A Roadmap for Designing an Enterprise that Thrives During Supply Chain Disruptions
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the final installment of our series on building a supply chain that can thrive, not merely survive, during crises and curve balls. That demonstrates a certain amount of resilience on your part! We know there’s a fierce, never-ending battle for attention out there, so thank you for giving Logility some of yours.
In the first three posts we covered steps 1 through 9:
- Assessment
- Justification
- Vision
- Explore
- Collaborate
- Elevate
- Business Continuity
- Elevate IBP
- Change Management
Now let’s examine the final three steps.
- Alignment. Alignment has been called a “high degree of difficulty move” under the umbrella of change management. Why? Because this journey will require a new shared vocabulary, updated process definitions, new clarity around roles and ongoing synchronization of metrics and compensation. And you need to be prepared for some to say I didn’t sign up for this.
An aligned, mature organization encourages team members to think like a CEO every day. Instead of sub-optimizing (AKA optimizing locally), you’ll be expected to evaluate potential actions in light of strategic goals like improved customer service, margin growth and time-to-market. (Independent study opportunity for those interested in avoiding the sub-optimization trap: How is Elon Musk able to launch the Falcon 9 at 20% of the cost of the Space Shuttle?)
- Culture. Leadership sets the tone, as always. There are many ways to convey an “embrace change” message. Pick one and stick to it. View disruptions as growth opportunities. Run away from the status quo. Change is a tonic. But understand that if you don’t get alignment right, culture will stagnate or even deteriorate.
- Celebrate. If you get the first 11 right, I promise you will have plenty to celebrate. Research shows that advanced use of IBP (see step 6) will put you in the upper echelon of your peers when grouped by key supply chain performance measures. Take the time in small and large groups, inside and outside the company, to reflect on success. This practice is a powerful momentum builder.
When you’re done, you’ll have more than a Center of Excellence, which implies a preference for or superiority of a single physical location. In contrast, you’ll have created a Nexus of Excellence. A dynamic yet stateless collection of people, process and technology on a global scale.
Guard against complacency by constantly checking your achievements against this list:
- Platform has transformed us from data rich to insight rich.
- Teams use guided workflows with contextual drill downs.
- Accountability is clear and includes actionable outcomes.
- Planning and execution are integrated to the point where they feel like a single function.
- The organization is at once empowered and hungry. Achievement has unleashed a sense of how much more can be done.
That completes our series on the 12 steps necessary for building an agile, resilient enterprise that consistently leverages people, process and technology to translate actionable insights into marketplace success regardless of circumstances.
