Operational Excellence: Is It Time for Your Organization to Up Its Game?

What if your people, processes, and technology were so perfectly aligned that they could quickly and effectively share knowledge and information across your organization? What if you could measure, view, and continuously improve performance? What if operations were efficient and scalable so you could take on additional work and expand into other markets with ease?

Achieving operational excellence starts with having the correct definition that everyone can understand and know how to reach. The Institute for Operational Excellence defines operational excellence as "the point at which each and every employee can see the flow of value to the customer and can fix that flow before it breaks down."

Operational excellence focuses on the concept of value, like the related theories of Lean and Six Sigma. When the value stream is visible, everyone in your organization knows when things are functioning correctly or can then act to solve the problem.

Six steps to operational excellence

The process of fulfilling the organizational vision and operational goals should begin with a thorough understanding of a company’s current situation and end with implementing a carefully crafted plan.

1. Establish the purpose (or mission) of the organization. Then, agree on the lower-level goals that roll up into the company's purpose as indicators of progress and success.
2. Analyze the current state and document value streams.
3. Identify the areas for improvement and determine the best approach.
4. Create a culture of continuous improvement by setting desired goals and behaviors.
5. Implement a performance management system for employees to self-monitor and report on their progress.
6. Build scale by creating replicable systems that deliver value.

Benefits of an operational excellence mindset.

• Everyone in the organization "gets it"
• Defines the company's value streams
• Improves cross-department collaboration
• Encourages problem solving, teamwork, and creating more value for customers
• Increase employee engagement
• Carves out time for operations management to focus on growing the business
• Improves customer satisfaction

It’s all about the people

To achieve operational excellence, you must create cultural change. Connect employees need to the vision and strategy, the new way they are working, and a company dedicated to continued growth.

Operational excellence is achieving the perfect alignment of your people, processes, and technology.

UHY Consulting's leadership is holistically experienced in total business operations. We use a comprehensive approach to analyze your operations, extract your requirements, and deliver desired results using our proprietary tools and methodologies.