Set 5: Operating Mechanisms

This diagram shows a robust customer-driven operating engine in action. Although it may appear complex it’s actually quite simple. Everything of course starts (at the top) with the strategy and priorities that have been defined in previous decks/sections. Once that is in place you need to ensure that you have a robust set of Voice of Customer (VOC) channels that are capturing input on how your customers are experiencing your business. This will come from multiple points on different frequencies. In parallel to that, you should have telemetry systems in place for assessing the competitive environment (what is happening in the market, how your market position is changing, etc.). These two inputs will cause priorities (and potentially strategies) to change (the arrow leading up) which then determines what work ultimately gets done. Finally, a robust operating engine needs to ensure that validation check-points are in place to gauge the effectiveness of the system. One note: I personally apply color coding on this framework to showcase where a team is doing well vs. where it needs to improve (in this particular example the organization had reasonable customer VOC systems in place but was still grappling with finding the right levers to actually change trajectories and move the core output metrics). 

This is simply a verbal view of the diagram on the previous slide (with a little bit of added color).

Any organization with sufficient scale should codify its operating mechanisms across the different priority types to ensure that everyone is on the same page and is aware of the key mechanisms, their frequency, their goals, etc. This slide shows an example matrix from my past life. One key point here is that you must avoid getting stuck in an operating rhythm that no longer applies given the business situation. It has been very common for me to blow apart the majority of these mechanisms in a time of crisis and move into a ‘war-room’ operating mode with real-time/daily updates and reprioritizations. Architecting the right mechanisms can be more of an art than a science—with business judgment and experience playing key roles.