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Strategies, Benefits, and Challenges of Creating a Deliberately Developmental Organization

What is a Deliberately Developmental Organization (DDO)?

A Deliberately Developmental Organization, or DDO, is a transformative concept in people’s development. Coined by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey in their groundbreaking book “An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization”, a DDO is an organization that puts personal growth at the heart of its strategy. With a continuous learning and development culture, these organizations view inadequacies not as vulnerabilities but as opportunities for individual and collective growth.

 

Definition and Principles of DDOs

At its core, a DDO is a high-potential incubator that fosters a culture of continuous personal development, turning traditional Human Resources on its head. Key collaborators in this approach include Andy Fleming, co-founder of the consultancy Way to Grow, and Lisa Laskow Lahey, a well-known figure in adult development.

There are three critical dimensions to a DDO:

  1. Home-Grown Talent: A DDO focuses on developing its workforce rather than seeking talent externally.
  2. 360-degree Feedback: Feedback is crucial in a DDO. This regular, open, and honest feedback promotes self-awareness and helps to identify blind spots.
  3. Psychological Safety: A DDO emphasizes creating an environment where everyone feels safe expressing their ideas and concerns.

 

The Difference Between a DDO and a Traditional Organization

Traditional organizations tend to separate professional duties from personal growth, often treating the latter as a ‘second job’ for employees to pursue in their own time. In contrast, a DDO embeds personal development into its team members’ day-to-day operations and responsibilities.

 

Four Levels of Leadership in a DDO

In a DDO, leadership is more comprehensive than a single role or level. There are four fundamental levels of leadership:

  1. Individual: Encourages self-awareness and personal growth.
  2. Team: Builds a supportive environment where everyone can develop.
  3. Organizational: Aligns personal growth with organizational goals.
  4. Systemic: Advocates for growth and development in the broader business environment.

 

The Benefits of Creating a Deliberately Developmental Organization

DDOs have several key advantages, from increased productivity and innovation to enhanced job satisfaction and reduced turnover. By harnessing human potential, DDOs also benefit from a more engaged, motivated, and competent workforce.

 

Strategies and Approaches for Creating a DDO

Creating a DDO requires a shift in organizational culture. Strategies include establishing a continuous feedback loop, providing ongoing learning opportunities, fostering psychological safety, and linking personal development to business goals. Executive coaching, mentoring initiatives, and leadership development programs are valuable tools.

 

Assessing and Measuring the Impact of a DDO

The impact of a DDO can be assessed through various metrics, such as employee engagement, productivity, turnover, and customer satisfaction. Case studies from successful DDOs, such as LinkedIn, Decurion, and Next Jump, provide valuable benchmarks.

 

Overcoming Challenges in Building a Deliberately Developmental Organization

Building a DDO has its challenges. These include overcoming resistance to change, managing transparency demands, and balancing personal development with business objectives. Yet, these hurdles can be overcome with commitment, open communication, and a robust change management strategy.

 

Best Practices for Creating a Deliberately Developmental Organization

Best practices for creating a DDO include fostering a growth mindset, developing supportive leadership, encouraging openness and vulnerability, and focusing on learning over perfection. Regular reflection and adaptation are also crucial.

 

The Role of Leadership in Creating a DDO

Leadership plays a critical role in creating a DDO. Leaders should model the desired behaviours, create a safe and supportive environment, encourage feedback, and link personal growth to business success.

 

Creating a Deliberately Developmental Organization is Worth the Effort

Creating a DDO demands commitment, effort, and a significant shift in mindset. Yet, the rewards – a more engaged, fulfilled, and productive workforce – make it worthwhile. With the right strategies and a relentless commitment to development, any organization can reap the benefits of becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization.

To revolutionize your workforce and foster a culture of continuous personal growth, consider exploring our Leadership Coaching program. By leveraging their expertise and guidance, organisations can embark on a journey towards becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organisation. Contact Leadership Tribe’s expert consultants today and take the first step towards building an organization where every individual thrives and contributes to collective success.

The Ultimate Guide to Agile Planning

What is Agile Planning?

Agile planning is an iterative approach to project planning that prioritizes flexibility and customer satisfaction. It deviates from traditional project management by fostering adaptability and continuously incorporating feedback to enhance product functionality.

This methodology is rooted in the Agile Manifesto, which values “responding to change over following a plan,” and the principles of Agile software development, emphasizing working software and collaboration with stakeholders.

 

Agile Planning Process: Step-by-Step

Agile planning is not a one-time event. It’s a continuous, cyclic process allowing adjustments and refinements based on feedback and changing conditions.

1. Vision Planning: The planning process begins with setting the product vision, defining what the project team aims to achieve. This involves all stakeholders, including the product owner, team members, and end users.

2. Roadmap Planning: A high-level roadmap is developed with the vision in place, outlining the significant features (or “epics”) and expected timeframe. Agile methodologies value adaptability, so this roadmap remains flexible and subject to change.

3. Release Planning: The next step is to plan the product releases. Each release aims to deliver a usable product increment to the end users. Release planning helps manage expectations and ensure a steady flow of valuable functionality to the customers.

4. Iteration or Sprint Planning: The project is divided into smaller, manageable segments known as iterations (or sprints in Scrum). During each iteration, specific work items are chosen from the product backlog to be completed.

5. Daily Stand-up: Agile teams hold a daily stand-up (or daily Scrum) to discuss progress, plan the day’s work, and identify impediments.

 

Key Concepts in Agile Planning

Product Backlog: The product backlog is a list of all potential features for the product, often written as user stories. It is continuously updated and prioritized by the product owner.

User Stories: User stories describe the desired product functionality from the user’s perspective. They briefly describe a feature, capturing who wants the feature and why.

Scrum Master: The Scrum Master is a servant leader who facilitates the Scrum process, removes obstacles, and helps the team focus on the current sprint’s goals.

Sprint Planning Meeting: In this meeting, the team decides what user stories from the product backlog will be tackled in the upcoming sprint.

Burndown Chart: A burndown chart visualizes the team’s progress, showing how much work remains in the product backlog.

Retrospective: At the end of each iteration or sprint, the team holds a retrospective to reflect on their performance and identify areas for improvement.

 

Benefits of Agile Planning

The benefits of Agile planning include improved adaptability, enhanced customer satisfaction, increased collaboration, reduced risks, and more predictable delivery. Its iterative nature allows for continuous learning and improvement, ensuring the delivery of high-quality outputs.

 

Agile Planning Tools

Various tools are available to facilitate Agile planning, such as Kanban boards and Gantt charts for workflow visualization, project management tools for coordination, and metrics for tracking progress. These tools help Agile teams collaborate in real time, manage dependencies, and adapt their plans as needed.

 

Agile Planning: An Iterative Approach to Success

In conclusion, Agile planning is a dynamic, collaborative, and adaptive process that delivers valuable functionality to customers on time. With its emphasis on feedback, self-organizing teams, and working software, Agile planning offers a promising alternative to traditional project management methodologies.

Embrace the principles of Agile project management and begin your journey towards more effective, responsive planning with us today!

What Is An Agile Transformation Roadmap, And How To Build It?

Many organizations are increasingly embracing agility and improving their ability to respond to change, deliver value to customers faster, and achieve better results. Large companies across different industries, such as IBM, Google, McKinsey, Netflix, and Uber, have become supporters of Agile.

While Agile Transformation offers organizations many benefits, including a shared purpose that motivates teams, a renewed focus on customers, improved cross-team collaboration, quicker adaptation and pivot, higher ROI on efforts, and better creativity and innovation, it is a complex journey that requires adequate planning and guidance to achieve success.

An Agile Transformation Roadmap is a great tool to help organizations lay down a clear and structured path for any organization seeking to address the necessary changes systematically and implement a successful agile transformation.

In this article, we will discover an Agile transformation roadmap and its importance in achieving a successful Agile transformation and creating one. By reading this article, you will understand the critical elements of an Agile Transformation Roadmap and learn how to develop a roadmap tailored to your organization’s unique needs and goals.

What is an Agile Transformation Roadmap?

A roadmap is a visual or action plan for the transformation process that outlines the goals, strategies, key milestones, and steps needed to achieve a specific objective. It typically outlines the timeline, milestones, deliverables, and measurements that track progress and measure success. It may also include the resources needed, risks and challenges, and potential opportunities.

Roadmaps are adopted in various contexts, such as project management, product management, product development, marketing, or business planning. It is a strategic tool that provides context for the team, helps organizations navigate the complexities of Agile Transformation, and ensures that the process is executed efficiently and effectively.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker. 

An Agile Transformation Roadmap can be considered a strategic plan that outlines the journey ahead and the steps required to achieve a successful Agile Transformation within an organization. It provides a systematic and structured approach to implementing Agile methodologies and practices while addressing the specific challenges and opportunities within the organization. The roadmap should be flexible, responsive to changes in the competitive landscapes, and iterative, with regular reviews and adjustments to ensure we are on track to achieve the desired business outcomes. 

A successful agile transformation roadmap should take into consideration of several vital components, including:

  1. Assessment of the current state identifies areas that need to be improved to adopt agile ways of working.
  2. A vision of the future state provides a clear understanding of what the organization aims to achieve and outlines the overarching objectives of the Transformation.
  3. Plan and timeline that paves a clear path for achieving the desired future state and provides a timeline for attaining key deliverables, taking into consideration of the cultural and structural barriers to Agile adoption.
  4. Agile practices that are most effective in achieving the organization’s objectives and goals, such as Scrum, Kanban, and Lean.
  5. Change management for managing change and ensuring that stakeholders understand and support the transformation process.
  6. Metrics and measurements to track progress and determine the Agile Transformation’s success.

In summary, an agile transformation roadmap is critical to any successful agile transformation. It clarifies our objectives and a plan of action, addresses cultural and structural barriers, and ensures that the Transformation is executed efficiently and effectively. By following a well-defined roadmap, organizations can achieve the desired future state and reap the benefits of being agile.

Why use an agile transformation roadmap?

An agile transformation roadmap is critical to guide the organization’s transformation journey. It benefits the organization and stakeholders in several ways, such as:

  • Provides clearly defined vision and objectives and ensures everyone involved in the Transformation understands expectations and works towards a common goal.
  • It helps to build trust and collaboration between teams and improve motivation and creativity.
  • Outlines efficient and practical step-by-step process with clear milestones and helps to prioritize and focus on essential aspects.
  • Identifies risks and obstacles early in the process and provides a plan to address them promptly.
  • Uses measurable outcomes to inspect progress and success, ensures Transformation is on track, and makes necessary adjustments to achieve the desired results.
  • Improves value delivery and increases Return on Investment (ROI).

Agile transformation roadmaps come in several different forms and serve a variety of audiences:

  • For external customers: These roadmaps provide a high-level, generalized view of the new features or the problems to be resolved. They excite customers about what’s coming next and are visually appealing and easy to understand.
  • For internal organizational leadership, roadmaps provide high-level updates to show progress toward goals and “translate” technical tasks into business terms for the ease of internal stakeholders.
  • For product owners, roadmaps unify teams to focus on high-value deliverables, communicate priorities effectively, and build consensus on how a product grows and changes over time.
  • For scrum masters, roadmaps help them to effectively guide their teams through the Agile transformation process, ensure alignment with the overall strategy, track progress, facilitate teamwork, and measure success.
  • For the developers, roadmaps provide a better understanding of the “big picture,” allowing team members to gain context for everyday work, focus on the most critical tasks, avoid scope creep, and enable fast and autonomous decision-making.

Agile transformation roadmap: How to build one?

Agile transformations are challenging for all organizations and employees. How can we build a transformation roadmap to guide organizations to become successful agile organizations?

We can build roadmaps in several ways, using different formats and approaches depending on what serves your purpose and how your team likes to work. Some standard versions include details about the prioritized customer value to be delivered and specific deliverables organized by releases and plotted on a timeline.

Define the Current State

Before embarking on an Agile transformation, raising awareness of the organization’s current performance is essential. It may include collating data on several aspects, such as organizational culture, structure and process, leadership maturity, change readiness, business agility, and technical practices. In addition, gaining insight into potential pushback beforehand would offer valuable guidance on effectively addressing them as they arise.

Gathering as much information and feedback as possible from stakeholders using various approaches, including surveys, interviews, and observation, is advisable. All this information can be helpful to improve your understanding of where the organization is now and helps to pave the way to where it wants to be in the future.

Build a Leadership Team that is Committed to Transformation Success

To successfully implement an Agile transformation, it is crucial to have the full support and alignment of senior stakeholders. This requires assembling an internal leadership team committed to its success and will drive the Transformation forward.

It is essential to gain buy-in from executives, department heads, team leaders, and influential individual contributors, and where possible, seek guidance from external sources. Learn from other companies that have already undergone Agile transformations, leverage their best practices, and avoid the common pitfalls.

“Great teams do not hold back from one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, weaknesses, and concerns without fear of reprisal.” – Patrick Lencioni.

Create an Inspirational Vision 

Once you have comprehensively understood your current state and assembled a capable team to lead the journey, you must define an inspirational vision and clear objectives for your Agile Transformation.

The vision is the ‘North Star’ that will unite everyone involved and guide the efforts in transforming the organization for the long term.

An organization needs to answer five essential questions effectively to be agile. These questions should be approached iteratively, allowing for rapid learning and experimentation in line with Agile principles.

  • Where can Agile assist the company in creating value, and how do we measure success?
  • How are we going to structure and enable cross-functional teams?
  • What are the effective Agile processes for the value being created?
  • What is the backbone for the Agile Transformation?
  • What are the scope and pace of the Transformation? e.g., a backlog of tasks and a sprint schedule.

Determine Implementation Approach for Agile Transformation

Your company’s Agile Transformation success depends on how you implement it. You can choose the most suitable implementation approach based on the specific scale and complexity of your context and your organizational assessment.

For instance, below are some of the typical implementation approaches:

  • Emergent: This is where teams bring Agile processes in from the bottom up until they surface to leadership. Most Agile transformations have emergent elements to a certain extent, where we progress with the learning and feedback loop.
  • Top-down: This approach is adopted when the organization has a clear and robust vision and plan and execute all the necessary steps to get there. For larger organizations, the Transformation may happen in stages throughout the company, incorporating continuous learning and improvement.
  • Scaling agile: Many organizations prefer to iterate their pilots a few times before committing to a full-on transformation. Based on the learning and experience collected, they embark on scaling up Agile across the entire organization.

Agile promotes flexibility and adaptability, and it is a learning process where we keep on testing, conducting retrospectives, learning, adjusting, and improving our ways of working as needed.

Start with a Pilot

A pilot provides a safe ground for ‘trial and error’ and helps to evaluate how ingrained the current processes are and identify any resistance that may arise when rollout the organizational initiative.

Continuous experimentation and improvement are the hallmarks of high-performing organizations, and pilot teams are the engine that drives that process.” – Nicole Forsgren, Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps

To conduct an effective pilot, prioritize the projects that create value for your organization. Assemble a team to focus on the project, set a foreseeable deadline, and build regular check-ins to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments.

Additional training and coaching are crucial for change success as part of the pilot project. For instance, new Agile teams may need some teaching to understand an Agile framework, create a backlog, and track progress. And coaching can empower teams by removing impediments and ensuring everyone has the necessary resources (e.g., software development tools). 

Agile pilot projects are crucial in building momentum and gaining buy-in from stakeholders for an Agile transformation. They offer an opportunity to demonstrate the value of Agile methodologies, particularly to skeptical stakeholders who may resist change. By showcasing the tangible benefits of Agile, you can build trust and gain support for scaling Agile practices throughout your organization.

Scale and Improve Agile processes

Once you’ve completed a pilot project, scaling Agile across your organization can be a challenging task. While smaller teams may experience initial success, scaling Agile to larger groups can take time and effort.

Here are some of the critical strategies that can help you scale your Agile efforts effectively:

Start by being the ‘fly on the wall’ and define the end-to-end value streams. Instead of scaling Agile practices department by department, identify the customer journeys that cross-functional Agile teams can address. It will help connect the dots, incorporate Agile practices across the organization, and foster a culture of collaboration.

Develop a robust communication plan that promotes transparency and brings teams together. It may include monthly town halls or meetings to share progress and best practices. Encourage stakeholder involvement to demonstrate support from leadership.

Empower team members to create their own goals and self-manage their work. It requires a shift from traditional top-down goal-setting exercises to a more agile approach where leaders serve as facilitators to support team members in setting their objectives and KPIs.

Gradually change old practices that alienate from Agile principles, and align with Agile processes. Address why these changes matter and their business value, gather feedback to constantly pivot and improve and ensure the Agile Transformation is well-received.

Enabling the Agile Transformation

An Agile Transformation requires a change in the backbone of your organization, including culture, governance, team structure, decision-making, technology, and reporting.

To implement your Agile transformation strategy successfully, they must evolve, and here are some key points to consider as you scale Agile throughout your company:

  • Agile Mindset and Culture: Fostering Agile ways of working that value collaboration, transparency, inspection, adaptation, and continuous improvement.
  • Agile Governance: Establishing processes for managing and prioritizing work and ensuring compliance with organizational policies and rules.
  • Agile Project Management: Implementing agile project management techniques such as Scrum or Kanban to manage projects and ensure efficient delivery.
  • Agile Team Structure: Aligning the organizational structure with agile principles, such as cross-functional teams, self-organizing teams, and decentralized decision-making.
  • Agile Tools and Technologies: Adopting agile tools and technologies to facilitate collaboration and communication among teams.
  • Agile Metrics and Reporting: Developing metrics and reporting mechanisms to measure success and identify areas for improvement.
  • Agile Coaching and Training: Providing coaching and training to employees on agile methodologies and practices.

The essence of Agile adoption requires us to reevaluate what we do and align with the principles of agility. As we navigate the agile transformation journey, we must remain open and adaptable, continuously listening to feedback from our people and adjusting our Agile roadmap accordingly.

Continuous Learning 

Continuous learning sustains the results of Agile Transformation. Integrating consistent training and development into your organization’s structure and values is essential.

You may want to consider the following steps to enable consistent and continuous learning experiences in your organization:

  1. Set clear learning objectives: Clearly define what your organization hopes to achieve through learning and development initiatives. Identify the skills and knowledge critical to your organization’s success.
  2. Develop a learning strategy: Develop a comprehensive learning strategy that aligns with your organizational goals and objectives. Determine the learning methods, tools, and platforms that will be used to deliver training.
  3. Communicate the importance of learning: Communicate the value of learning to your employees. Clear that learning and development is a critical component of your organizational culture and necessary for employee growth and development.
  4. Provide ongoing training and development: Provide regular training and development opportunities to your employees. These could include online courses, classroom training, mentorship programs, conferences, and workshops.
  5. Encourage peer learning: Encourage employees to share their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues. It could include setting up mentoring programs, hosting lunch and learns, or creating online discussion forums.
  6. Measure learning outcomes: Regularly assess the effectiveness of your learning and development initiatives. Measure their impact on employee performance, job satisfaction, and overall organizational success.
  7. Establish an internal knowledge management system: An effective way to manage your organization’s processes and knowledge is by creating an internal knowledge hub that anyone can access, promoting collaboration, and ensuring that learning is captured and retained.
  8. Continuously improve your learning initiatives: Continuously improve your learning and development initiatives based on employee feedback, new technologies, and industry best practices. Stay in tune with the latest innovations in learning and development.

Anticipate and Plan for Potential Challenges

Successful Agile transformations require a cultural shift and may present various challenges and impediments to be addressed.

Here are five common challenges that organizations may anticipate during an Agile transformation:

  • Resistance to change: One of the most common challenges in any organizational change. The key to managing this is to clarify ‘why’ we are doing it and what are the benefits Agile ways of working may bring.
  • Isolation of Agile teams: Agile teams do not work in a vacuum and should be embedded in or closely aligned to business and get buy-in from all stakeholders.
  • Lack of cultural change: Agile adoption should become part of the organization’s DNA and manifest in everything the organization does.
  • Dependency issues: Cross-functional teams may get stuck waiting on each other. It is critical to understand how teams work best, define their interdependencies, and plan accordingly.
  • A trap of Agile Myth: Some companies may fall into the trap of ‘doing’ Agile instead of ‘being’ Agile, mistaking scrum as Agile, or thinking Agile works as a silver bullet. To prevent this, leadership and culture must embrace the Agile manifesto and principles as a new way of working, not just as tools.

These challenges are not insurmountable, and companies can overcome them by staying focused on their goals, continually listening to their teams, and adapting their approach as needed.

Conclusion

Companies must be agile to adapt and succeed in today’s competitive business environment. Agile methodology provides the framework for teams to continuously build, learn, and improve. Implementing an Agile transformation is a journey that requires patience and dedication, but the rewards are significant.

Planning the steps and gaining leadership support is crucial to ensuring a successful Agile transformation. It helps to create a powerful ally that can help you navigate the process of changing mindsets and cultures.

An agile transformation roadmap is a strategic tool to help organizations achieve successful Agile Transformation. It outlines the vision, communicates a clear direction, aligns stakeholders, prioritizes actions, and updates progress. It helps agile teams stay focused and on track while adapting to changes in the environment or customer feedback.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us

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Corporate Development Vs. Corporate Strategy

Employing corporate development strategies alongside corporate strategy is essential for the successful operation of a business. Still, each profession comes with its unique set of challenges. As Business Leaders and decision-makers, it’s essential to understand how corporate development and strategy work together to ensure that your business reaches its optimal performance level as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible. In this blog post, we’ll explore the nuances between these two functions, provide an overview of their respective roles in your organization, discuss why they need to work in concert with one another, and share tips on how you can maximize the impact of both by leveraging them strategically.

Corporate development performs initiatives like new product development, business model innovation, and strategic partnerships to gain a competitive advantage and achieve business growth. It helps businesses increase the value they can provide to the target audience.

On the other hand, the corporate strategy function advises senior leadership on various strategic initiatives and things like financial modeling, resource allocation, and competitive positioning. Like an internal consulting group, it adds value by identifying barriers and developing an approach that allows you to achieve desired objectives.

Corporate development and corporate strategy serve different purposes. But in essence, they are complementary concepts that work together to help companies achieve their long-term goals and create value for their stakeholders. So, here is an article highlighting their core differences and how they can work together for maximum success.

What is corporate development?

Corporate development is a field within the giant umbrella of corporate strategy. It is concerned with the financial modeling of a company and the creation of synergies between different departments within an organization. Capital markets are also a key focus as corporate developers strive to gain a competitive advantage for their firms.

Typically, corporate development guides a company’s overall direction and business decisions through specific initiatives like mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, and investments.

It involves internal restructuring and leveraging external opportunities.

An example of internal restructuring could be combining two departments that can work together into one. Through this corporate restructuring, organizations foster a harmonious environment in the corporate entity, leading to more efficient use of resources and ultimately boosting revenues or lowering long-term costs.

An example of leveraging external opportunity could be an investment banking organization acquiring a smaller corporate finance organization or a start-up company.

Thus, corporate development is the how of a company’s business decisions. Corporate developers focus not only on the operational details of achieving the company goals but also on the sales aspect and ROI.>

What is a corporate strategy?

A corporate strategy is a long-term plan for the growth and development of a company. It sets out the company’s overall objectives and how they will be achieved. Corporate strategy has an internal strategy team that encompasses the company’s organizational structure, financial policy, and approach to risk management. The team is concerned with how individual business units thrive in delivering value to their customers in product/service/market segments.

The corporate strategy looks at the big picture and defines where the company wants to be. It should include short-term and long-term initiatives, each supporting the other. An excellent corporate strategist creates strategic plans, helps organizations achieve their business goals and targets, and improves financial viability.

“Corporate strategy portrays a general strategy in a company and focuses on its business portfolio to add more value. Its planning involves focusing on the organization’s structure and identifying the problems in different business areas. The responsibility for appropriate strategy formulation lies with the top-level managers of the company. They discuss, analyze and finalize strategies to move forward in the market.”

– Source – https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/corporate-strategy/#h-corporate-strategy-explained.

Most large companies have a vice president of corporate strategy, who is responsible for developing and overseeing the execution of the company’s strategy. Part of the corporate strategy process is due diligence when a company researches another company before acquiring or investing. Growth strategies are also crucial in corporate strategy, as companies must determine how to grow their business to remain competitive.

What does corporate development do?

Corporate development is the group within a company responsible for strategic decisions and executing transactions through sourcing, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings, and partnerships. The corporate development team works closely with the CEO and other members of the executive team to identify and explore new markets and pursue opportunities to create shareholder value.

Corporate development is focused on executing transactions that will improve the company’s competitive position and create shareholder value. That means identifying potential acquisition targets, negotiating deals, and managing post-acquisition integration. It also includes raising capital to finance these transactions and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders such as shareholders, lenders, and partners.

Excellent communication skills in corp dev are essential as you will interact with individuals across varied functions, all experts in their domain. The skill to effectively receive and interpret information or data will help you as a business strategist. You will work with different business units as a corp dev team. 

In short, corporate development is responsible for making deals to help a company achieve its strategic objectives.

Difference between corporate development and corporate strategy

Corporate development and strategy are two terms often used interchangeably, but there is a big difference between the two. Corporate strategy is the overall game plan for the company, including the goals and objectives that guide decision-making. On the other hand, corporate development is responsible for executing that strategy through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and partnerships.

While corporate strategy provides the overall direction for the company, corporate development ensures that this direction is translated into tangible actions that create shareholder value. One significant difference between the two functions is thus valuation: corporate strategy determines which businesses or products are worth pursuing. In contrast, corporate development uses valuation techniques to execute transactions at optimal prices.

One of the most important considerations for corporate strategists is understanding the business model and how it creates value. This means they need to have a strong understanding of the competitive landscape and what drives customer behavior. They also need to be able to identify new growth opportunities and develop a plan to seize them. Skills set for corporate strategists typically include financial analysis, forecasting, and market research.

In other words, corporate strategy is about setting the direction for the company, while corporate development is about achieving that vision through specific actions. 

The relationship between corporate strategy and development can be summarized like this: corporate strategy defines where the company wants to go, and corporate development figures out how to get it there.

While both roles are essential for driving growth within a company, they require different skill sets and focus on various aspects of the business. Corporate strategists need to be able to see the big picture and identify growth opportunities. In contrast, corporate developers must be experts in valuation and negotiation to get the best deals for their companies.

How do corporate development and corporate strategy work together?

Corporate development and strategy functions work together to ensure a company can achieve its long-term goals. The corporate strategy sets the direction for the company. It outlines the overall plan for how the company will achieve its goals. Corporate development then works to implement the system, ensuring that the company has the resources and capabilities to execute the plan.

The two functions are closely linked, as the high-level decision made by the corporate strategy team is usually a relatively seamless handoff to corporate development. For example, suppose a company decides to enter a new market. In that case, it will be up to the corporate development team to find an acquisition target or joint venture partner. Similarly, suppose a company decides to divest itself of a business unit. In that case, it will be up to corporate development to find a buyer and negotiate the sale.

For both functions to be successful, there must be alignment between them. This means that the management team needs to have a shared understanding of the company’s overall strategy and how each function contributes to it. Additionally, metrics need to be in place so that progress toward strategic objectives can be tracked and monitored. By working together, corporate strategy and development can create shareholder value and help take the company forward.

The corporate strategy function is often housed within the larger company’s investment banking or private equity group. This is because these groups often have expertise in deal structuring and execution and access to capital. The corporate strategy team works with the management team to identify attractive opportunities and then with the investment bankers or private equity investors to execute those opportunities.

The two teams need to be closely aligned to ensure that the company is moving in the right direction and progressing toward its goals. Corporate strategy should be regularly revisited and updated to keep corporate development on track. Suppose there are changes in the market or within the company. In that case, the corporate strategy may need to be adjusted for corporate development to continue working towards achieving the company’s goals.

Conclusion

Corporate development and corporate strategy are two distinct but related management areas. Corporate development is focused on the activities that create value for the company over time, while corporate strategy outlines how to achieve those goals. Understanding their differences will enable you to manage your organization’s resources best, develop efficient processes and practices, and ensure long-term success.

With a deep understanding of both areas, businesses can reap the most benefit from each activity and create an environment where employees work together towards a common goal.

This article is a great resource for anyone looking to understand the nuances between corporate development and corporate strategy. With the help of Leadership Tribe’s agile training services, businesses can ensure their teams are well-equipped to maximize the impact of both roles and create an environment where employees work together towards a common goal. Leadership Tribe’s agile transformation provides interactive, hands-on workshops that equip teams with the skills and techniques needed to stay ahead of the competition.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Leadership Tribe’s agile training services can help your business thrive, please visit our contact us page to get in touch with our team. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

Business Process Reengineering (BPR), The ultimate guide.

Welcome to our BPR (Business Process Reengineering) ultimate guide! Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a powerful management approach that helps organizations streamline their business processes and increase efficiencies. This guide will provide you with the tools and information needed to get started with BPR and fully use its process automation capabilities. Here are three reasons why BPR is beneficial for your organization:

  • BPR analyzes workflows across business functions and eliminates non-value-adding tasks, ultimately optimizing end-to-end processes
  • It enhances efficiency without sacrificing quality by automating routine activities by improving the way work is done.
  •  BPR allows businesses to save on costs while improving customer satisfaction levels.

By following this guide, you will be well-equipped to make BPR work for your organization. Read on to get started!

What is business process reengineering (BPR)?

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a management approach that involves redesigning processes and tasks radically. It is also known as business transformation, business process change management, or business process redesign. It is different from business process improvement. In 1990, Michael Hammer introduced the concept of BPR in a Harvard Business Review article, “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate.” In this article, Michael Hammer argued that existing PROCESSES for improving performance were inadequate. Companies must re-evaluate their processes and utilize technology to create new processes supporting business strategy. Business Process Reengineering involves techniques like process mining, process mapping, process simulation, and process automation to identify and improve processes. It also involves rethinking third-party roles or outsourcing to optimize the end-to-end process.

How does business process reengineering work?

Business Process Reengineering aims to significantly enhance quality, productivity, organization culture, and customer satisfaction. And the process begins with assessing the work required to deliver customer value. Michael Hammer and James Champy proposed seven principles for business process reengineering in their bestseller “Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution.” The principles include:

  1. organizing around outcomes rather than tasks
  2. identifying all processes and prioritizing them based on redesign urgency
  3. integrating information processing into real work
  4. treating geographically dispersed resources as centralized
  5. linking parallel activities in the workflow
  6. putting the decision point where work is performed
  7. capturing information once and at the source.

How Is Business Process Reengineering Implemented?

Business process redesign or reengineering is a significant change initiative. It has been popular in the business community since the 1990s. Companies often consider BPR for a total overhaul. Different experts have offered their approaches to implementing radical change. Thomas Davenport, a professor at Babson College, collaborated with Hammer before developing his approach to BPR. He has used the term “business process redesign” and emphasized the value of prototypes, simulations, and tests. In his book, “The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign,” co-written with James Short, Davenport laid out a five-step approach to radically changing workflow. The steps are as follows:

  1. Formulate the business vision and process goals.
  2. Determine the processes that require redesigning.
  3. Evaluate and quantify current processes.
  4. Identify IT tools and techniques to enhance the process.
  5. Develop and construct a prototype of the new approach.

Another business process management expert Bhudeb Chakravarti developed a seven-step framework called INSPIRE. The INSPIRE framework is a modified version of the five-step process that includes the following seven steps:

  1. Launching the BPR project and establishing the business case.
  2. Obtaining approval from top management to commence the project.
  3. Choosing the processes that require reengineering.
  4. Planning the project’s activities and kpis.
  5. Analyzing the techniques to identify potential issues.
  6. Redesigning the selected methodology to enhance performance.
  7. Ensuring success by closely monitoring progress.

BPR is not just about improving individual processes but rather involves a comprehensive analysis and redesign of the entire business operations, from end to end, intending to achieve significant improvements in efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. Therefore, companies may need to rethink the current state of their entire business model and customer needs when embarking on BPR. Before driving business transformation and dramatic improvement initiatives like automation or standardization, the stakeholders must know the purpose of undertaking bpm. The goal of these principles is to achieve significant improvements in quality, time management, speed, and profitability. Furthermore, to keep bpr initiatives fair, transparent, and efficient, stakeholders need to have a good understanding of the critical steps involved in it.

BPR team member roles

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) involves designing a comprehensive process model for the organization. And so, BPR implementation requires a significant commitment from top executives, and it typically uses a team approach that reflects a top-down management philosophy. The team consists of a team leader, a process owner, a reengineering team, a steering committee, and a reengineering czar. The team leader role in BPR is a senior executive responsible for authorizing and overseeing the reengineering effort. The process owner is a senior-level manager responsible for managing a specific business process and assembling a team to re-engineer it. A reengineering team consists of insiders and outsiders who analyze and redesign the process. A steering committee is a group of senior managers who support restructuring and streamlining activities. They settle conflicts and assist process owners in prioritizing decisions and enhancing performance. The reengineering czar coordinates ongoing activities and develops techniques and tools to reengineer workflow. By having these team roles in place, BPR implementation can be successful. And it will lead to improvements in core business processes and competitive advantage.

What Are the Common Uses for Business Process Reengineering?

Various companies have adopted the idea of leveraging technology to achieve radical change. The media highlighted success stories of BPR in multiple companies like Union Carbide, Ford Motor Co., Taco Bell, GTE, and Bell Atlantic. As a result, consulting firms and software vendors, including SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft, among others, also embraced the trend. Businesses employ Business Process Reengineering to enhance the effectiveness of critical processes that impact customers. The following are the most common reasons for approaching Business Process Reengineering:

  • Enhancing efficiency and productivity: Reengineering efforts help a company remove unproductive tasks, minimize cycle times, and position work in the most optimal and efficient environment.
  • Streamlining teams: BPR implementation decreases the requirement for multiple management layers, expedites information flow, and prevents errors and redundancies due to multiple handoffs.
  • Improving quality: Business process improvement involves standardizing and automating work processes, reducing errors, and enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks. Which, in turn, reduces the fragmentation of work and establishes clear ownership of the processes.

Examples of business process reengineering

Many companies use business process reengineering (BPR) to improve their processes and achieve high cost and time savings. They identify inefficiencies and use technology and process improvements to streamline and optimize their operations. Additionally, they focus on improving customer service and reducing turnaround times, which results in increased efficiency and productivity. The following companies have used BPR to improve processes and save costs and time. Ford Motor Company significantly transformed its accounts payable (AP) process by shifting towards digital invoicing. It introduced an online database that monitored the entire procedure from purchase order placement to delivery and then executed payment automatically. With this shift, the company no longer required its employees to devote time to matching paper purchase orders with invoices and receiving documents. Thus, by leveraging technology to rethink its purchase process, the automotive giant reduced its AP department’s workforce by 75%. Duke Power Co. underwent business process reengineering in the 1990s to prepare for power deregulation. The reengineering process involved discovering inefficiencies and inconsistencies across Duke’s 13 geographic areas.

  • Process owners were designated,
  • standard measurements were developed, and
  • “scorecards” were introduced

Which enabled employees to monitor their contributions towards Duke’s improved earnings and service quality business objectives. The result was reduced costs and enhanced customer service. IBM Credit Corp. used BPR to reduce the turnaround time for issuing credit from a week or more to a matter of hours. The process involved analyzing their credit issuance process from application to approval. The new turnaround time was only 90 minutes. Earlier, passing forms from one specialist department to another took time. To address this inefficiency, IBM Credit Corp. replaced specialists with generalists known as “deal structurers,” who used expert systems to manage the entire process from start to finish. Sanira Engineering, a medium-sized design engineering company, approached Leadership Tribe to help them with their business process reengineering efforts. Sanira’s leadership team struggled to meet their operational and business outcomes, and they knew they needed to make changes to prepare for business agility. Leadership Tribe thoroughly analyzed Sanira’s operations, revealing several key issues holding the company back. Some of the problems identified include:

  • Poor communication between departments, which led to delays and rework
  • Inefficient workflows, which caused bottlenecks and wasted time
  • Inadequate training and development for staff, which resulted in low productivity and quality issues

To address these issues, Leadership Tribe developed a comprehensive plan for business process reengineering, which included the following steps:

  1. Mapping current processes: Leadership Tribe worked with Sanira’s team to map out their existing business processes, from order intake to delivery, to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement.
  2. Defining new processes: Based on the analysis of the current operations, Leadership Tribe developed new, streamlined, more efficient, and effective processes.
  3. Implementing changes: Leadership Tribe worked with Sanira’s team to implement the new processes, including providing training and support to staff.
  4. Monitoring and measuring performance: Leadership Tribe helped Sanira to monitor and measure their performance, including developing metrics and KPIs to track progress.

The results of the business process reengineering efforts were significant for Sanira. By improving their processes, they were able to:

  • Increase their production capacity by 20%
  • Improve their quality control, resulting in fewer defects and customer complaints
  • Reduce their lead time by 30%
  • Increase their revenue by 15%
  • Improve employee morale and engagement

Sanira’s leadership team was delighted with the results and praised Leadership Tribe for their expertise and support. The business process reengineering efforts helped Sanira to achieve its goals and position them for future growth and success.

BPR and digital transformation

BPR’s focus on radical change complements process improvement approaches emphasizing incremental change, continuous improvement, and total quality management by building business agility. The advances in new technologies, such as the internet of things, cloud, and AI, have led to BPR’s popularity as a framework for digital transformation.

Conclusion

The business Process Reengineering process can enhance critical operations that impact customers. It supports increasing efficiency and productivity, streamlining teams, and improving quality. This leads to benefits such as removing unproductive tasks, minimizing cycle times, positioning work optimally, decreasing management layers, expediting information flow, reducing errors, and improving customer satisfaction and business performance. While BPR involves a comprehensive analysis and redesign of the entire business model, it is important to note that there are several approaches to implementing BPR, each with its own benefits and limitations. At Leadership Tribe, we offer a range of services that can help businesses improve their operations and achieve their goals. If you’re interested in reengineering your business processes and embracing agile methodologies, our Agile Transformation service may be the best fit for your needs. Contact us today or visit our Agile Transformation Services page to learn more about how we can help your business achieve its full potential.

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