Keeping the Internal Organization Focused on Operating Excellence

1.   There are several actions that organizational leaders can take to promote new ideas for improving the performance of value chain activities:

a.   Encouraging individuals and groups to brainstorm, let their imaginations fly in all directions, and come up with proposals for improving how things are done

b.   Taking special pains to foster, nourish, and support people who are eager for a chance to try turning their ideas into better ways of operating

c.   Ensuring that the rewards for successful champions are large and visible and that people who champion an unsuccessful idea are not punished or sidelined but rather encouraged to try again

d.   Using all kinds of ad hoc organizational forms to support ideas and experimentation

e.   Using the tools of benchmarking, best practices, reengineering, TQM, and Six Sigma quality to focus attention on continuous improvement