The high performance organization pays strict attention to business results. The objective enterprise manages its assets relentlessly, addressing the change and evolution of the company and its intellectual assets with the same vigor as it does on-going operations. Instead of viewing change as a necessary evil, the objective enterprise constantly evaluates assets against objectives to determine how they can be improved. Not content to let technology drive change, the objective enterprise embraces change, deliberately and systematically. The objective enterprise initiates change programs to design and deploy complete business solutions with impacts to the business, people, processes and technologies addressed each step of the way.
how does your company handle change?
how well does your company manage its intellectual assets?
- ob·jec·tive (noun)
- something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target;
- the goal intended to be attained (and which is believed to be attainable);
- ob·jec·tive (adj)
- having actual existence or reality; undistorted by emotion or personal bias;
- based on observable phenomena; "an objective appraisal"; "objective evidence" [ant: subjective];
Go to about the framework for some background information and descriptions of the key components that make up the framework.
The objective enteprise uses the framework described here to ensure that the evolution of the company does not take a back seat to on-going operations; that the business, its processes and intangible resources are engineered in tandem with its technologies; that changes to the enterprise are accomplished deliberately and systematically with a solid understanding of their desired value and a clear picture of the resulting product.
The objective enterprise framework addresses work and product through complementary processes that bring into play the best disciplines and practices that industry has to offer.
two processes
The objective enteprise framework organizes industry best practices and concepts within two simple processes.
Manage change and improve capability address the work that needs to be accomplished and the products that results from the work.
Extremely useful and powerful in their own right, these processes clear a path through the complex and often confusing array of practices available today. Moreover, the processes show common areas, differences and points of integration between the different approaches.
two instruments
The objective enterprise framework also exploits two key instruments.
Active roadmaps and blueprints integrate activity and solution, business and technology.
Roadmaps connect what is done (projects) what is changed (assets), internal and external constraints (assumptions, strategies, concepts) and what is desired (positive changes in value).
Blueprints portray the business, its processes and participating human, financial, material and computing assets in their current and future state.
how does your company handle change?
- aptitude
- measures the ability and mechanisms of the enterprise to recognize, react and adapt to change
- attitude
- measures the enterprise's culture of change, its willingness and that of its people to change
setting a company in a new direction is never quick and easy, but nearly impossible if the course isn't charted how well does your company manage its intellectual assets?
There is a wealth of intellectual capital in the virtual coffers of the average enterprise, waiting to be exploited to greater return.
- latitude
- measures definition, understanding, application and evolution of line-of-business processes
- longitude
- measures definition, retention, exploitation and evolution of corporate knowledge, core competencies and skills
As intangible assets make up an ever increasing proportion of a company's capitalization, can we continue to manage these assets as we always have?
What is your enterprise's change quotient? What questions might you ask yourself to find out? Without attempting a rigrorous analysis of these assets, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the desired level, how would your enterprise rate on the following measures?
- latitude
- would most executives be able to name the key end-to-end processes of the enterprise? are these processes understood, accepted and in use? does each major initiative require the processes to be defined or redefined?
- longitude
- would company leaders agree on what are the intangible assets of the company; its knowledge, core competencies and skills? is ownership of these assets well understood? what is done on an ongoing basis to protect, nurture and enhance these assets?
- aptitude
- can you identify the organization or individuals charged with evaluating the company's capacity to adapt to planned changes, changes in the marketplace and unforeseen events? are different business and world scenarios imagined and planned for? did the last major change or event significantly disrpupt company operations?
- attitude
- is evaluating capability an integral part of the workday? are there rewards for ability to adapt? are these rewards equivalent to those awarded for operational excellence and performance?