| |FEB - MARCH 20258IN MY OPINIONEric Pope, VP-Operations, US SyntheticByProblem-Solving Cultures: People Seeing, Sharing, Setting, and Accepting Best PracticesHow does a leader align and motivate people within an organization to move in the same direction? This is the age-old question that every organization struggles with. How do we ensure that what we work on everyday is the right thing? How does an employee know what the right things are? And, how do we prioritize our limited resources to make the biggest impact? These questions are at the root of various business systems and practices today. These are the questions that strategic planning, strategic goal deployment, x matrices, honshin kanri, true north, policy deployment, and goal deployment attempt to answer. Most companies realize the power of aligning the organization to common objectives; and, as a result, most perform one or more of these activities. However, strategic improvement activities alone are generally not sufficient to fully align and engage the full human capacity of the organization. Traditionally, strategic improvement activities spread from leader to leader--defined by what each leader must deliver to the organization. Unfortunately, these types of disjointed activities don't spread deep enough into the organization to affect lasting change, but instead reside at the leadership level waiting for the leader to drive the quick fix or siloed improvement. Aligning GoalsBut, what about those deep within the organization? Do they need this information? What about shop floor employees? What is their role in strategy? How can an organization navigate change and align the behaviors of every individual to improve enterprise-wide results? How can an organization create a culture where every person is continuously improving the things that matter most? The Value Improvement Process (VIP) aligns the hearts, minds, behaviors, and choices of people within the organization to the things that matter most. This process creates a culture of repeated ideal behaviors--creating a circumstance where every employee makes aligned business choices each day. The process begins with vision or purpose. Vision is an organization's true north or anchoring ideal state. It is the ultimate purpose and reason for the organization's existence. Vision illustrates perfection, providing endless guidance for daily work and improvement decisions. An organization's vision must include a compelling story to provide the necessary motivation and inspiration to align and motivate people to collaborate and work through the problems the business faces. This vision provides a framework where all choices, behaviors, and activities must align. Vision provides the big picture "why," giving every employee a reason to change, align, try or even care. Any attempt to execute a new strategy or initiative without establishing this "why" will ultimately fail; or, at least, not reach its full potential. It always begins with "why."A Deeper UnderstandingOnce vision is established, activity or strategy can be chosen to move toward that vision. Strategy becomes a simple process of establishing clarity in the minds of every employee--helping everyone understand who the customer is and what they ultimately value. Then, the work becomes creating key systems, processes, and activities that deliver to that value, enabling a sustainable competitive advantage. Every employee must understand their connection to those key value systems and how they are performing. Because they can now understand the purpose of the organization, they can then see where they can make a difference. With this improved understanding, they will then choose (within their own unique environment) how to best serve the customer.Strategic activities or work can then be chosen though a common problem-solving process. The PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Adjust) process, rooted in the scientific method, helps every employee see value and performance gaps--identifying root Eric Pope
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