It’s time for Dimension 3 of the Shingo Model! If you missed the posts introducing this series and discussing Dimensions 1 and 2, you can find them here and here. You can find the free, public domain Shingo Model document here. For the purposes of this review, we will engage in a high level discussion of the supporting principles – but don’t let this review keep you from reading the document itself. It’s short and concise with some extremely valuable ideas.
Dimension 3: Enterprise Alignment
This third dimension of operational excellence – alignment throughout your organization – is critical. Alignment is what allows your business to get done the things it actually wants to get done because everyone and everything is pulling in the same direction. Without alignment, we often find a lot of wasted time and energy as the business progresses.
However, there’s a reason we don’t start with alignment. You have to have something to align – and this is much easier to accomplish when you’ve got the cultural enablers in place (allowing people to work well together) and the focus on continuous improvement (so people want to improve what they can). At this point, you can turn your attention to the actual alignment of the business.
Supporting Principles:
- Create Constancy of Purpose
- Think Systematically
These two principles allow us to identify and maintain the purpose behind the work as well as focus on the system itself. This is the best way to determine, set, and maintain alignment over time. These supporting principles also have a set of supporting concepts that will help you assess if what you are doing is working. We won’t go into these here – another reason to read the document! – but one of them is see reality. I’ll call attention to this one here because it’s often the one that is ignored the most. If you’re in a position where you’re trying to align your business but you’re delusional about the actual current state, your attempts will fail magnificently. Don’t be that person.
Note: Alignment definitely means everyone is going the same way. It does not mean everyone must think the same way. In fact, thinking differently often supports more effective execution in the direction we’re trying to go. Don’t shut down creativity in favor of control masquerading as “alignment.”
Activity: Take a maximum of 10 minutes to describe the purpose of your business and the systems supporting that purpose. Then, do an informal poll of anyone working in your business. Ask: What would you say the purpose of this business is? What are the systems that support that purpose? Are their answers in alignment with yours? This is a great way to generate a baseline understanding of reality.