Author: Stephen Lundregan

The good news is we live in a world of unprecedented opportunity. If we can’t do it ourselves, we can collaborate with someone who can. The bad news is though anything seems possible, everything is not. If we want to be good at something, we need to focus. Regardless of “what” you choose to collaborate on, operational excellence has some ideas about “how” you do it.  Let’s focus on that by taking a quick look at 5 reasons why operational excellence is so important in a collaborative world… 1. Value is the gold standard. Creating value is a win-win game.

Some say operations and strategy don’t mix. After four decades of trying to integrate these perspectives, they might be right. I remember attending a personality styles class years ago to discover our unique style and to deepen our appreciation for others. An outcome I recall was meeting in the middle and joining hands in order to integrate our styles. If we could all do that, the lesson went, we could collectively be more productive, creative, and happier people.

I was reading yet another article on leadership responses to the COVID 19 pandemic on the importance of “purpose”.  The “why” most call it.  For example, “Leading with purpose and humanity” was the headline in this particular article from McKinsey’s interview with Best Buy CEO, Hubert Joly.  It got me thinking about “why” we embrace Operational Excellence and “why not” look at it a little differently.In our field, we frequently use “continuous improvement” to describe what we do.