How to become a Top 1% business

In a nutshell the behaviour that sets Top 1% businesses apart is maddeningly simple - they focus on customers, not themselves or competitors.

Most businesses claim they put their customers first; in practice they don't.

Top 1% businesses systematically champion their customers.  They strive to create and sustain a culture which exceeds customer expectations every single time.

Is this possible, and if so, how?!

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If you're serious about putting customers first then you must (re-)design your business to do so, in every respect.  All of its key processes and KPIs (key performance indicators) must reflect this single, unerring priority; nothing else. Above all you must recruit, develop and promote people who share this passion.

How do your business and people stack up?  What score out of 10 would you give them?  Are you settling for 2nd, 3rd or 4th quartile performance?

I'm perpetually amazed and saddened at how Lean Thinking has been bastardised by what I call the 'cost (headcount) down brigade'.  These days the trendy word people might disparagingly use when speaking of Lean is 'austere' - cut to the bone!  The army of cost (and short-term profit) obsessives out there remorselessly strip capability and enthusiasm from businesses and thereby deliver stillborn long-term shareholder value.  For the Brits reading this I'm sounding dangerously like Jeremy Corbyn here, I know, but read on....

Between the 1950s and 1990s Lean Thinking gradually turned Toyota into the world's No 1 car company, with Nissan in hot pursuit.  In the 1980s I spent 6 years living in North East England.  When Nissan's car manufacturing plant opened there, in Sunderland, in 1986 there was widespread cynicism and scepticism that British workers could embrace Japanese productivity methods. However, Sunderland became Nissan's most productive car factory worldwide.  I believe the reason was the innate creativity, resourcefulness and problem solving ability which the British have in spades.

There is incredibly widespread ignorance, even amongst so-called Lean experts, of the content and sequence of Toyota's 5 Principles of Lean:

Where do we start?  With customers, and value, to them, not you!!!

The Top 1% understand what waste means (see Principle No 3), in the context of Lean.  It does not mean cost, or headcount.  Those are your myopic bean counters' obsessions.  Important note - not all accountants are myopic bean counters, and some myopic bean counters are not accountants!

Lean Thinking clearly defines waste as activity that does not add value for customers.  That's why it is so critical to understand, and measure, the value stream - the flow of activities that creates value for customers - from theirperspective, not yours.  As Peter Drucker so pithily put it:

"There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all".

My colleagues in Resolve Gets Results (RGR) with years of relevant experience and I are resolved (pardon the pun!) to practice what we preach and apply the 5 Principles of Lean in all areas of our work, externally and internally.   We are applying our skills and past track record to help businesses do the following:

• Get Closer to Customers - gather customer intelligence, understand value to the customer, and build closer customers relationships at all levels
• Install value stream-based Measures of Success  - KPIs that drive healthier, less risky behaviours and outcomes
• Develop people, and improve their motivation and sense of contribution, via Customer Improvement Teams - cross-functional problem solving teams focused on addressing critical areas of customer value and exceeding customer expectations.

Are you doing likewise?  Can we help with the challenge?

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Constructive comments are welcome, and if you have questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message, or else you’ll find my contact details on my LinkedIn profile uk.linkedin.com/in/markashtonresolve.

If you need help growing your business, solving tough business problems, or finding and developing the true leaders throughout your business, take a look at www.resolvegetsresults.com and contact us for an informal, no-obligation conversation.  We give hands-on leadership, management, non-executive, coaching, advisory, and fundraising support to different types of business – small or large, start-up, turnaround or mature. We’re passionate about playing a vital role in building enduring great businesses, by applying the tried and tested, swim-against-the-tide principles of the Top 1% most profitable companies. When appropriate we share risk and reward with clients, so we're fully committed to their success.

You’ll find more blogs on leadership and management topics on my LinkedIn profile.