An explanation of Business Excellence for enterprises operating in a competitive environment.

In a competitive industry, which most are, your business is like a Formula One car competing against others.

In order to stay in the race and potentially win, every part of an F1 team and its car needs to be tuned and running optimally.

 

 

The race team needs to ensure its car is packed with the best technology.

 

 

 

 

 

Its drivers need to be highly trained and skilled – at the top of their game – and the pit crew needs to be highly organised and very efficient.

 

 

 

To achieve best performance, race teams monitor every part of the car and every aspect of their team. This information guides the team to work on those components with the most potential to improve performance, giving the car its best chance to gain a competitive advantage.

 

And all of this needs to be supported by sound strategy, adequate resources and impeccable planning and execution. In a word, a race team must strive for “excellence” to stay in the race and have the best chance of success.

 

 

Business Excellence

In exactly the same way, businesses that strive for excellence in every aspect of their enterprise outperform their competitors.

Business Excellence uses a research-proven framework to show leadership where they should direct their efforts for the greatest benefit. These frameworks are now used in more than 80 countries around the world to judge the most respected business awards.

The key to this process is measuring actual performance against potential performance for each capability. This information clarifies the unrealised potential of the business so the leadership team can work to improve it.

A business can use a Business Excellence Framework to guide a rigorous self-assessment which scores core capabilities against their potential. The most powerful way of doing this is to engage an appropriately qualified consultant to facilitate and moderate this as a review workshop with the leadership team. The consultant’s independence and experience help ensure:

• • a level of objectivity in the assessment of strengths
• • the process builds leadership understanding of excellence in practice
• • validation through site visit interviews of a cross-section of staff.

Armed with the insights this provides, the leadership team can direct their time and effort to the areas with the most opportunity for improvement – just like an F1 race team.
The regular application of such a process creates enterprise-wide continuous improvement. In an ever-changing marketplace, businesses achieving continuous improvement generate a competitive advantage and produce higher returns for their shareholders.
Ask yourself the question: how long would a Formula One race team remain in the competition if they were not constantly assessing and improving their capability? Remaining competitive in business is no different. Are you up for the challenge?

Call us if you would like to explore the potential of your business.

Click here for our contact details.

 

By Grant Kirby and Colin Gare
February 2018