKMG, Inc.
Subscribe: ksmartin.com/subscribe
Recorded Webinar: http://bit.ly/1Gl23Hm
Rolling out process improvements is a common point of failure in organizations.
Zodiac Signs and Food Preferences_ What Your Sign Says About Your Tastemy Pandit
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Brian Fitzsimmons on the Business Strategy and Content Flywheel of Barstool S...Neil Horowitz
On episode 272 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Brian Fitzsimmons, Director of Licensing and Business Development for Barstool Sports.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast platforms and at www.dsmsports.net
The Genesis of BriansClub.cm Famous Dark WEb PlatformSabaaSudozai
BriansClub.cm, a famous platform on the dark web, has become one of the most infamous carding marketplaces, specializing in the sale of stolen credit card data.
Unveiling the Dynamic Personalities, Key Dates, and Horoscope Insights: Gemin...my Pandit
Explore the fascinating world of the Gemini Zodiac Sign. Discover the unique personality traits, key dates, and horoscope insights of Gemini individuals. Learn how their sociable, communicative nature and boundless curiosity make them the dynamic explorers of the zodiac. Dive into the duality of the Gemini sign and understand their intellectual and adventurous spirit.
Profiles of Iconic Fashion Personalities.pdfTTop Threads
The fashion industry is dynamic and ever-changing, continuously sculpted by trailblazing visionaries who challenge norms and redefine beauty. This document delves into the profiles of some of the most iconic fashion personalities whose impact has left a lasting impression on the industry. From timeless designers to modern-day influencers, each individual has uniquely woven their thread into the rich fabric of fashion history, contributing to its ongoing evolution.
[To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
This presentation is a curated compilation of PowerPoint diagrams and templates designed to illustrate 20 different digital transformation frameworks and models. These frameworks are based on recent industry trends and best practices, ensuring that the content remains relevant and up-to-date.
Key highlights include Microsoft's Digital Transformation Framework, which focuses on driving innovation and efficiency, and McKinsey's Ten Guiding Principles, which provide strategic insights for successful digital transformation. Additionally, Forrester's framework emphasizes enhancing customer experiences and modernizing IT infrastructure, while IDC's MaturityScape helps assess and develop organizational digital maturity. MIT's framework explores cutting-edge strategies for achieving digital success.
These materials are perfect for enhancing your business or classroom presentations, offering visual aids to supplement your insights. Please note that while comprehensive, these slides are intended as supplementary resources and may not be complete for standalone instructional purposes.
Frameworks/Models included:
Microsoft’s Digital Transformation Framework
McKinsey’s Ten Guiding Principles of Digital Transformation
Forrester’s Digital Transformation Framework
IDC’s Digital Transformation MaturityScape
MIT’s Digital Transformation Framework
Gartner’s Digital Transformation Framework
Accenture’s Digital Strategy & Enterprise Frameworks
Deloitte’s Digital Industrial Transformation Framework
Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Framework
PwC’s Digital Transformation Framework
Cisco’s Digital Transformation Framework
Cognizant’s Digital Transformation Framework
DXC Technology’s Digital Transformation Framework
The BCG Strategy Palette
McKinsey’s Digital Transformation Framework
Digital Transformation Compass
Four Levels of Digital Maturity
Design Thinking Framework
Business Model Canvas
Customer Journey Map
The Steadfast and Reliable Bull: Taurus Zodiac Signmy Pandit
Explore the steadfast and reliable nature of the Taurus Zodiac Sign. Discover the personality traits, key dates, and horoscope insights that define the determined and practical Taurus, and learn how their grounded nature makes them the anchor of the zodiac.
Navigating the world of forex trading can be challenging, especially for beginners. To help you make an informed decision, we have comprehensively compared the best forex brokers in India for 2024. This article, reviewed by Top Forex Brokers Review, will cover featured award winners, the best forex brokers, featured offers, the best copy trading platforms, the best forex brokers for beginners, the best MetaTrader brokers, and recently updated reviews. We will focus on FP Markets, Black Bull, EightCap, IC Markets, and Octa.
Taurus Zodiac Sign: Unveiling the Traits, Dates, and Horoscope Insights of th...my Pandit
Dive into the steadfast world of the Taurus Zodiac Sign. Discover the grounded, stable, and logical nature of Taurus individuals, and explore their key personality traits, important dates, and horoscope insights. Learn how the determination and patience of the Taurus sign make them the rock-steady achievers and anchors of the zodiac.
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Storytelling is an incredibly valuable tool to share data and information. To get the most impact from stories there are a number of key ingredients. These are based on science and human nature. Using these elements in a story you can deliver information impactfully, ensure action and drive change.
NIMA2024 | De toegevoegde waarde van DEI en ESG in campagnes | Nathalie Lam |...BBPMedia1
Nathalie zal delen hoe DEI en ESG een fundamentele rol kunnen spelen in je merkstrategie en je de juiste aansluiting kan creëren met je doelgroep. Door middel van voorbeelden en simpele handvatten toont ze hoe dit in jouw organisatie toegepast kan worden.
[To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
This PowerPoint compilation offers a comprehensive overview of 20 leading innovation management frameworks and methodologies, selected for their broad applicability across various industries and organizational contexts. These frameworks are valuable resources for a wide range of users, including business professionals, educators, and consultants.
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This compilation is ideal for anyone looking to enhance their understanding of innovation management and drive meaningful change within their organization. Whether you aim to improve product development processes, enhance customer experiences, or drive digital transformation, these frameworks offer valuable insights and tools to help you achieve your goals.
INCLUDED FRAMEWORKS/MODELS:
1. Stanford’s Design Thinking
2. IDEO’s Human-Centered Design
3. Strategyzer’s Business Model Innovation
4. Lean Startup Methodology
5. Agile Innovation Framework
6. Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation
7. McKinsey’s Three Horizons of Growth
8. Customer Journey Map
9. Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation Theory
10. Blue Ocean Strategy
11. Strategyn’s Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Framework with Job Map
12. Design Sprint Framework
13. The Double Diamond
14. Lean Six Sigma DMAIC
15. TRIZ Problem-Solving Framework
16. Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
17. Stage-Gate Model
18. Toyota’s Six Steps of Kaizen
19. Microsoft’s Digital Transformation Framework
20. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)
To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations
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The Outstanding Organization Introduction & Chapter 1
1.
2. New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City
Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto
The
OUTSTANDING
Organization
Generate Business Results by
Eliminating Chaos and Building the
Foundation for Everyday Excellence
Karen Martin
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 3 5/10/12 10:09 PM
4. vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
1 Cracks in the Foundation 1
2 Clarity 27
3 Focus 67
4 Discipline 105
5 Engagement 149
6 Adopting Habits that Pay 189
Appendix 195
Notes 199
Index 203
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 7 5/10/12 10:09 PM
5. xiii
Introduction
You’ve tried them all: Total Quality Management, Reen-
gineering, Theory of Constraints, Just-in-Time, Lean, Six
Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Scrum, Agile, and Design Thinking.
You’ve formed quality circles and improvement teams, and
trained belts of every color. You’ve tried 5S, 8D, A3, and 3P.
You’ve become tools-dependent and then tools-averse. You’ve
gone round and round on whether the “problem” is people,
processes, or products. You’ve outsourced, you’ve in-sourced.
You’ve searched for best practices, attempted to copy them,
and then rejected them—because they, too, didn’t generate the
business results you had hoped for.
You’re not alone.
In 2000, The Economist revealed that only 20 percent of
companies reported success with the change-management pro-
grams they had attempted.1
A whopping 63 percent experi-
enced only temporary improvement. And 17 percent achieved
no improvement at all. This is an astonishing failure rate given
the capital and time businesses invest in such programs.
A decade later, the numbers hadn’t changed. A 2010 study
by Accenture surveyed executives from 113 U.S. companies
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 13 5/10/12 10:09 PM
6. xiv I n t r o d u c t i o n
with annual revenues of $1 billion.2
Over half those companies
with formal continuous improvement programs in place said
that their programs produced minimal financial impact. More
than two-thirds felt that their continuous improvement pro-
grams needed reevaluation, a restart, or a complete makeover.
Even when the circumstances demand urgent attention,
improvement efforts fall shockingly short. In 1999, the Insti-
tute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark report, To Err is
Human, which found that as many as 98,000 people die annu-
ally as a result of preventable medical errors while hospital-
ized in the United States.3
That’s equivalent to 715 Boeing 737s
crashing with full passenger loads. The IOM set an aggressive
goal of reducing harm from medical errors by 50 percent in five
years, which created a nationwide call to action.
Did hospitals achieve this imperative? Not even close. Five
years later, The Journal of the American Medical Association
proclaimed, “progress [sine the IOM report release] has been
slow.”4
The conversation had changed, but the results hadn’t.
Over ten years later, the news is no better, even though most
hospitals in the country have programs of some sort to improve
patient outcomes. In 2009, a Hearst Newspapers investigative
report, “Dead by Mistake,” concluded that the annual death
toll from preventable medical injuries is closer to 200,000.5
In
2010, Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the
Inspector General reported that 180,000 Medicare patients die
annually from medical errors.6
In 2011, Health Affairs reported
that one out of three of hospitalized patients are harmed and
seven percent result in permanent injury or death. Whatever
the number, something is terribly wrong when diligent efforts
are not making a dent in such urgent problems.
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 14 5/10/12 10:09 PM
7. I n t r o d u c t i o n xv
I’ve Seen This Before—And Keep Seeing It
So how’s your organization faring? Are you delivering sig-
nificantly higher quality goods or service with better safety
than you were 10 years ago? How much improvement have
you seen in margins, market share, and morale as a result of
your improvement efforts? If you’re a government agency or
nonprofit organization, are you retaining increasingly higher
percentages of your funding to reinvest in your organization?
Granted, the Great Recession that began in 2008 has generated
significant business challenges, but how were you performing
before the recession? Were you making significant progress in
delivering higher-quality goods or services, faster, at lower cost,
and with better safety and a fully engaged workforce?
Probably not. Research shows that very few organizations
make significant progress in their overall business performance.
In the 20-plus years I’ve been building, managing, and improv-
ing operations, I’ve observed organizational behavior that
slows or prevents businesses from experiencing the levels of
performance they desire. I’ve seen this in companies of all sizes
in every industry, and in all stages of maturity. These patterns
have been consistent regardless of size, industry, or maturity.
My early years as a scientist and passionate interest in root-
cause analysis (or cause and effect) compelled me to study my
employers, my clients, business management literature, and my
own father’s struggle and repeated failure to build outstanding
organizations.
Four years ago, I had an epiphany—a hypothesis that
I began testing. I didn’t undertake rigorous academic-style
research; rather, I tested my hypothesis in the trenches every
day with real-world clients, all of whom had good intentions
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 15 5/10/12 10:09 PM
8. xvi I n t r o d u c t i o n
but were not achieving the results they desired. This book con-
tains my findings: the reason why businesses—indeed, organi-
zations of all types—have not made greater strides with the
improvement methods they’ve adopted and are ultimately fail-
ing to become outstanding organizations.
My Diagnosis—In Brief
So why is exceptional performance so rare? With all the man-
agement books that have been written, all the money companies
have spent on consultants and training, and all the improve-
ment approaches that have come and gone, why are companies
still not performing to the degrees they could—and need to be?
I’ve observed repeated patterns of behavior that undermine
organizational performance, making sustained improvements
impossible. These behaviors both cause and are a direct result
from an insidious disease we’ve unwittingly invited into mod-
ern organizations—chaos. I’m talking about the type of self-
inflicted chaos that robs your business of the energy it needs
to innovate and respond to the marketplace’s ever-increasing
demands for faster, better, cheaper. This book addresses this
avoidable and undesirable self-inflicted chaos—the disorder
and confusion that your organization creates on its own and,
by extension, has the power to reduce or eliminate completely.
Chaos sabotages your ability to provide value to your custom-
ers, satisfy shareholders, and offer a work environment that
doesn’t break employees’ spirits. Left unchecked, chaos destroys
everything that’s good about an organization, its products, and
the people who make it happen.
I’m not suggesting that your organization is so chaotic that
nothing gets done, customers are unhappy, and profits are dis-
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 16 5/10/12 10:09 PM
9. I n t r o d u c t i o n xvii
mal. From a 10,000-foot view, you hire people, they perform
activities, and your goods or services reach the marketplace.
You may even generate significant sales or attract unparalleled
funding. But if you look more closely, you’ll likely see that the
organization “succeeds” in spite of significant chaos and at
great expense, both financially and emotionally.
Nor am I suggesting that you can create a utopic business
environment where you are able to avoid all chaos. On the
contrary, externally-inflicted chaos is a reality every organiza-
tion contends with, and can even serve as a positive catalyst for
innovation. But fighting fires that your company itself has set
reduces the energy and resources you need to cope with unfore-
seen external circumstances and changing market conditions.
Chaos undermines the very foundations of excellence. One
of the fundamental truths about achieving excellence is that it
requires consistency. When a company sets its sights on being
outstanding, it isn’t aiming to be truly great sometimes in some
parts of the organization and abysmal in others. It’s attempting
to be great all the time across the entire enterprise. Consistency
has no greater enemy than chaos. No matter how hard you work,
if you are building on an unstable foundation because of chaos,
you cannot achieve the consistency required to be outstanding.
As a result of all this chaos, the results generated from daily
operations and attempts at improvement tend to be no better
than random. This should not be surprising when you think
about it. Chaos is another name for random and unpredict-
able variation. By allowing chaos to reign inside organizations,
we have essentially decided that it’s okay that everything that
we do is affected by random and unpredictable variation. Of
course, we get random and unpredictable results.
If you want to break this cycle and start getting consistently
excellent results—to be an outstanding organization—you have
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 17 5/10/12 10:09 PM
10. xviii I n t r o d u c t i o n
to start not with methodologies or tools, but by creating the
conditions that allow for consistency and excellence. You can’t
start by attempting to build a skyscaper on a cracked founda-
tion. You have to start by fixing the foundation. This is what
this book will help you do.
What’s Coming
By reducing the organizational chaos that is completely within
your control, you not only establish a solid foundation on
which excellence can be built, but you also free up the psychic
energy and resources you need to cope with the truly unfore-
seen circumstances that businesses must navigate from time to
time. Building a strong foundation enables you to evolve from
expecting results to actually achieving them.
Chapter 1 will go into more detail about the fundamental
qualities of organizations that have managed to become out-
standing. In Chapter 2, you’ll come to understand the surprising
degree to which the lack of clarity drains your organization’s
financial resources—and the psychological toll the resulting
ambiguity takes on your customers, suppliers, workforce, and
leadership team. You’ll learn how truth seeking and truth tell-
ing are defining characteristics of outstanding organizations.
Chapter 3 addresses the myriad problems associated with
the lack of focus and provides the specific actions required to
tame “organizational attention-deficit disorder.” In Chapter 4,
you’ll learn how the lack of discipline affects organizational
performance, and you’ll be introduced to practical ways to
adopt consistent habits that strengthen the bottom line, improve
the customer experience, and create a work environment that
properly supports the people who make it all happen.
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 18 5/10/12 10:09 PM
11. I n t r o d u c t i o n xix
Chapter 5 addresses long-standing misconceptions about
what employee engagement is and what it is not. It shows why,
at the end of the day, employee engagement is the single largest
contributor to an organization’s success. And in the Conclu-
sion, I’ll help you to see how these conditions all come together
to form the foundation of an outstanding organization.
I invite you to roll up your sleeves and dig in. If you want
to be an outstanding organization, there’s much to be done.
The good news is that you can control much of the chaos
that you have come to think of as “normal.” You can build
a solid foundation and become an outstanding organization
that consistently delivers outstanding customer value, achieves
outstanding financial performance, and provides a work envi-
ronment within which your workforce can thrive. The payoff
to shoring up your foundation is large and likely faster than
you might think—especially if you’ve spent too much time try-
ing to build on a cracked foundation.
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 19 5/10/12 10:09 PM
12. 1
1
Cracks in the
Foundation
First, master the fundamentals.
—Larry Bird
Setting out to write a book about outstanding organizations
and how to become one is a daunting task. Ask 10 people
what an outstanding organization is, and you are likely to get
10 different answers. Even worse, if you had asked the same 10
people to name the top five outstanding organizations 10 years
ago, they likely would no longer list the same five today. “Out-
standingness” is all too fluid and fleeting.
Nonetheless, I have to begin with my own definition of what
characterizes an outstanding organization. My definition isn’t
mechanistic, as some definitions of excellence are. This is in
part by necessity, because I believe that the designation of out-
standing organization should be equally applicable to for-profit
businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and even com-
munity groups. This means that you can’t have rigid measures
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 1 5/10/12 10:09 PM
13. 2 The Outstanding Organization
such as profits or overhead costs or even customer satisfaction.
I find such mechanistic measures of excellence unnecessarily
constricting and ultimately off-base. More organizations that
have been labeled excellent or outstanding using such measures
have fallen into the dustbin of history than the number that
have continued to live up to the label.
My definition of outstanding organizations is more subjec-
tive than objective; it requires some judgment to apply. Like
Supreme Court Justice Stewart’s dictum about pornography,
people know outstanding organizations when they see them.
In my experience, the number of people who truly think that
their organization is outstanding when it isn’t is relatively
small.
But my definition isn’t just about a subjective feeling. It’s
based on some very tangible results and even more so on evi-
dence of specific capabilities. An outstanding organization is
one that has consistently delivered high value, relative to the
alternatives, to stakeholders for years, if not decades. The
delivery of value can be measured in any number of ways and
varies not only by type of organization but also by context. For
instance, a business may measure value in terms of customer
loyalty, profitability, and market share. Or it could measure
growth, return on invested capital, and employee satisfaction.
A government agency or nonprofit may measure constituents
served per dollar spent, efficiency, or program outcomes. The
important part isn’t the specific measure of value but that the
organization delivers value consistently for years (and thus stock
market valuation generally is a terrible measure of whether an
organization is outstanding).
However, I recognize that this definition isn’t very useful for
organizations that aspire to be outstanding. It’s the equivalent
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 2 5/10/12 10:09 PM
14. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 3
to telling a middle-school basketball player that the key to suc-
cess is being like Michael Jordan. True, but not helpful.
Three Capabilities of Outstanding
Organizations
For organizations that desire to be outstanding, it’s more
important to focus on the capabilities of outstanding organi-
zations than on the outcome—consistent value creation—that
they attain. When we look at capabilities, it’s easier to see and
be specific about what makes an organization outstanding.
I’ve been working with organizations that want to improve
some aspect of how they operate for the majority of my
career—several hundred organizations in a wide range of sizes
and industries at this point. I’ve also spent a great deal of time
studying and learning from outstanding organizations that I’ve
encountered and from the gurus of excellence—the authors and
consultants who, in total, have worked with and studied hun-
dreds of thousands of organizations.
All that work has led me to conclude that outstanding orga-
nizations, no matter what sector or environment they operate
in, share three capabilities: They are excellent problem solvers,
they improve continuously, and they are resilient.
Problem Solving
It’s not much of a stretch to say that problem solving is the pur-
pose of any organization. Organizations, in almost all cases, are
formed to solve a problem—a gap between a current and desired
condition—be it an unmet customer need or a social issue. Solv-
ing that problem inevitably involves other problems: how to
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15. 4 The Outstanding Organization
identify, hire, and retain talented employees; how to improve
product or service quality; how to deal with an unexpected sup-
ply shortage; how to improve administrative efficiency; how to
react to a competitive or environmental change. In recent years,
it has become popular to avoid the word problem in organiza-
tions, recasting it instead as an opportunity for improvement.
While proponents of using more positive terms are surely well
meaning, I think they’ve got it entirely wrong. The issue isn’t
that the word problem is negative, but that many organizations
have forgotten that their core purpose is identifying and solv-
ing problems. These organizations then begin attempting to
hide or avoid problems, forcing executives to perform semantic
gymnastics (such as substituting opportunity for problem) that
waste everyone’s time and ultimately erode trust.
Outstanding organizations, in contrast, never fear calling
a problem a problem. Even more important, they don’t fear
acknowledging that a problem exists. In fact, they go out of their
way at every turn to find hidden problems and bring them out
into the sunlight so that everyone can see them and can get on
with the task of solving the problem in the best way possible.
Outstanding organizations, because they are constantly
attuned to finding and solving problems, gain a great deal of
expertise in identifying the most important problems and deal-
ing with the root cause. Just to be clear, by problem solving I
do not mean reactive firefighting. Simply “solving” problems in
such a way that the same problem reappears in short order—
or the “solution” simply causes a different problem that needs
solving—isn’t a marker of outstanding organizations.
True problem solving isn’t something that just happens.
Outstanding organizations teach effective problem solving
through a highly detailed methodology that includes careful
problem definition, root cause analysis, and evaluation of pos-
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 4 5/10/12 10:09 PM
16. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 5
sible countermeasures (a term I use instead of solutions for rea-
sons that I’ll explain in Chapter 2). Then they take the time to
study whether the countermeasures they chose work and take
further action based on what they learned. But it’s not the spe-
cifics of the methodology that matter. As I’ll discuss in detail,
the real thing that sets outstanding organizations apart in prob-
lem solving is that they have invested heavily in developing their
people’s skills. In other words, the discipline and engagement of
people matters more than any element of a methodology.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement builds on the core capability of prob-
lem solving, but the motivation for and the “spirit” around
building this capability digs further into the culture of the
organization. Solving problems is primarily about maintaining
performance, and there’s no way you can achieve consistency
without it. But even with the best problem solving you can still
be consistently mediocre. Continuous improvement is about
raising the bar of performance another step towards excellence.
True continuous improvement isn’t haphazard. It’s not
about a project here or there to improve some aspect of opera-
tions. Continuous improvement is a mindset and a culture that
is always—every employee, every day—looking for opportuni-
ties to do the job better, even when the organization is perform-
ing at the highest level it ever has. Outstanding organizations
don’t work on improvement when it is convenient and stop
when things get “too busy.”
Maybe the best analogy is to elite athletes or musicians.
Rarely do you see an Olympic swimmer or runner set a world
record and announce that he or she has no plans to get better
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17. 6 The Outstanding Organization
and break his or her own record. Similarly, the most widely
lauded pianists, violinists, and their like still spend hours every
day practicing specifically with the intention of getting bet-
ter. They are devoted to continuous improvement—closing a
defined gap between current and desired performance—even
when a problem isn’t immediately apparent. Outstanding orga-
nizations do the same; they dedicate significant chunks of time
to working on the business, not just in the business.
Resilience
Some organizations take on an air of invincibility. They succeed
on such a grand scale over such a length of time that people
begin to assume that such organizations are perfect. When a
challenge inevitably arises, the organization makes a slip, or
conditions turn against it, those illusions are shattered. The
truth is that no organization is perfect because each one is made
up of imperfect people. No methodology, no charismatic execu-
tive, no governance scheme, no commitment to innovation, and
no history of success or even mastery with problem solving or
continuous improvement can generate perfection. Every orga-
nization will slip or stumble on occasion or face changing con-
ditions. What distinguishes outstanding organizations is their
resilience to these slips and stumbles and changing conditions.
Psychologists and social scientists increasingly have come
to recognize the importance of resilience as a desirable personal
trait.1
When looking at why different people with nearly iden-
tical starting points (be it extraordinary intelligence, wealth,
poverty, disability, or another trait) end up at strikingly differ-
ent levels of success, these scientists have found that the way
a person reacts to a setback makes a huge difference. Some
people are resilient in the face of a setback or disaster—they
are able to redouble their efforts or shift course—whereas oth-
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 6 5/10/12 10:09 PM
18. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 7
ers dwell on the setback and essentially give up. Importantly,
while some portion of resilience probably is inborn, most of it
is a learned behavior. For instance, one way to increase a child’s
personal resilience is to tell him or her stories about how his or
her parents or grandparents overcame obstacles. Having a fam-
ily narrative of resilience equips children to believe that they
can overcome obstacles and bounce back.
Since organizations are made up of people, it hardly should
be surprising that resilience can be both an organizational
capability and an outcome. And it is—in outstanding organiza-
tions. These organizations are able to deliver value over years
and decades not because they never put a foot down wrong or
are extremely lucky, but because when they do make a misstep,
they are able to honestly acknowledge the issue and bounce
back. No matter how grim the situation it may find itself in, the
organization does not lose energy in attacking the problem; it
does not blame customers, suppliers, the market, the customer
service department, the sales teams, or the full moon for the cir-
cumstance; and it does not pretend that the issue will go away.
Toyota Motor Corporation, Intel, and Southwest Airlines are
three examples of companies that have demonstrated high lev-
els of resilience in the face of significant external pressure and
changing market conditions. Outstanding organizations don’t
get caught in the “We’ve always done it this way” trap. If the
way they have always done it isn’t working anymore, they stop
doing it that way and find a new and better way to do it.
I’m far from the first author to attempt a definition of excel-
lence in organizations. I think you’ll find that my definition
overlaps with some of the descriptions and characteristics pos-
ited by respected authors and consultants. I don’t disagree with
their versions of what an outstanding organization is, but many
of the clients with whom I work are left scratching their heads
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19. 8 The Outstanding Organization
after reading one of these modern (or not so modern) classics
of the business bookshelf. They have attempted to follow the
advice they see in these books, but don’t see much progress in
terms of their performance.
The Traditional Path To Becoming
an Outstanding Organization
The quest for organizational excellence has a very long his-
tory. While such names as W. Edwards Deming, Jim Collins,
Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, Peter Senge, and Gary Hamel are
top of mind today, the modern movement can be traced all
the way back to Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor, working in
the early days of the industrial revolution, suggested that most
businesses were poorly run and that the careful application of
his management principles would lead to major increases in
efficiency. His most famous work involved standing over work-
ers with a stop watch and timing how long it took them to per-
form each task. He then set benchmarks for all workers based
on the best performers.
Taylor’s efforts launched the business consulting indus-
try. It’s at least mildly ironic that it later emerged that Taylor
fudged much, if not most, of his data and invented many of his
stories of improvement.2
But Taylor’s concept that most organizations were medio-
cre in terms of their management certainly has stood the test
of time. In fact, over the last several years, a team led by Stan-
ford economist Nicholas Bloom has documented that much of
the difference in the economic performance between countries
such as the United States and the United Kingdom versus India
and China can be traced to poor management practices in the
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 8 5/10/12 10:09 PM
20. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 9
developing nations.3
Essentially good management is a technol-
ogy that disperses around the world very slowly. Before you
think that research reflects well on management in developed
countries, let me point out that the difference is not that Ameri-
can companies, for instance, are very good at management but
that abysmally poor performers get weeded out rather quickly.
Thus, while the average level of performance of American com-
panies is higher than that of Indian companies, that average
level is still not very impressive.
This explains why Collins, Peters, and Senge have been per-
petual best-sellers for decades and sales for W. Edwards Dem-
ing’s classics Out of the Crisis and The New Economics have
been steady and are beginning to rise again. And it explains the
ongoing fascination with Lean, Six Sigma, and other improve-
ment and excellence methodologies. Organizations all over
know excellence when they see it, and they know that they are
not excellent. Their desire for excellence has led them toward
the modern disciples of Taylor—and to many other approaches
to becoming outstanding.
I’ve worked with countless companies that have become
devoted followers of best-selling authors—they’ve done all
they can to create a vision, get the right people on the bus,
and so on. Others have read The Toyota Way and many other
books about Lean over and over again. Some have referred to
my book, The Kaizen Event Planner (coauthored with Mike
Osterling), and run scores of kaizen events focused on prob-
lem solving and continuous improvement. Yet the majority of
these organizations don’t get the results they want and need.
The averages bear out their experience. Despite more than 100
years of organizational improvement literature, the average
company still performs at shockingly low levels.
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21. 10 The Outstanding Organization
Stories about the failures of companies that have turned
to Just-in-Time, Theory of Constraints, Lean, or Six Sigma are
cropping up increasingly in the media. Several times a year, for
instance, there seems to be a Wall Street Journal article about
companies rethinking their approach or suggesting that their
gains from deploying Lean were short-lived. These stories in
general bear out my experience: No matter what the methodol-
ogy many companies employ, they can’t seem to get the results
that such improvement methodologies promise. I’m not the
only one seeing this. Many of my colleagues in the improve-
ment industry are seeing this phenomenon too. Jeffrey Liker,
author of The Toyota Way, which is in many ways the Bible of
the Lean movement, has recently published a book specifically
about this issue: the failure of companies to get lasting gains
from implementing Lean.4
Why? Why are so many companies unable to achieve the
organizational improvement for which they are looking? Why
do so many fail to reach their full potential despite a earnest
commitment to becoming outstanding? I’ve been thinking about
this almost nonstop for the 20-plus years I’ve been building,
managing and improving operations. I think the answer is that
most organizations start the journey to becoming outstanding in
the wrong place. They start with tools, methodologies, such as
SIPOC diagrams, value-stream maps, 5S, and Pareto diagrams,
but they are not addressing the fundamental cause of medioc-
rity: rampant chaos in the organization. Chaos undermines an
organization’s best efforts to build strong capabilities.
Organizational Chaos
For many of you, I won’t need to define organizational chaos.
You know exactly what I am talking about: shifting priorities,
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 10 5/10/12 10:09 PM
22. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 11
unclear direction, unstable processes, unhappy customers, dis-
engaged employees. However, I find that most organizations
have become so accustomed to chaos that they don’t even
recognize it. Or if they recognize it, they don’t believe there’s
anything they can do about it. It’s business as usual. In fact,
sadly, many organizations seem to have embraced chaos and
called it a good thing. One example is the rising number of
job descriptions that include “tolerance for ambiguity” as a
necessary skill. Let me be clear: Chaos is never a good thing for
an organization. While the world is fluid, and increasingly so,
this is no excuse for ambiguity and chaos inside organizations.
There is a need for flexibility—which I prefer to call, as earlier,
resilience—but that is an entirely different thing from internal
ambiguity and chaos. Rather than asking your workforce to
accept and develop a skill set around coping with chaos, you
should be doing everything you can to reduce the chaos to
begin with.
I’m also not talking about energizing chaos—the type of
externally driven change from customers and competitors that
stimulates innovation, reduces complacency, and spurs teams
to achieve new heights. Not only is this type of chaos largely
unavoidable, in small doses, it’s highly desirable.
I’m talking about the undesirable type of chaos—self-
inflicted chaos—the disorder and confusion that your organi-
zation creates on its own and, by extension, has the power to
reduce or eliminate completely. I’m talking about the type of
chaos that robs your business of the energy it needs to inno-
vate and respond to the marketplace’s ever-increasing demands
for faster, better, cheaper. Chaos sabotages your ability to pro-
vide value to your customers, satisfy shareholders, and offer a
work environment that doesn’t break employees’ spirits. Left
unchecked, chaos destroys everything that’s good about an
organization, its products, and the people who make them.
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23. 12 The Outstanding Organization
How Chaos Undermines Organizations
Chaos is the enemy of any organization that strives to be out-
standing. Here’s how it works: Chaos inserts hairline cracks
into what could be an otherwise robust structure. Under pres-
sure, these hairline cracks begin to grow, weakening the founda-
tion and organizational supports that you need for execution.
So it’s no wonder that the improvement approaches you have
attempted to adopt are failing to deliver as you had hoped. Turn-
ing to the next new thing isn’t doing the trick because you’re
trying to build a high-rise structure on a foundation that can’t
support it. Imagine your business as the building in Figure 1.1.
The results your business achieves are based not only on
how you execute but also on the foundation—the organiza-
tional behaviors and conditions—on which that execution
is built. When the foundation is cracked, the results will be
unstable and far from excellent on a regular basis. In fact, your
Figure 1.1 A chaos-cracked foundation generates inconsistent
results.
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 12 5/10/12 10:09 PM
24. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 13
execution frequently will wobble from one project or initiative
to the next, from one product launch to the next, and from
one customer or market segment served to the next. A rousing
success will be followed by a miserable failure. And each failure
will be slightly different from the last, so the countermeasures
you put in place, in an attempt to be a “learning organization,”
don’t make much of a difference. More fundamentally, efforts
at improvement such as Total Quality Management (TQM),
Six Sigma, or Lean may look like they produce positive results
initially as you straighten some of your pillars of execution,
but with a cracked foundation, the pillars start to topple again,
usually in a different direction, sooner than later. I’ll refer to
this diagram to explain how to shore up the foundation—and
how the process of shoring up the foundation by adopting new
behaviors automatically will begin to strengthen the pillars
of execution: problem solving, continuous improvement and
resilience.
Can you make small local improvements with a cracked
foundation? Absolutely. Many organizations have experienced
some degree of success doing exactly that. And certainly some
improvement is better than no improvement. But if you want
to accelerate your efforts and make a decisive move toward
“outstandingness,” you have to go back to basics and build a
stronger foundation for success.
By reducing the organizational chaos that is completely
within your control, you not only establish a solid founda-
tion on which excellence can be built, but you also free up
the psychic energy and resources you need to cope with the
truly unforeseen circumstances that businesses must navigate
from time to time. Building a strong foundation enables you
to evolve from expecting results to actually achieving them. To
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25. 14 The Outstanding Organization
build a strong foundation, you need to look at the root causes
of organizational chaos.
Missing the Trees for the Forest
In many of the organizations with which I’ve worked, I’ve
noticed that managers and workers simply don’t see the chaos
or the causes of chaos around them. The types of behaviors that
result in chaos usually are not purposeful, but in many cases
they have become habitual—which makes them all the more
damaging to an organization striving to be outstanding. Habits
are nearly invisible. You engage in them without realizing they
are there. And you can look at another organization that is suc-
ceeding and not notice the real differences between how that
outstanding organization behaves and how your organization
behaves. When looking at outstanding organizations, you may
miss the important trees and just see the forest.
This type of blind spot is similar to what is known as the Dun-
ning-Kruger effect, after the two psychologists who described it.
Basically, the Dunning-Kruger effect notes that people who are
truly incompetent don’t know that they are incompetent.5
They lack the knowledge that allows them to understand the
difference between competence and incompetence. If you apply
this concept to the world of organizational performance, you
begin to understand why organizations often adopt improve-
ment tools and isolated components of holistic improvement
philosophies but consistently fail to see the things that truly
make a difference in performance.
My colleague Tim Ogden introduced me to the work of
economist Lant Pritchett, who describes this process as isomor-
phic mimicry, a phrase that means the copying of forms rather
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 14 5/10/12 10:09 PM
26. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 15
than functions. It’s similar to, for instance, non-venomous
snakes that have evolved to look like their poisonous cousins.
These pretenders will fool you if you don’t look too closely, but
they can’t execute when it really matters. Pritchett uses it to
explain why so many years of work by high-powered consul-
tants and billions of dollars of aid to developing countries hasn’t
produced well-functioning government institutions. These
efforts often have been focused on getting the governments to
mimic the government institutions in developed countries as
they exist today. But these institutions usually developed and
changed over a long period of time and work only because of
the behaviors, capabilities, culture, and habits that developed.
Copying these institutions in their current form, without the
history, culture, knowledge, experience, and habits that under-
lie them, produces tepid results at best. The institutions just
don’t function, even though they look identical to the function-
ing institutions in developed countries on paper.
Isomorphic mimicry is a great description for what has
happened particularly in the Lean movement. When Toyota’s
success first came to the attention of Western auto manufac-
turers in the 1970s, Toyota’s efficiency and productivity were
so much greater than those of its competitors that executives
at Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler simply didn’t believe
that the stories they were hearing were true. This led to an
avalanche of attempts to document what Toyota did differ-
ently. The conclusion of many of these early studies of Toyota
focused on the tools they use—5S, pull systems, work cells, and
the like. Scores of companies copied the tools—they mimicked
what they could see was different—but failed to notice all the
foundational elements that truly make Lean work. These orga-
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 15 5/10/12 10:09 PM
27. 16 The Outstanding Organization
nizations didn’t notice the cracks in their foundations, cracks
based on invisible habits and behaviors.
The Four Causes Of Chaos—and
the Four Conditions That Create
Outstanding Organizations
Organizations fall prey to chaos because they either haven’t
recognized or haven’t created or invested in the fundamental
conditions that are at the core of exceptional performance in
any endeavor—whether business, sports, the arts, education,
science, law enforcement, or the military. I’ve observed these
four conditions as the common denominators in excellence of
any sort: clarity, focus, discipline, and engagement. Without
fail, every top-performing athlete, musician, actor, journalist,
intelligence agent, scientist, and student displays these behav-
iors, whether they’re conscious of them or not.
How does this tie to organizations, whether commercial,
nonprofit, or government? Not only are the same four condi-
tions fundamental requirements for exceptional performance,
but I’ve also found that the amount of chaos in an organiza-
tion is directly proportional to degree to which the organiza-
tion lacks these conditions. Thus the reason why history keeps
repeating itself in terms of improvement methodologies and
business performance is because organizations lack the building
blocks to successfully apply the principles and tools required for
long-term results. In other words, the lack of these conditions
is the root cause of the chaos that cracks your organization’s
foundation, which leads to lackluster performance despite your
best efforts. Let’s look at each of these conditions turn.
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 16 5/10/12 10:09 PM
28. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 17
Lack of Clarity
Think for a moment how much time you spend each day
clarifying information. This may take the form of an e-mail
exchange to clarify a request from a colleague, a telephone call
to a customer, a meeting that goes on far longer than needed
as team members argue over what an executive meant, or a
conversation in the hall in an attempt to understand how a
particular metric was calculated. You might seek clarity about
your organization’s vision and purpose, what your customer
has actually bought, how your boss measures success, or what
a particular term or acronym means. You may also find your-
self spending unplanned time conducting your own research
to understand who to engage with to address a problem, the
sales strategy for a particular product line, or what Sally really
meant when she said “We’re making progress.” If you start to
document it, you’ll be shocked to see how much of your time
is devoted to either clarifying or reworking something because
the information wasn’t clear in the first place.
Many organizations also lack clarity about their custom-
ers’ needs and wants, what specific value it provides to those
customers, and how it delivers that value operationally. Much
of the time, no one in the organization can describe a process
from beginning to end. Workers are often clear about their own
piece of the process, but not about the upstream inputs, nor
how their outputs affect downstream customers, knowledge
that is essential for making effective and lasting improvement.
Problem solving is another area where a lack of clarity is com-
mon. It’s impossible to address problems fully without laser
clarity on what the problem actually is.
Lack of clarity takes a toll on organizational performance in
three ways: First, it misdirects resources from productive use (all
those minutes, hours, and even days spent trying to clarify some-
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29. 18 The Outstanding Organization
thing). Second, it saps the energy of employees who recognize
that they are wasting time and can’t get to their “real” work, or
are disappointed when it turns out that all their work was for
naught because the wrong output was produced owing to unclear
inputs. And third, it produces poor decisions and poor results
that cost money and time (and potentially reputation), creating
operational and administrative drag on an organization.
Unclear communication is a deeply embedded habit in most
organizations that I’ve encountered. People rely on jargon,
acronyms, and shorthand with nary a thought to how many
others understand it. Executives use euphemisms and half-
truths to sugar-coat messages that need to be stripped of all
fluff. Or they don’t communicate at all, which creates an equal
dose of ambiguity. I often see widespread overcommunication
that distracts and obfuscates, coupled with serious undercom-
munication about issues that really matter. A lack of clarity
inserts cracks into your foundation, undermines your organi-
zation’s performance on every dimension, and leads to wildly
inconsistent results.
Lack of Focus
Improvement professionals and managers frequently complain
that their organizations suffer from a habitual lack of focus.
Leaders dip into and out of projects, mandate that projects
in progress be replaced with others, redirect resources, over-
rule decisions, and disappear when leadership support is most
needed. It’s a type of executive behavior that many of you will
recognize. Another habitual lack of focus occurs in organiza-
tions that are unwilling to prioritize. Organizations have simply
too many problems and are presented with too many opportu-
nities to try to do it all at once. But most organizations can’t
accept this and make everything a priority. And when every-
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 18 5/10/12 10:09 PM
30. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 19
thing’s a priority, nothing is a priority. A lack of focus also
causes organizations to jump in and out of problems, and start
and stop various improvement projects, and try every new-
fangled management approach, in many cases accomplishing
little. All of these behaviors are symptomatic of organizational
attention-deficit disorder (“organizational ADD”).
Companies with organizational ADD cannot perform at
outstanding levels because their resources are too scattered and
they typically never fully solve problems. They become accept-
ing of “good enough” (a euphemism for “not good enough”)
out of necessity because they have to rush on to the next pri-
ority. This lack of focus inserts cracks into the foundation for
outstanding performance.
Lack of Discipline
Similarly, I find that many organizations can’t commit to any
project or effort long enough to master the issues and produce
outstanding results. One place in which this is especially appar-
ent is in companies’ adoption of improvement methodologies.
When one approach doesn’t produce results in six months, they
drop it and try another. Or they combine it with something
else without reconciling some of the fundamental differences in
approaches to create an effective, holistic management system
as is often found with Lean Six Sigma, for example. The end
result is that few, if any, people in the organization get enough
experience with any of the methodologies to build proficiency.
Problem solving and continuous improvement isn’t a job for
experts—it’s a job for everyone. So everyone—and I do mean
everyone—in the organization needs to learn problem-solving
fundamentals and practice until they attain at least proficiency,
if not mastery, for outstanding performance to emerge. This
takes discipline.
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31. 20 The Outstanding Organization
When you look at outstanding performers in sports or the
arts, for instance, you will find extraordinary discipline. They
don’t switch from sport to sport, instrument to instrument, or
event to event willy-nilly. They practice relentlessly—patient per-
sistence, I call it—for years, even decades, to first master the fun-
damentals, and then build upon those fundamentals to perform
at more advanced levels. They keep practicing even after every-
one acknowledges their mastery. And they don’t just practice for
practice’s sake; they have a very specific and strategic practice
plan focused on improving their skills. They don’t give up when
they encounter a barrier or an obstacle.
How many organizations have you seen that have the disci-
pline and patient persistence to achieve mastery in problem solv-
ing and making improvement—versus those who expect their
Lean champions or Six Sigma green belts to perform at high lev-
els after only four weeks of classroom work and one project,
never investing in additional development or the coaching that’s
absolutely vital in producing mastery? I haven’t seen many—but
the ones that I have seen are outstanding organizations. If your
organization lacks discipline—and its cousins, patience and com-
mitment—you certainly have a cracked foundation.
Lack of Engagement
The next time you’re in your office, take a moment to look
around you. How many of the people you see appear truly
invested in and invigorated by their work? How many of them
care deeply about whether your organization is outstanding?
How many of them are willing to wrestle a problem until they
find the best possible solution and produce the best possible
output? How many of them are thinking about not just fight-
ing fires but continuously improving even in areas where they
already excel? I’m guessing it’s not many.
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32. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 21
Can you blame them? So many organizational habits have
developed that teach people to disengage. Organizations fail
to listen; exhaust employees with a lack of clarity, focus, and
discipline; and “reward” performance with either a bit of cash
or, all too often, a kick out the door. They have not established
the environmental conditions that enable engagement.
The remarkable thing about how disengaged many employ-
ees are, is that human beings naturally want to be engaged in
their work. This was obvious even to Karl Marx, who accu-
rately predicted that the industrial revolution was disengaging
people from their work so much that workers would rise in
revolt. Everyone likes to feel that they do something well and
contribute to something larger than themselves. When orga-
nizations, owing to performance-undermining habits, prevent
employees from either producing work they can be proud of
or deny them the type of recognition and encouragement that
really matters, they send a clear message: “Please disengage.
Stop caring about your work. Stop caring about this organiza-
tion.” As organizational performance researcher David Sirota
said, “Most companies have it wrong. They don’t have to moti-
vate their employees. They have to stop demotivating them”6
These are the organizational habits and behaviors that crack
the foundation for outstanding organizational performance.
Reversing these habits and adopting the conditions for out-
standing performance—clarity, focus, discipline, and engage-
ment—create the firm, stable foundation you need to achieve
outstanding performance. These four conditions build on each
other and reinforce each other. But the lack of one of the condi-
tions also undermines the others. They aren’t exactly stepping
stones, with one preceding the next, but they are progressive.
It is virtually impossible to have truly engaged employees if you
don’t have clarity, focus, and discipline. While getting focused
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 21 5/10/12 10:09 PM
33. 22 The Outstanding Organization
will help, your focus will flounder if you don’t have clarity.
And it is tough to become disciplined if you aren’t clear about
and focused on your top priorities. Figure 1-2 shows how these
four conditions provide the solid foundation on which all the
other aspects of outstanding performance are built. The three
core capabilities of outstanding organizations—problem solv-
ing, continuous improvement, resilience—simply don’t do any
good if they are not built on this solid foundation. Over years
of working with organizations frustrated at their failure to
achieve excellence, I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t
build capabilities on a cracked foundation. The good news
is that as you work on the four foundational conditions, the
capabilities will begin to evolve naturally.
That brings us to the central question: How? How do we
build this so-called foundation for success? The answer is that
Figure 1.2 Repairing the cracks in the foundation.
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34. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 23
it’s as simple—and as complex—as changing organizational
behaviors and habits to create the conditions to be outstanding.
Building the Foundation for an
Outstanding Organization
Breaking habits isn’t easy. And the larger the organization, the
harder it is. This is why even the most successful organizations
that have made the transition to outstanding performance talk
about a ten-year journey. In order to accelerate the transition,
you need to get very serious about replacing your existing orga-
nizational habits with the four behaviors for exceptional per-
formance.
By infusing the fundamental behaviors of outstanding per-
formance into your organization’s DNA, you can reduce the
chaos that’s been preventing you from achieving what your
collective workforce is capable of producing. Your leadership
team will be able to sleep at night, your workforce will go home
energized at the end of the day, and your customers and share-
holders will delight in your success.
Now the reality. Transforming an organization isn’t for the
faint-hearted. Breaking long-standing organizational habits and
laying the foundation for success takes significant will, tenacity,
and intestinal fortitude. It takes leadership commitment across
your entire team. It takes time and resources. Achieving clar-
ity and laser focus in only one business unit, discipline that
comes and goes, or engagement of only one faction of your
workforce creates the same effect as an unbalanced washing
machine. To become truly outstanding, you’ll need to create
organization-wide alignment, become adept at the fundamen-
tals of change, and adopt an “all hands on deck” approach.
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35. 24 The Outstanding Organization
This book contains the steps you need to take and the tools you
need to employ, but the heavy lifting remains with you.
The following four chapters address each of the behavioral
requirements for outstanding performance. In each chapter
you’ll read about how the absence of one these behaviors intro-
duces chaos into an organization. You’ll read about the real-life
examples I’ve experienced in over 20 years of working with
organizations of all types and sizes and in nearly every industry.
Many of these stories will be painfully familiar, and you’ll come
to understand the degree to which your organization unwit-
tingly creates chaos. Then I turn to specific how-to approaches
for replacing these bad habits with outstanding performance–
enabling behaviors, building a strong foundation for finally
getting the results you’re looking for.
In Chapter 2 you’ll come to understand the degree to which
the lack of clarity drains your organization’s financial resources—
and the psychological toll the resulting ambiguity takes on your
customers, workforce, and leadership team. You’ll learn how to
develop an intolerance for ambiguity—yes, intolerance—and the
must-dos for creating performance-enhancing clarity in thought,
word, and deed throughout your organization.
Chapter 3 addresses the problems associated with the lack
of focus and provides the specific actions required to tame
organizational ADD. You’ll learn a powerful method for stay-
ing focused amid rapid change. As a result, you’ll be able to
accomplish far more, far more effectively, in less time, and with
fewer resources.
In Chapter 4 you’ll learn how the lack of discipline affects
organizational performance and practical ways to adopt con-
sistent habits that strengthen the bottom line, improve the cus-
tomer experience, and create a work environment that engages
the people who make it all happen. You’ll also learn what it
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 24 5/10/12 10:09 PM
36. C r a c k s i n t h e F o u n dat i o n 25
really takes to solve problems across an organization and what
it really takes for processes to perform as desired.
Chapter 5 addresses the organizational attributes that lead
to employee engagement and the behaviors that disengage. It
shows why, at the end of the day, employee engagement is the
single largest contributor to an organization’s success and chal-
lenges traditional thinking about how best to create it. We have
a history of paying lip service to employee engagement. Chap-
ter 5 gives you practical how-to methods to finally deliver on
it—at all levels of the organization.
In Chapter 6 I’ll show you how all these conditions work
together, reinforce each other, build capabilities, and enable
outstanding performance. Before we start working on repair-
ing our foundation for outstanding performance, though, there
is one other topic to address.
Respect for People
While I’ve talked about clarity, focus, discipline, and engage-
ment as conditions that build the climate and foundation for
outstanding organizational performance, there is one other
foundational element—a presupposition that underlies even
these four conditions. If your organization doesn’t fundamen-
tally have a respect for people, none of what follows will work.
I have never seen an outstanding organization that believes
that people are interchangeable, that they are simply parts in a
machine to be used when needed and discarded when they are
no longer convenient. I have never seen an outstanding orga-
nization that does not invest extensively in its people. I have
never seen an outstanding organization that views people as
a variable cost. I have never seen an outstanding organization
i-xxii-001-218_Martin4.indd 25 5/10/12 10:09 PM
37. 26 The Outstanding Organization
where employees do not feel valued and, as a result of feeling
valued, feel loyalty to their managers, their executives, and the
organization.
If you believe that you can become an outstanding orga-
nization simply by cutting labor costs, I honestly have to say
that nothing in this book will help you. I don’t believe that
anything in any book about organizational excellence will help
you. Organizations are not machines—they are fundamentally
and irreducibly made up of people. If leaders in your organi-
zation don’t carry respect for people, as evidenced by a will-
ingness to hear their input, value their contributions, invest in
developing their skills and capabilities, and avoiding layoffs to
get quick but unsustainable expense reduction, you simply can-
not become an outstanding organization. Organizations that
do not respect people—and turning to layoffs as a first solu-
tion versus a last resort is indeed disrespectful—cannot become
excellent problem solvers, cannot improve continuously, and
will not be resilient. Everything that you read in the next few
chapters is grounded on a deep respect for the people in your
organization, for your customers, and for your suppliers.
With this in mind, let’s get started on the hard work of
becoming an outstanding organization.
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38. McGraw-Hill
When you instill these behaviors into your organizational
DNA, you open the door to sustainable growth and profit.
Karen shows you how to do it.
This no-nonsense guide helps you get to the crux of the
problem, so you can inject the sensible, disciplined calm
that enables the levels of performance and innovation that
make an organization truly OUTSTANDING.
Karen Martin is President of
The Karen Martin Group, Inc.
She’s a recognized thought
leader in applying Lean
thinking and deploying Lean
management practices in
commercial, government,
and non-profit organizations.
www.ksmartin.com
After two decades of helping companies design and build better, more efficient operations, Karen Martin has
pinpointed why performance improvement programs usually fail: Chaos, the sneaky but powerful antagonist
that frustrates customers, keeps business leaders awake at night, and saps company morale.
In the Shingo prize-winning The Outstanding Organization, Karen offers a toolbox for combating chaos by
creating the conditions that will allow your improvement efforts to return greater gains. Proven, practical,
and surprisingly simple, Martin’s system focuses on four key behaviors for organizational excellence:
Clarity, Focus, Discipline, Engagement.
“Karen Martin has developed a very powerful model
of what makes a high performance organization.”
–Jeffrey Liker, author of The Toyota Way
For information on bulk orders:
Mark Trosino (609-426-5195 or mark_trosino@mcgraw-hill.com)
Marketing: Courtney Fischer (courtey.fischer@mcgraw-hill.com)
Publicity: Pamela Peterson (pamela_peterson@mcraw-hill.com)