Practical Implementation/Organisational Implementation
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The term organisational implementation of Enterneering® refers to the integration of implementation plans and development measures within the company organisation. This approach results from the fact that these are medium-to-long-term or continuous developments and measures that need to be appropriately embedded.
WHAT?
Before implementation can begin, it must be determined which elements are relevant and in what form they should be considered. This involves first formulating the tasks to derive the appropriate implementation measures from them later. The following information should be available for the tasks:
- which Enterneering® elements need to be worked on,
- which state of each element needs to be achieved in the future,
- how important the respective change of state is, and
- how much effort is required to achieve the change of state.
When answering the second point, it is recommended that you use the 5W method. This way, when searching for the actual 'what' (which state is to be achieved in the future), you do not stop after the first answer but repeat the question five times, considering the previous answers. And finally, you arrive at the actual core. Ideally, each defined task is then given concrete success criteria to assess its success in the accomplishment of later tasks.
Depending on how effective individual elements are already present or established in the company, this results in a more or less complex bundle of tasks. Managing this complexity requires different approaches; there are several paths that lead to the goal.
HOW?
Before deciding on one approach or another, it makes sense to assess the objectives and consequences of each one. Some approaches are described below as examples.
THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
It is a human and natural tendency to first focus on the issues that can be dealt with quickly without much effort, especially when faced with a multitude of new tasks and measures within a company. Nevertheless, caution is advised here! To successfully implement the elements in the Enterneering® framework, it often takes more than just 'completing' a task. It is observed that, during the search for the path of least resistance, the motive or the original task may be somewhat adjusted so that a 'low resistance' can be derived. The example of the element 'corporate purpose' is a good illustration of this. It may be easy and quick to derive, write down and publish a well-formulated and useful purpose.
But initially, this only completes the tasks of formulation and communication. The actual goal that the employees in the company identify with it in a seriously and sustainably motivating way (and which has a lasting positive effect on the image and competitive position of the company) is by no means done yet. If you consistently focus on ensuring that employees and customers can be measurably motivated and convinced by the company's purpose in this example, you may soon realise that several suitable measures will have to take effect over a longer period to achieve this.
| Note on practical application |
In any case, it makes sense to identify and mark the foreseeable potential of 'low-hanging fruit' for the subsequent measures in relation to defined tasks. If the 'path of least resistance' approach is to be followed, it makes much more sense to do so at the level of individual implementation measures than at the upstream task level.
THE PATH OF DISTRIBUTED SHOULDERS
Another approach often observed is the 'distributed shoulders' approach. This involves delegating the tasks defined for implementation to existing organisational units or individuals. Effective delegation is a crucial criterion for success in Enterneering® and should be especially welcomed. However, attention must be paid to effectiveness.
Delegating identified and named tasks to units or individuals who are qualified and established in the company is the obvious thing to do. This can ensure that the work is taken up as quickly as possible, and it ideally allows for equal or 'fair' distribution of several tasks. However, when operating at the task level rather than at the level of implementation measures, this approach has a fatal weakness. It involves, at least partially, the delegation of management tasks to the organisation. This kind of delegation only works under certain circumstances.
The following example should make the weakness clear.
The top management of a company finds that the turnover of employees in the company is too high; the employees are insufficiently motivated, and silo thinking prevails. The management meeting concludes that a strategic element 'Happy Employees' should be integrated into the planning. The goal is to eliminate the above-mentioned deficits and increase the company’s attractiveness as an employer.
One of the participants in this meeting is the human resources department. After a short deliberation, the new task is delegated to this department, with the conviction that most of the issues are personnel-related. Following the delegation, the management switches to the mode of a regular report recipient and decision-maker and places this newly defined task block next to all other tasks.
In this example, delegation proves to be less effective than desired because essential elements of the company's cultural development are delegated as a task to a single department. The result is the formulation of numerous individual measures and action plans by the HR department, which leads to different results but does not bring about any cultural change. Because nothing has changed in the thinking and actions of the company's management!
Like the path of least resistance, the path of distributed shoulders should not be considered as a blanket approach for the successful implementation of Enterneering®. It is more appropriate at the downstream level of implementation actions.
THE PATH THROUGH THE BACKLOG
The backlog speaks for agile working, and that fits perfectly into the current age. One could express a similar comment on the path through the backlog. In fact, even without agile ways of working, many companies tend to fill up an endlessly long pool of topics and work through them more or less effectively. Unfortunately, strategic topics, like the elements in Enterneering®, often share a similar fate in many companies as the so-called technical debts in the backlog of IT or software development. They are always among the losers when selecting the next sprint (work package) or setting priorities for processing the backlog.
The backlog approach is recommended more for organisations and managers with a high level of maturity. It also assumes that the tasks of the top management are a common component of the company backlog and that top management is practised in dealing with backlogs.
THE PATH THROUGH CORPORATE PLANNING
The corporate planning way envisions that implementation tasks become an integral part of the company's existing strategy and planning. At first glance, this sounds logical and good. It offers the great advantage of Enterneering® tasks receiving the highest attention from the very beginning, alongside the other strategically important issues, without any hidden strategies or secondary planning. In addition, communication is easier, and the staff can follow up better. However, in practice, this can quickly give rise to a so-called 'chicken-and-egg problem'. This is because the strategy itself is one of the elements in Enterneering® and may be one of the elements in urgent need of action in the company. In this case, how can a goal-oriented implementation take place if the company has underdeveloped corporate planning?
On closer examination, the challenge described earlier becomes relative. On the one hand, working on the Strategy element could be the first task to be realised, followed by the implementation of other elements or work through the new corporate planning. On the other hand, there is nothing to be said against accepting the current level of maturity of the company and its organisation and working on it. This could mean that the strategy is an important element for implementation, but not the most important or immediate one. Companies with a lower level of maturity are well advised to take smaller steps in Enterneering® for various reasons. The initial, relatively small scope of implementation can also be integrated well into existing practices appropriately and grown along with them, so to speak.
| Note on practical application |
A fully integrated approach is recommended, where the most important goals, tasks and measures from Enterneering® are included along with the other strategic goals and measures as part of the regular corporate planning. Enterneering® should also be integrated into a central KPI system and reporting. In addition, the planning and execution of individual implementation measures should take place in a manner comparable with other significant measures. Those responsible in the company should have an equal understanding of all strategically important processes. Close attention should also be given to resource allocation and budgeting to ensure that Enterneering® measures are adequately considered.