Strategic Innovation Newsletter

Welcome to the October 2009 edition of Strategic Innovation newsletter, a free monthly newsletter on leadership, strategy and innovation. Delivered on the first Tuesday of each month.

Back issues are archived for free downloading at www.DanielLockConsulting.com.

Tips for improving business processes

• Bureaucracy often creates excessive paperwork in the office
• Managerstypically spend 40 to 50 percent of their time writing and readingjob-related material; 60 percent of al clerical work is spent onchecking, filing, and retrieving information, while only 40 percent isspent on important process-related tasks.
• Evaluate and minimize all delays, red tape, documentation, reviews and approvals
• Managementreduces bureaucracy by starting with a directive. The directive informsmanagement and employees that each approval signature and review activewill be financially justified, that reducing total cycle time is a keybusiness objective, and any non-value added activities will be targetedfor elimination.
• A bureaucracy step should be left in only if there is a sizeable, documented savings from the activity.

The 10 cornerstone tools to streamlining

Theworld of business innovation and strategic planning is ever-changingand always evolving into something new and exciting. Does your businesshave the strategic agility to survive the world-wide recession of 2009and onward?

"It’san ever-changing world,” you’ve heard the statement, but has it reallysunk in yet? The world of business innovation and strategic planning isever-changing and always evolving into something new and exciting.

Doesyour business have the strategic agility to survive the world-widerecession of 2008 and onward? Intelligent business owners understandthe importance of modifying business strategies to embrace innovativeideas and survive.

Forexample, businesses that once operated from U.S. based call centersfound that outsourced work to overseas call centers saved a lot ofmoney and was a sound business decision 7 to 10 years ago.

Customerservice became difficult simply because of the language barrier.Unhappy customers would move to another business that hired nativeEnglish speaking employees.

Morerecently, the same U.S. based business may have come to realize thatthe work outsourced overseas is better and more easily managed byemployees working from their home office. Even though the businessesmay pay higher wages to home-based workers than they would to overseasemployees, overhead was cut dramatically.

Takingthe opportunity to hire and train employees who could effectivelyhandle customer service from their home office relieved the stress ofexpensive building upkeep and other bills involved with operating froma large brick-and-mortar business location.

Customerservice and retention are up because more workers are native Englishspeakers and the communication gap isn’t a hindrance to customers whenthey call for assistance.

Strategic skills and competent business planning worked hand in hand to save the corporate world once again.

Thatwas just one tiny example of how successful strategic planning can seeyour business through even the toughest economic troubles. Businessesaround the world search for the perfect employees to fit their needs.

SmartCEOs and general managers embrace the idea of hiring people who areinnovative thinkers and will help implement the ideas they propose.Tactical and strategic thinkers help businesses succeed and grow, nomatter the economic outlook world-wide.

What is Strategic Agility and Why is it Important?
Strategic agility is the ability to transform knowledge competency intoinnovative ideas; the ability to successfully reinvent businesses overand over again.

Business,like everything else in life, is ever-evolving. In order to succeed atany type of business, you must have the flexibility, strategic skillsand competent business planning to change as needed.

No single marketing plan will work forever.

Takea look at some of the most well-known businesses over the last 100years. Would the soda companies be successful today if they hadn’tchanged their look and tastes over the years?

Imaginefor a moment if Coke didn’t take their businesses world-wide. Theirsuccess wouldn’t be nearly as obvious as it is today.

How Change Drives Growth and Success
Business is a game you learn as you go. Not one single CEO can say theyhaven’t learned a lot on the road to success. Business colleges do agreat job preparing you for things that may happen, but the ability toreally strategize and plan ahead aren’t something you can learn inschool.

Commonsense, innovative ideas and great business competency create strategicagility; the ability to grow and change your business into somethingthat will last. Change is imminent, embrace it and let it guide yourbusiness strategies.

Lookto the future by learning from the past. History repeats itself and aslong as we are able to recognize and learn from the mistakes of failedbusinesses of the past, we will continue to grow and succeed.

Don’tlet short-term success blind you to the long-term effects of anybusiness decision you make. Always be willing to change and grow!

Strategic Agility, Flexibility & Speed
These four ideals, above all else, can help ensure a successfulbusiness. Strategic agility is much more than the ability to adapt tochange. You must also know how to respond to change with strategicvision and competent knowledge. You must understand when it is time todump old business strategies and recreate new ones.

Moveon from existing competencies and create your own business rules. Focuson hiring people with who are good at creating new and differentwinning business strategies.

Flexibilityand speed often go hand-in-hand to create the ideal workplace. Mostbusinesses only welcome new business ideas from upper management.

Why?Because those are the people who have earned their way to the top;they’ve been to top notch colleges and are well-educated.Unfortunately, sometimes education isn’t enough. Some of your bestbusiness ideas may come from employees from anywhere in the company.

Startby asking your management teams, as well as the executive team, to helpby creating new and different ideas or present potential business plans.

Byallowing innovation to come forward you open yourself and your businessto a whole new world of legitimate new trends and potentially wildlysuccessful business ideas.

Technique of the month: Involve your people

Innovationis all about doing something new and different, and doesn't necessarilymean spending more money. More often it just means slaughtering somesacred cows.

Below are three quetions to ponder, from the Theory of Constraints (TOC):

• What to change?
• What to change to?
• How to cause the change?