Resolution of team manager issues:

During the ‘focus on data’ phases (1 to 4), the team frees up access to capacity by eliminating the need to rekey in data and by eliminating errors that come from mis-keying data.

In the ‘focus on processes’ phases (5 and 6) not only does data become available everywhere, but so too do the processes. At this stage, the ability to spread the load amongst teams is accessible to operations managers and team managers alike.

Resolution of operations manager issues: 

Operations managers' issues are about predicting and smoothing the flow of jobs through the business. Operational performance is dependent on the timeliness of team outputs. Operations managers realise productivity gains as the speed with which the whole operation completes the jobs decreases, risk reduces and reliability increases. Typically, these benefits materialise in Phases 6, 7, and 8.

Resolution of sales manager issues: 

Sales manager improvements lag operations improvements. Aside from learning better selling techniques, the sales manager finds themselves at the mercy of operational performance, yet they come under significant pressure to close more sales and retain existing customers. During Phases 7, 8, and 9, sales managers find the Productivity Journey makes a material difference to their people’s performance, along with a resolution to thee age-old sales vs. operations conflicts.

Resolution of senior manager issues: 

Senior managers routinely find they are assessing and reacting to performance well after the actions were taken. Their focus is on the long-term financial benefits of sustained productivity. Whilst all phases contribute, senior managers find that the earlier phases are preparatory and a Return on Investment (ROI) materialises from the step changes achieved from Phases 6 through to 9.

Naturally, senior managers want to get to the later phases as fast as possible.

But, this diagram shows 10 phases, not nine!

Few companies find themselves able to access Phase 10 directly and thus, to many, the reality of Phase 10’s ‘New Market Offers’ is unobtainable.

Phase 10 – New Market Offers, when done to exploit the commercial advantages of Phases 1 through 9, yields massive jumps in shareholder value. Thus, you would only focus on Phase 10 after the 9 Phases of Productivity have been addressed.