Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence is the execution of the business strategy more consistently and reliably than the competition. Operational Excellence is evidenced by results. Given two companies with the same strategy, the Operationally Excellent company will have lower operational risk, lower operating costs, and increased revenues relative to its competitors, creating value for customers and shareholders.

Operational Excellence manifests itself through integrated performance across revenue, cost, and risk. It focuses on meeting customer expectation through the continuous improvement of the operational processes and the culture of the organization.

KEY ELEMENTS THAT MAKE UP AN OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE STRATEGY

1. Ongoing improvement

Operational excellence is an interesting concept because although it’s regularly achieved, it’s never ‘finished’. It’s not something you can tick off your to-do list and never have to think about again. What we mean by this is that operational excellence requires ongoing improvement and investment; your business won’t suddenly reach a magical point where everything is perfect. Instead, you will become adept at identifying areas of improvement and putting processes in place to take your business to the next level.

2. Problem-solving, teamwork and leadership

Although operational excellence is implemented from the top, it’s a company-wide initiative which requires cooperation and teamwork across all levels. In order to achieve the best results, maintaining clear and open communication is a must. You want your staff to have a strong understanding of what’s expected of them at all times, so they know what they need to deliver and how their role influences the team as a whole.

3. Keeping employees positive and empowered

As the point above illustrates, operational excellence cannot be achieved without the cooperation of your employees. It therefore makes sense that operational excellence and employee motivation go hand-in-hand. Motivated staff members are far more likely to go the extra mile. Take care of your employees, reward people’s achievements and celebrate important milestones; all of this will help reinforce the benefits of operational excellence and ensure it doesn’t feel like a chore. You rarely see operational improvement without motivation and a good company culture.

4. Focusing on your customer’s needs

Operational excellence is an internal strategy, but it’s your customers that should benefit most of all. By improving your business’s internal processes, you will ideally be better placed to respond to customer requests and provide fast, effective solutions to their problems. Your customers should be at the heart of your operational excellence strategy.

5. Operational excellence and good governance go hand-in-hand

Your governance board is ideally placed to oversee your operational excellence strategy. Implementing this strategy requires strong leadership, long-term vision and an understanding of how your business operates from top to bottom. Your governance board will be able to work together to identify areas of improvement and agree on targets moving forward. Coming from a different background, each member will be able to draw on their unique experience to create a strategy which sees your operations go from strength to strength.

THE NTCS APPROACH

We start with an assessment (quickscan) of the organisation.

The research design is to make a Gap analysis (As Is versus To Be) with regard to staffing and way-of-working (culture, competencies, skills, processes, systems and rules, policies & procedures and training/education).

The research method is to have semi-structured interviews with Management and departments (demand and supply). Desk study on processes and policies & procedures.

Findings after gap analysis could be found in:

• Performance
• (Maintenance) procedures and issues
• Other possible issues
• Competencies & skills employees
• Essential KPI monitoring
• Root cause analysis
• Knowledge Management/Training
• HR analysis of department