Six Steps to High Performance

NOTE: I have worked numerous consulting engagements with my colleague, Sunil “Skip” Kapur, collaborating with him on improving Business processes, implementing an organizational Balanced Scorecard, applying for an internal Malcolm Baldrige award and improving project performance by using the Enterprise Project Office concept. I want to share Skip's remarkable organizational paradigm with you. His approach takes the best lessons from Six Sigma, Total Quality Management and ISO9000, and applies them in a common sense way to get impressive results—results he's delivered for several large organizations in the U.S., Malaysia, Sweden, and Mexico. Here I present the high points of what he has to say about turning businesses into “high performance” organizations.



RY: As I've worked with you, we've often talked about how enterprises have to utilize IT effectively to meet the needs of the customer. Why doesn't IT do a better job in fulfilling this mission?

SK: As a senior IT executive, you always find yourself reacting to events, and you have the feeling that not everyone focuses on the right priorities. There's constant discord between applications and the infrastructure units, and their inability to serve the customer. The discord is caused by the fact that these entities are functionally designed organizations without any kind of “process centric” thinking that's focused on the customer. If they were asked, your customers would probably say your team is too slow, too expensive and too technical.

RY: You have developed a very effective methodology over the last ten years that uses six key steps to position IT to serve the customer and achieve sustained success. I see this as a breakthrough. Can you tell us about it?

SK: The Six Steps to High Performance methodology allows the management team of any IT unit to systematically transform itself into a high performance organization, creating dramatic results for the company. It is a rewarding journey that creates a winning team and makes life easier for all concerned.

RY: I know that it's challenging to distill things into a nutshell without oversimplifying, but can you give us a quick sketch of what the six steps are and what each achieves for the organization?

SK: Sure…let me give you an overview of each.

In step 1, you have to answer the question, “Are we a management team or are we a collection of department heads that report to the same person?” While each management team is unique, there is a set of characteristics that all great management teams possess. In this step you identify and overcome your team's shortcomings.

In step 2, the management team develops a clear scorecard that defines success. This scorecard covers all dimensions of the business (employees, processes, customers, and financial performance), where you clearly define measures and targets. The whole team ties its future together by agreeing to link its compensation plan directly to the team's success as defined in the scorecard. The scorecard is deployed at least three levels down through the organization. This allows the management team to build an aligned organization—it enables every team to see how they contribute to the organization's success. You will be surprised at how much your current lack of alignment costs you.

In step 3, we implement the core processes and consider instituting a project office. In this “process-centric organization,” core processes are designed and implemented cross-functionally, and continuously improved. Each process begins and ends with the customer. When you are process-centric, you focus on the customer, not the internal organization. It reduces pressures to constantly reorganize, and leads to the general feeling that “things work around here.” Your current function-driven organization causes great inefficiencies and conflict.

In step 4, we ask customers for their experiences. We respond to individual feedback and to the patterns we see in the overall data. We use statistically sound sampling techniques to collect feedback in a cost-effective manner. We also discuss and introduce customer-driven demand management. Who better to prioritize than the customer?

In step 5, we directly link employee recognition to customer satisfaction. When a project concludes and the customer experience has been positive, we feed recognition back to the employees who made the success possible. We also consider implementing programs through which employees can propose ideas for improvement and have their ideas reviewed in an open process. Wouldn't it be wonderful if ideas got to the top quickly?

Step 6 is communication. More than merely a step, it is really an all-encompassing function that starts toward the end of Step 1, and runs in parallel with all the remaining steps. From the very beginning, we inform our employees about where we are in our journey towards high performance. By communicating with them throughout the process, we build trust and commitment.

RY: I know you've gotten tremendous results with this approach under a variety of circumstances. I also know it takes a lot of commitment to make it happen. From a philosophical standpoint, what did you base your methodology on, how did you arrive at this way of doing things?

SK: First, I realized that there is no “magic bullet”—one place you can focus—that will solve all of your business problems. I took a holistic approach involving people, processes, and technology. Second, improving organizational performance means bringing about change. A lot of leaders want the benefits of change without going through the process of bringing it about. I have found that only leaders who understand change is involved, and that this change can actually be fun, are able to pull it off.

A methodology of this kind is best carried out by exceptional people at the top. Since implementation of the methodology is key, it requires leadership and vision. Then you only need the guidance of someone who has been there, and has seen that things can get better—much better!

RY: Does this approach apply to businesses other than IT and technology related organizations?

SK: IT is my expertise, but I know this can work for almost any organization that has the leadership to carry it out. The approach is based on fundamental principals that work everywhere.

© 2002 Sunil “Skip” Kapur and M. A. “Ryan” Yuhas
InterDimension Strategies Inc.