Jan Van Veen guides us through the findings of the research his organisation have recently undertook to establish what drives momentum and continuous improvement amongst service organisations...

More and more manufacturing companies are recognising the huge potential in services and understand that pursuing these opportunities, is not easy.

Growing a solid service business, affects its business model, and therefore requires active support and buy-in, with the service department- from many stakeholders and the management board.

As a business leader, you are likely to recognize the following:

• Ongoing performance issues with few adequate and sustainable interventions.
• A slow execution of strategies and projects, with limited results.
• Too little attention for preparing future success in a rapidly changing corporate world.
• Lack of collaboration and alignment between departments.
• Lack of ‘buy-in’ for driving service business.
• Lack of members, within an organisation who understand the impact of IoT, Big Data, cognitive computing, and globalisation- failing to actively to collectively upon it.

In my experience, the biggest obstacle for companies is their ability to adapt to, and drive necessary change. Common approaches, such as change management and leadership, more communication and training, stronger business cases, and increasing the ‘sense of urgency’ has unfortunately made little difference.

But, just imagine how it would be if everyone in your company was eager and passionate about driving changes, adapting to them and seizing new opportunities. If colleagues from all departments joined forces and collectively got things done.

Imagine not needing to push, mould, or fight resistance.

What if your people were so engaged and committed that they naturally drive success and change? This may sound unrealistic, but what if you could actually achieve it?

This very idea inspired me to investigate into manufacturing companies. I delved into the ‘key success factors’ for quicker, easier, change and adaptation.

Not only was this for long-term business and service innovation, but also streamlined strategy execution, project implementation, and immediate intervention for performance related issues. My aim was to find the root cause for the lack of change, growth, and adaptability in businesses.

During the year 2016, I conducted research with a range of manufacturers.

Most of the 89 participants in the research were manufacturing and technology companies in the for B2B sector.

They ranged in size from 500 to over 10,000 employees, and into multi-billion US dollar annual revenues. They are typically driven to make significant changes by external influences such as Internet of Things, Big Data, algorithms, commoditisation, globalisation, and so on.

The Findings:

The results of the research indicated that most companies lacked ‘momentum’ for continuous change and adaptation.

Typical symptoms of this are:

• Inadequate levels of collaboration between departments and teams.
• Inadequate levels of coherence of initiatives and strategies across the organisation.
• Inadequate levels of engagement from employees.

The organisations still maintain the traditional ‘top-down’ plan and control management approach,Inadequate levels of engagement from employees which induces resistance to change, therefore reducing ‘momentum’.

The most successful companies withhold more momentum, and are more capable in adapting to, and driving change- making them thrive. Typically, they benefit from higher growth figures, stronger service businesses, better customer loyalty and higher people engagement.These companies have adopted stronger ‘sense and respond’ management practices, which prevent resistance towards change, from the existing status quo.

So, what is Momentum?

An organisation has Momentum when its people are fully engaged. They continuously drive change and sustainable growth in line with an overall strategy but without detailed centralised control. They have an emotional connection to a bigger purpose and feel confident to make interventions in products, services, business models and performance. They are sensitive to threats, opportunities and obstacles and quickly adapt to them. Above all, they are eager to work as one team and use change to generate energy, not burn it.

How to get more Momentum?

The research report provides an overview of the Momentum Framework, which is based on the best practices from the most successful companies.

This document describes the following topics of the Momentum Framework:

• The three Momentum Perspectives, driving the underlying philosophy and culture.
  • People drive change
  •  Capabilities drive performance
  • Future success lies beyond business as usual
• The Momentum Practices, consisting of the following three sections:
  • Compelling direction
  • Strategic dialogue on all levels and across all departments and teams
  • Continuous learning, as an organisation and individual

Are you interested in driving more Momentum for easier and efficient ongoing change, just like the industry leaders? Download your free report now @ www.moremomentum.eu/report

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