Critical Thinking: A vital skill for leading in the new normal
 
In the field of leadership and business management, critical thinking is a critical skill to possess. Developing this skill involves asking and challenging assumptions. Critical thinking helps us to make good decisions, improves our overall performance and the business’s profitability. It is especially important in today's business environment, where people are constantly making decisions and are often under pressure to make them quickly.
 
Benefits of critical thinking in leadership and business management
 
Developing critical thinking skills helps leaders analyze their decision-making processes and adopt alternative approaches to address problems. These skills can help a company succeed in the "new normal" of business. While classic leadership strategies remain relevant, they will no longer be sufficient in the face of the challenges of a changing business environment. Instead, today's leaders must learn to think and act differently in order to stay competitive.

• Leading through the new normal.
• Transforming businesses in the new normal.

 
Critical thinking can also help employees improve their creative thinking skills. Getting creative often involves pushing conventions and taking risks. Applying a critical approach can help mitigate risks and make creative ideas more useful in the long run. Critical thinking can also help teams reinvent old processes. Moreover, it enhances teamwork and problem-solving skills. It also distinguishes valuable employees in a company.
 
Critical thinking can also improve emotional intelligence. It helps team members avoid making emotional decisions. It encourages team members to analyze the situation before making any decision. It also helps them weigh the ethical implications of a decision. As a result, they are more likely to come up with creative solutions and ask open-ended questions.
 
Critical thinking is crucial for effective leadership. It helps leaders identify the right decisions, while also understanding the impact of decisions on the overall organization. It also helps them to align themselves with organizational goals and be accountable for their actions.
 
Developing critical thinking skills
 
Questioning is an essential part of critical thinking, as it enables you to evaluate the information that you have. It requires that you continually assess what is relevant and give weight to the most relevant information. This skill can be learned through observation. For instance, you can observe your co-workers during a staff meeting.
 
When questioning, it is imperative to keep the questioning simple and direct. The question should not be too complicated, and it should focus on identifying relationships and principles. It should not be too general or ambiguous because it can lead to long discussions. It is also important to remember that answering a question in a critical way helps you get accurate answers. Remember that the main goal of critical thinking is to identify and evaluate existing knowledge, and to recognize where improvements can be made to a situation.
 
A critical thinker will be able to analyze information and make accurate decisions. By establishing significance, they will be able to weigh the validity of different data sources. This is important because not all information is equally relevant. Critical thinkers will often challenge assumptions and consider what the underlying motivation of a particular piece of information is.
 
The ability to question is an important trait for leaders and business managers. Good critical thinkers are able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of a situation and will ask themselves if their current beliefs will have a positive or negative effect. They will be able to motivate their team members and move them to take action through the use of solid arguments and reasons. As a result, critical thinkers are able to deliver a better performance and offer organizations a distinct advantage over their competition.
 
Lack of critical thinking in leadership and business management
 
A recent study identified the need for critical thinking in leaders, with three-quarters of executives predicting that this skill will increase in importance in the near future. Key reasons for this increase include the speed of change in the business landscape, globalization, and increased competitiveness. Leaders must be able to demonstrate that they are capable of using their critical thinking skills to solve complex business problems.
 
Lack of critical thinking can result in bad decisions, repeated mistakes, and bad assumptions. A leader without these skills can be an unproductive leader and a disaster for the business. A critical thinker is able to identify what the wrong decision is and how to correct it. They can also use a critical lens to identify opportunities that may be overlooked by other people.
 
The skills of critical thinking can help professionals improve their decision-making skills and make them more confident and efficient. In short, critical thinking helps to uncover alternatives and create new ways of approaching a problem based on accurate data. Without critical thinking, a person can't make effective decisions. Developing these skills is crucial to the success of a business.
 
Critical thinking requires the creation of a plan to implement a solution. This plan must identify who will implement the solution and how it will be executed. The plan must be flexible enough to adapt to new information. It should also be able to adapt to changes as needed, while keeping the ultimate goal in mind.

Related Reading:​

1. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
2. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
3. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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In a previous project, your team might have faced a resistance to change due to a few factors. These factors include communication, control of their own jobs, and the power of the force field. Here are some tips for managing your team's resistance to change. Read on to discover how to handle different kinds of resistance to change. This article will highlight three main strategies to get your team on board with your change initiative.
 
6 Strategies to overcome employee resistance to organizational change- 

Strategic communication plan 

Often, leaders respond to the symptoms of resistance to change. But this will not solve the problem. By understanding the underlying causes of employee resistance, you will be able to navigate it more smoothly. Firstly, explain the reasons why the changes are necessary.
 
Communicate the reasons for the changes. Let your team members know what they stand to gain by these changes. Let them know what they can do to help you implement the changes. You can do this by sharing your reservations, but you must emphasize that your team needs the change to succeed. They must be involved in the process, too, so they need to understand the positive benefits. If you don't, the changes you've proposed may backfire.
 
Follow a strategic communication plan to succeed with your change initiatives. I’ve a separate blogpost on communication plan, you may check it out here.
 
Employee engagement
 
Among the most common methods used to implement change in small and large organizations is employee participation. But this approach can be problematic. First, you must understand the true nature of employee resistance. Employees typically resist changes in social settings, which are often an accompaniment to the technical changes. The problem stems from the staff specialists' blind spots, which are caused by their preoccupation with the technical aspects of new ideas. The good news is that you can use employee involvement to counteract the problems associated with employee resistance.

• How To Increase Employee Engagement as a New Boss 

If the change you are proposing is a fundamentally different way of operating, then your employees will be much more likely to support it. In addition to making sure that employees are informed of the change, you should involve key employees in the process. They can help you build a bridge between your management team and your team. When communicating changes, however, be sure to share your reservations and ask for employees' involvement. In addition, make sure that employees understand what their roles are and how they will benefit from them.
 
Embedding a culture of Kaizen helps bigtime with increasing employee engagement, more so under the backdrop of an organizational change. Read more about Kaizen and How to use Kaizen for Increased Profitability and Organizational Excellence.
 
Also, check out this video to know more about how Kaizen can help your organization’s initiatives on increasing employee engagement.​

Control of own jobs
 
One of the key strategies for overcoming your team’s resistance to change is to communicate clearly and consistently. Identify your audiences and highlight the benefits of the change. Employees often resist changes due to fear of losing their jobs, or the change affecting their working life. Although employees may be well-informed about the benefits of change, the "WIIFM" (what’s in it for me) factor still plays an important role. If they do not believe the changes will benefit them, they will resist.
 
If you want to increase employee satisfaction, your team's resistance to change is often one of the top factors preventing them from being engaged. But if you want to minimize resistance to change, you must take the time to ensure that employees have control over their own jobs. Achieve this by being transparent and providing direction, goals, and parameters. Ensure that your team has the power to make changes - practice effective delegation and set critical path points for feedback.

• How To Overcome Challenges of Creating Effective Work Teams 

Force field analysis
 
The force field analysis is an effective tool for identifying the forces driving and restraining the adoption of change. It helps managers identify the levers that can strengthen driving forces and mitigate restraining forces to make changes stick. This approach involves the participation of all key stakeholders and requires some careful deliberation. However, it can be a great help to identify internal and external forces, which are often not visible.
 
To begin, write down what you wish to change in one sentence. Next, draw a force field diagram. Essentially, this consists of a sheet of paper with a line down the middle. On this sheet of paper, list both restraining and driving forces. Brainstorm for these forces and write down their strengths and weaknesses. Once you have identified these forces, you can begin to make a plan for how to implement the change.
 
Employee feedback
 
One of the best ways to overcome your team’s resistance to change is to identify the reasons behind their reluctance. While identifying the reasons can help you to overcome this obstacle, it's also important to realize that there are different reasons for people to be against a change. Then, you can tailor your approach to work through the problem. Using employee feedback to identify these reasons will allow you to overcome these obstacles.
 
The first key to breaking down the resistance to change is communication. Employees are happy to give you their opinion, and you can leverage that to your advantage. Identifying the root of resistance can help you steer the change project in the direction you want it to go.

Here's my blogpost citing the Best Practices of Giving Feedback to Your Subordinates and Peers and get their feedback; you might want to check it out.
 
 Transparency
 
The vital step in overcoming your team’s resistance to change, is to identify and address potential sources of resistance. Hold workshops or discussions to ensure you understand employee concerns and goals. Listen to their objections to ensure you address the source of their resistance in a productive and respectful manner.
 
Communicate the benefits of the organizational changes to your team. They may be unaware of the reasons for their resistance, or they may have been blindsided by a plan they aren't familiar with.
 
One of the first ways to overcome your team’s opposition to change is to communicate the benefits of the changes to your team and employees. Make sure to create a safe environment for employees to voice their concerns.
​

• How to Bring in Organizational Culture Change
• What Role Does Culture Play in Business Transformation?

 
Practice active listening skills and listen for any possible misunderstandings. Communicate clearly and thoroughly your objectives and why the changes are necessary. This will help reduce resistance to change and ensure everyone is on board with the changes.

Related Reading:​

1. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
2. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
3. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategymanagement #strategiccommunicationplan #transparency #employeeengagement #forcefieldanalysis #employeefeedback #controlofownjobs #sixstrategiesofovercomingemployeeresistance #organizationalchange #kaizen #kaizenfororganizationalexcellence

A strategic communication plan can help your organization navigate existing processes or create new ones. For example, if you're a new CEO, you'll need a roadmap to help you chart your course. According to media experts, the secret to effective communication is engaging your leadership team in a conversation and using simple messaging.
 
Understanding the link between message and organizational goals
Understanding the link between message and organizational goals is a key element of strategic communication for leaders. Unless the core message reflects the organization's vision, change efforts will be mediocre and ineffective. In addition, poorly framed and communicated messages can muddy the overall effectiveness of a company. In order to create a strategic communication plan (SCP), leaders should consider the following key components:
 
The first step is to evaluate the existing communication systems and channels. While some organizations may have an elaborate electronic database, others might prefer a more personal face-to-face channel. By examining communication issues, leaders can develop a more effective communication strategy and determine what types of messages should be sent to different segments of employees.
 
Once an organization has identified its key stakeholders, it must decide which messages are appropriate for each group, which mediums will be most effective, and what messages will achieve the most impact. A strategic communication plan can only be effective if it reaches its intended audience. For this, it must first identify the stakeholders that will be affected by the strategic communication goal, which can include employees, citizens, and lawmakers.
 
Creating a culture of straightforward communication
Creating a culture of straightforward communication for leadership is vital for the success of any organization. Employees of all levels perform better with a clear vision and an open culture of communication. Clearly communicating expectations for work quality and pay grade is an effective way for leaders to achieve this. People want to be honest and transparent with their employers.
 
One of the effective ways of doing this is to host multiple forums for employees to keep in touch. For instance, you (the leader) could conduct a "birthday chat" every other month, where you could speak to employees directly, without the usual senior management presence. Also, you could record a video blog once a month and share it with your workforce. Such communications give leaders a chance to speak directly to their employees, and it builds trust.
 
Another way to foster effective communication is to invite the team members to share their ideas and feedback with you. While you are the leader of the company, you are not the one who needs to tell everyone what to do. You need to listen to everyone. This will lead to better decisions.
 
Developing a communication plan
The first step in developing a communications plan for business leaders is to define the goal of your plan. Once you have this, you can decide which messages to communicate and how you'll get your message across. The next step is to outline a timeline, create a communications editorial calendar, and determine the channels and metrics you'll use to measure your communications strategy.
 
A communication plan should target key constituents, based on their needs and interests. It should not focus on what they don't need to know, but it should ensure that everyone receives the same big picture message. To ensure that everyone is getting the same information, you should periodically survey the key stakeholders to see if they have any questions.

• Best Practices of Giving Feedback to Your Subordinates and Peers
• Best Practices of Giving Feedback to Your Seniors and Top Management

 
Communication management is essential for the development of a strong organizational culture. It helps retain and promote top talent, boost employee engagement, and enhance innovation. In order to improve your company's culture, you should invest in an executive communications plan. The plan should be integrated into the overall communications strategy and work closely with the larger communications team, human resources and sales and marketing leaders.
 
In addition to the goal, your communication plan should outline how you'll communicate with your team. It's important to identify which channels are appropriate for different types of communications, such as email and video conference. It's important to note that some methods are more effective than others, and that you need to choose the right method for your needs.
 
Developing a communication plan is an ongoing process. As with any other strategy, you'll need to modify it from time to time as you learn more. Creating a plan will help you refine your message and make it more effective and efficient. It will also save you time later on.
 
Tools for evaluating effectiveness of communication
In evaluating the effectiveness of strategic communication, it is critical to identify and address the most significant issues. Often, internal communications teams face the challenge of proving their impact on business results. This challenge is compounded by the fact that communication does not happen in a vacuum, and its impact is difficult to isolate from other factors. However, with the use of communication analytics tools, it is possible to ensure that the communications being sent to employees are effective long term.
 
Measures like the engagement rate and open and click-through rates help measure the effectiveness of internal communications. These metrics give a clear understanding of how the communication campaign is impacting the target audience. The results of these measures can be used to adjust future communications, or to adjust the focus of current efforts.
 
Effective communication is a process of repeated messaging and requires a lot of effort. Organizations should communicate their strategic plans seven times across seven different mediums. These include brochures, speeches, newsletters, workshops, internal blog posts, and videos.
 
Strategic communications plans must be aligned with the overall goals of the organization. The purpose of communication is to influence the attitudes and behaviors of employees. To be effective, the communication program must be focused on achieving the key goals of the business. Benchmarking the current communications program and executing iterative process improvement regularly, is a good way to grow communication effectiveness over time.
 
Disclaimer- Suggestions given here are for educational purpose and not advice. Please follow applicable privacy laws and code of conduct best practices recommended by your workplace.

 
Related Reading:​

1. Up to speed with workflow- How to choose business process improvement methodology for your organization and measure the positive change. 
2. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
3. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
4. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
5. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence  #strategicplanning #strategymanagement #communicationplan #businesscomunication #managingchange  #employeeengagement #processimprovement #creatingacultureoftransparentcommunication

Leadership with a different flavor to it is essential for steering organizations in uncertain times. It requires strong leadership skills and the ability to adapt to change to tide thru difficult waters. And it is not just the fittest who survive, but the most adaptive that survive longer.
 
Uncertainty breeds change and vice versa. And change is good if you, as a leader, make good use of the opportunity and create a positive difference in your organization.
 
Uncertainty is an opportunity to survival (although a difficult one), and that leaders who can bring about change are needed. In this post, I shall touch upon areas leaders can focus to help themselves achieve success!
 
Leadership style
 
There are many styles of leadership. Some styles are passive, while others can be called active. The passive leadership style is focused on avoiding risk. The directive style of leadership is the opposite. It relies on rewards, coercion and positional authority to reach goals. These leaders place more importance on their own knowledge than on the contributions of others.
 
Leadership styles must be modified over time. Impeccable leadership is essential for any organization or individual in today's uncertain world. Business leaders are particularly important because of the increasing challenges they face. It is important to continuously evaluate and adapt your style.
 
Communication
 
In times of uncertainty, leaders must communicate clearly with employees. Employees need to be informed about the company's activities, regardless of whether it is going through a crisis or restructuring a division. Employees may believe the worst if they are not kept informed. The company's credibility could be at risk.
 
It is normal to wait and see how communications go during difficult times. However, this is not a good idea. You can help people deal with uncertainty and make the most of it by presenting the facts early. This will reduce misinterpretation risk and increase trust.
 
People look to their leaders when they are in trouble. You must act as a calm force and a catalyst for stability within the organization. 
 
Transparency in dealings is the key to trust-building. You must communicate truthfully and in a timely manner, but you must also be optimistic about the future.
 
Scenario-planning
 
Leaders of organizations in uncertain times can use scenario-planning to their advantage. Scenario-planning helps leaders make better decisions by making assumptions about the future. By creating different scenarios, a leader can envision different "realities" for a future business. Scenario- planning can be used to predict the potential future and help companies develop agility, alignment, and flexibility as well as mitigate risks.
 
Scenario-planning involves creating or many a times envisioning scenarios and stress-testing them. It is important to recognize biases and develop the skills necessary to conduct these exercises. 
 
Embracing change
 
Leaders who embrace change and see it as an opportunity to improve processes and discover new markets, increase profitability and become more effective are the ones who succeed. They see change as a way to generate new ideas and innovations and turn uncertainty into a positive force. Organizations that embrace change positively experience higher productivity, greater engagement, and renewed pride.
 
Leaders must align their personal priorities and the company's strategy to embrace change. Leading change involves changing attitudes, behaviors, and how leaders communicate with employees, superiors, peers and their teams.
 
Leaders must also link their day to the overall initiative for change and exhibit their leadership style. This is especially true if you have taken over a new role. For a new boss, in the beginning it is perception that brings-in following. Only after employees work with you long enough do they get to know the real you- the individual. 
 
Manage resistance
 
Leadership is also the ability to manage resistance. Overextended or inexperienced leaders are often reluctant to make tough decisions and take too long to implement them.
 
To ensure team buy-in and minimize resistance, changes must be carefully implemented. Here are some tips to manage resistance within organizations and get buy-in from employees: Open door policies are a great way to encourage employees asking questions. All employees should have access to communication channels and should have career opportunities available.
 
Understanding the elephant in the room: It's crucial to pay attention to the concerns of employees when managing change. These conversations can expose weaknesses in your plan and reveal the reasons for employee resistance. You can also build trust between employees and management by listening to their concerns and thereby increase their sense of contribution and value.
​

Related Reading:​

1. Up to speed with workflow- How to choose business process improvement methodology for your organization and measure the positive change. 
2. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
3. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
4. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
5. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #businessresilience #continuousimprovement #managingforchange #managingforgrowth #leadingorganizationsthroughturbulentimes

Building resilience is critical to building a long-term business. It is not only about the ability to survive crises, but also about how you manage your business in those situations. To increase your business's resilience, you should measure the components of your business. To do this, you can use KPIs and essentially a strategic plan with a defined methodology (such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma etc.) to increase business process robustness.
 
Planning for a pandemic
 
Understanding pandemics and their effects is critical to business resilience. Using a pandemic impact analysis template, business leaders can identify the most critical roles, processes, and assets. Developing a pandemic recovery plan requires patience and understanding of the situation. Once the plan has been implemented, businesses can return to normal operations.
 
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic backdrop, companies have begun to take a more holistic approach to risk management. Eight in 10 businesses indicated that they needed to adopt an enterprise-wide approach to risk management in order to tackle complex issues and maintain operational resiliency. This has led many companies to broaden their risk perspective and create pandemic-response plans.
 
Organizational resilience enables organizations to meet short-term and long-term financial goals, maintain operational capacities, and cope with fluctuating demand. Organizational resilience fosters a healthy culture within the workforce and maximizes retention. It also enforces higher standards of performance. A culture of resilience teaches staff to align their values with their actions and responds to criticism with meaningful change.
 
Planning for a pandemic can help businesses and organizations deal with the financial consequences of a pandemic. Governments can help businesses and organizations adapt by deferring tax payments or providing incentives for digital investments. In addition, business systems and strategies need to be designed to be resilient and offer sustainable products.
 
Managing for resilience
 
Business resilience is the ability to take a blow and bounce back. It embodies the principles of business continuity but goes beyond these to strengthen an organization's immune system. It entails managing for change and takes into account the relationship between all relevant forces and their potential impacts. In addition, it requires contributions from different management disciplines.
 
Resilience is the ability of a business to withstand a range of threats, including disruptions to ICT (information and communication technologies) systems, cyber attacks, consumer demands, and market changes. It is essential to the continued operation of a business, and this requires a long-term mindset. Businesses must consider the risks associated with these risks and build contingency plans to address them.
​
While business resilience varies greatly from company to company, many leading companies are attempting to create a more resilient culture. For example, go for local solutions, servant leadership, multi-stakeholder engagement, and long-term goals to build resilience.
 
How to succeed in building business resilience?
 
Business resilience requires a commitment from senior management and is distinct from business continuity. It requires employees to think on their feet and leaders to anticipate and respond to challenges. As a result, business leaders must be clear in communicating their resilience approach and making sure that people are aware of it.
 
Managing for growth
 
Managing for growth can increase your business resilience, which is the ability to withstand unexpected change. In today's world, technology is evolving at an exponential rate, and many organizations are struggling to keep up. This can have serious consequences for your business if it goes unaddressed.
 
The most resilient companies are those that can take advantage of unexpected opportunities and minimize damage from new threats. This requires a flexible organizational structure, modern processes, and effective communications. In addition, business leaders should avoid micromanagement and focus on the development of an inclusive culture. They should eliminate silos in the organization and integrate their IT and business functions. Developing a culture of business resilience requires strategic planning to ensure the long-term health of the company.
 
As part of building business resilience, a company's management team should understand the business's KPIs and share a common understanding of its resilience track record. They should also agree on how much risk they will tolerate in the future. It is important not to use generic risk assessments but insist on specific goals based on hard questions. The process of determining these goals will be a back-and-forth process, and they are most likely to fall in a gray area of marginal risks.
 
Embed ‘Continuous Improvement’ in your organization’s DNA-
 
Resilience is essential for business survival, but many companies are not building enough of it. In today's turbulent world, more companies are becoming vulnerable to crises. However, by investing in resilience, companies have the potential to increase their profitability. However, they must be aware of the trade-offs that come with resilience. For example, investing in infrastructure may lead to increased costs, while reducing revenue.
 
High-budget investment plans to build business resilience may not work for all companies, especially the small setups and startups. A more doable approach is to install Lean, Kaizen in your company’s DNA. Kaizen-ing by default minimizes risks, reduces operational costs, improves product quality and catapult’s customer satisfaction.
 
Kaizen-ing hence brings dual benefit- It increases both topline and bottom line of a business, regardless of its size or industry sector. Contact us to know more about How Lean, Kaizen can help your business?
 
An important to note is- While taking steps to build business resilience, it is also necessary to measure success. A Bain Resilience Index measures the resilience of individual companies. I’ve a separate post on this, check it out here.


Related Reading:​

1. Up to speed with workflow- How to choose business process improvement methodology for your organization and measure the positive change. 
   
2. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
3. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
4. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
5. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #businessresilience #continuousimprovement #managingforchange #managingforgrowth

Supply chain resilience is the ability to adapt and survive unforeseen disruptions. It enables enterprises to respond ahead of competitors and meet changing market demands. It can help prevent and mitigate disruptions like supply/demand imbalances and shortages. In addition, it can improve competitiveness. Here are some strategies to increase resilience:
 
Creating a nerve center
 
Creating a nerve center for supply chain management can improve the speed and effectiveness of your decision-making. By bringing together the specialists from all aspects of the supply chain, you can develop a team that will make the most of available resources. You can also build a stronger connection with key suppliers by establishing deeper partnerships. Your nerve center will act as a central hub to share information, set up essential working infrastructure, and track the progress of key initiatives. Once implemented, the benefits can be seen within five weeks. Creating a nerve center for supply chain operations will improve your cost base, protect your margins, and drive organizational alignment.
 
Supply chain management has undergone tremendous changes over the past few decades. With access to cheaper labor, regulatory incentives, and proximity to growing consumer markets, businesses have extended their supply chains globally. As a result, creating a nerve center for supply chain management can help you stay ahead of disruptions.
 
Creating scenario-based planning
 
Creating scenario-based planning can help businesses better balance the risks and potential trade-offs they face in their business. It can also help companies plan for the worst-case scenarios, helping them avoid delays and potential problems. Traditionally, supply chain managers have focused on minimizing surplus and keeping stock levels low. However, when the Ebola epidemic hit, many businesses were forced to bear the brunt. They were forced to cut back production and inventory, and many retailers struggled to sell their stock.
 
While a shaky supply chain is always a risk, many companies are taking steps to increase resilience in their supply chains. This requires a comprehensive set of plans and strategies. For example, companies should look into resetting capacity utilization targets, identify triggers to add capacity, and align order fulfillment strategies with customer demand and needs.
 
Splitting inventory across multiple fulfillment locations
 
Whether you're an ecommerce retailer or you're a traditional retailer, the ability to split inventory among several fulfillment locations increases the resilience of your supply chain management. By doing so, you can keep your inventory closer to the end customer while saving space and time.
In recent years, production networks have begun to regionalize. This trend is likely to continue, particularly as Asia continues to grow faster than other parts of the world.
 
Increasing visibility

Increasing visibility is a critical component of resilience, as it enables companies to identify potential problems early and make quick decisions. It also helps them avoid disruptions. Achieving this level of visibility allows companies to develop new capabilities to assess the risks in their supply chain. By using real-time data and analytics, companies can make better decisions about how to handle disruptions.
 
Supply chain visibility helps businesses track individual components and products in the supply chain. It provides near real-time data at every step of the process, giving management teams full transparency. This transparency helps them develop better business strategies and risk management plans, which help them act proactively to mitigate risk.
 
Embed ‘Continuous Improvement’ in your organization’s DNA
 
Building resilience into your supply chain processes is a strategic initiative, whose goal is to have assured business outcome and profitability.  When done right, cash-rich organizations can achieve it faster. But what about the small players, startups? These businesses usually have a tight purse-string. 

A doable, affordable yet assured pathway for building resilient business workflows is to install Lean, Kaizen in your company’s DNA. Kaizen-ing by default minimizes risks, reduces operational costs, improves product quality and catapult’s customer satisfaction.
 
Kaizen-ing hence brings dual benefit- It increases both topline and bottom line of a business, regardless of its size or industry sector. Contact us to know more about How Lean, Kaizen can help your business?
 
An important point to note is that- While taking steps to build business resilience, it is also necessary to measure success. A Bain Resilience Index measures the resilience of individual companies. I’ve a separate post on this, check it out here.

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Supply chain logistics

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #supplychainresilience #supplychainmanagement  #supplychainprocessimprovement

When you want to make strategic decisions for your company, you should first have a clear idea of what the company's mission and vision are. 

​These may include environmental solutions, turnover, expansion to newer geographies, or a combination of these. Knowing these long-term goals can help you make daily decisions. Creating a mission statement is an excellent way to make this goal crystal clear. Then, you can use this mission statement to guide your strategic decisions.

Elimination by aspects
The elimination by aspects of strategic decision-making technique is a method that reduces the number of alternatives in an analysis by identifying the important attributes of each. The decisionmaker then evaluates the alternatives one at a time, eliminating any that do not meet this criterion. For example, a decisionmaker may consider two car options, one of which is more affordable, and the other is safer. After evaluating the alternatives, the decisionmaker will decide which option will have the best balance of those two attributes.

The elimination by aspects model reduces the number of possible alternatives and outcomes to a manageable number. Nonetheless, this method may produce sub-optimal results if not done correctly.

Functional decision-making
Functional decision-making can be a tricky process. However, it's important to know that cross-functional decision-making is a necessity to get the best answer for any problem.

The process of making important decisions must be delegated to the proper level of the company. This means avoiding CEOs from making decisions that should be made by regional managers. Yet, in today's world, too many decisions are made at the top level of a company, often to the detriment of the company's employees. Fortunately, there are ways to balance the executive team at the center with business unit managers to avoid this pitfall.

Intuitive rational combinations
There is a dearth of literature examining the role of context in influencing intuition. Despite the prevalence of intuitive decision-making, there has been little research into its contextual determinants, nor have studies examined how different perspectives influence intuition. In a study, examining the role of three contextual factors on intuitive decision-making found that contextual factors have a greater impact on intuition than the nature of the decision.

The number of studies exploring the role of intuition in strategic decision-making has increased over the past decade, but there are still some gaps in their analysis. One of these is that the conceptual model of intuitive decision-making includes only one antecedent, and few study researchers explicitly examine contextual variables as influences of intuition. In addition, little is known about the determinants of intuition.

Process perspective
The research on strategic decision processes has not given us an insight into the role of context and the process perspective. The external and internal environments of a firm are intertwined through boundary spanners, but the impact of these spanners is difficult to assess. Thus, we need a better understanding of these processes and what factors are important in strategic decision-making.

The concept of process is usually associated with executive decision-making. Processes include an organization, the strategy-makers, and the issue under decision. Often, a process is framed in terms of a sequence of actions, with each action affecting the next. Similarly, this process perspective is similar to the actual strategic decision-making process.

Planning for change
Strategic decision-making is the process of charting the course of an organization based on its long-term vision and goals. The process aligns short-term goals and objectives with long-term objectives, which can be measured against adherence to the vision. It can help to set clear goals and values for your organization and to ensure that every decision you make is based on the vision and long-term goals. Developing a mission statement for your organization is an excellent way to get started.

When defining change strategy, you must determine the types of decisions you'll make. For example, a decision to change the way you engage your workforce may involve a cultural change, which requires a new approach. Likewise, a decision to change the way you reward employees might require a change in seniority or in supervisor-employee relationships. Once you've defined the types of decisions you'll make, it's time to assign roles to different stakeholders.

​Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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Categories:  Strategy | Leadership

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