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Business Sustainability Assessment
Listed below are your overall scores for each Principle. Each Principle is scored out of 100. The Total is out of 1000. If you score less than 30 for any Principle, you should work on that Principle. (We give detailed suggestions below about which Principles in particular that you should work on.)
| Principle | your score |
|
| 1 | The senior executives' constant role modeling of the Business Excellence Principles and creation of a supportive environment are necessary to achieve the organization's potential. | 93.0 |
| 2 | Clear direction allows organizational alignment and a focus on achievement of goals. | 32.0 |
| 3 | Providing what your customers value now and in the future must be an essential influence in your organization's direction, strategy and action. | 33.0 |
| 4 | In order to improve the outcome, improve the system and its associated processes. | 85.0 |
| 5 | Effective use of facts, data and knowledge leads to improved decisions. | 58.0 |
| 6 | All systems and processes exhibit variability, which affects predictability and performance. | 38.0 |
| 7 | Potential of an organization is realized through its people's enthusiasm, resourcefulness and participation. | 50.0 |
| 8 | Continual improvement and innovation depends on continual learning. | 50.0 |
| 9 | The organization's action to ensure a clean, safe, fair and prosperous society enhances the perception of its value to the community. | 58.0 |
| 10 | Sustainability is determined by an organizations ability to create and deliver value for all stakeholders. | 33.0 |
| Total | 530.0 |
Many businesses can find the results of the questionnaire discouraging. You should not be discouraged by this report. We know that it looks as though there is much to do. However, your score of 530.0 is much better than most businesses, and you are making good progress.
To veiw a graph of your scores, click the button below
Strengths
Below are your areas of strength. You should continue to build on these. Doing so will increase your overall performance. (Strengths are presented for the Principle level, if there are any, and for the level of the detailed questions. In each case, they are presented in descending order with the strongest first.)
At the Principle Level
| P1 | Your senior executives constantly role modelling the Business Excellence Principles and have created a supportive environment for the Business Excellence Principles. | |
| P4 | In order to improve the outcome, you improve the system and its associated processes. |
At the detailed question level
| 4.6 | Your managers work on improving processes as a major part of their job function. | |
| 4.3 | You make and implement plans to reach your targets when those targets are outside current capability. | |
| 1.8 | The reward structure for your CEO/president and senior executives rewards behaviour that is in accordance with these 10 Business Excellence Principles. (eg, the reverse would be 'does the reward system for your CEO and executive reward behaviours that are not in line with the 10 Principles?') | |
| 1.5 | Your CEO/president and your senior executives role model the 10 Business Excellence Principles (ie, they believe in them, make decisions in that context and maintain an environment that supports others to do likewise). | |
| 4.4 | When you want a different result, you change the system. | |
| 1.1 | You have a climate of trust. | |
| 4.9 | You measure the output and outcomes of your processes. | |
| 5.5 | You always check what you 'know' by gathering facts and data. | |
| 1.2 | You regularly measure employees' perception of senior executive's belief in the 10 Business Excellence Principles (eg, measurement of 'trustworthiness' of the senior executive, 'fear' and overall 'morale'). | |
| 4.7 | You work to reduce rework and waste. |
Opportunities
The problem most businesses have is knowing where to begin. It is a mistake to try to take on too much. It is best to work out the few very import things to do that will make the biggest difference. Below are your areas of greatest opportunity. You will get most return by concentrating your effort on these. (Opportunities are presented for the Principle level - if there are any - and then for the level of the detailed questions. In each case, they are presented in descending order with the greatest opportunity first.)
At the Principle Level
| P6 | You must manage the predictability and variability of your systems' and processes' performance. | |
| P10 | Your business must create and deliver value for all its stakeholders. |
At the detailed question level
| 6.8 | You should be working to reduce variation in all your products and services. | |
| 6.7 | You should be working to reduce variation. This will greatly assist you to reduce costs (eg by reducing your 'rework'). | |
| 10.1 | You must establish objectives, strategies and plans to address the needs of and to create and deliver value for all the organisation's stakeholders (eg, owners, customers, the organisation itself, employees, the community, and suppliers and alliance partners). | |
| 10.9 | You should be establishing and using lead indicators and other measurements to determine your long term sustainability. | |
| 2.4 | You must establish plans to reach all your targets. | |
| 7.5 | You must enable your employees to carry out their work properly (ie you must provide them with sufficient skills, knowledge, resources and authority). | |
| 2.9 | You should measure the extent that your plans are being implemented (ie, measure that everyone who should be carrying out your strategies and plans is doing so). | |
| 6.10 | Your CEO and senior executive should undertake an education program so that they clearly understand that 'all systems and processes exhibit variability, which impacts on predictability and performance'. | |
| 2.8 | You must measure your progress towards your goals. | |
| 10.6 | You should measure the investment you make in meeting the needs of each of your major stakeholder groups. (Eg, you should measure the apportionment between the major stakeholder groups.) |
These Opportunities mean
At the Principle Level
| P6 | Variation means lack of predictability and consistency. Lack of consistency means lower quality and additional cost and rework, by you or your customers. Consistency means that your products will more often do what they are supposed to and your customers will be more satisfied. In most businesses, rework is a large consumer of managers' and employees' time. Reducing your variation usually means reducing your costs. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_6_1.php | |
| P10 | Your business must 'create and deliver value for all stakeholders'. The emphasis is on 'all stakeholders' (eg, owners, customers, the organisation itself, employees, the community, and suppliers and alliance partners). Principles 3, 7 and 9 each insist that the business must be designed to provide value to a particular stakeholder group. You need to establish objectives, strategies and plans to address the needs of and to create and deliver value for all the organisation's stakeholders; deliberately invest funds and effort to meet the needs of each major stakeholder group; negotiate a balance between the needs of each group; measure your success at delivering value to each group. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_10_1.php |
At the detailed question level
| 6.8 | When you reduce your variation, you reduce your rework and all the costs associated with rework. For most businesses, rework costs are significant. There are a competitive and cost advantages in reducing the spread (width) of variation to be well within your customer's specifications. When you do, you reduce your costs, your customers' costs or both. When you reduce your customer's costs, you have a more satisfied customer and a competitive advantage. Working aggressively to reduce variation in output gives a real win/win. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_6_8.php | |
| 6.7 | All variation from the ideal result causes additional cost, at some point; to your business, to your direct customers, to your end-users, to the community. All variation will impact your costs and performance. Costs increase in proportion to the square of the deviation from the ideal result. This means that you should aggressively work to minimise your variation, even when you are well within specification. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_6_7.php | |
| 10.1 | The emphasis is on 'all stakeholders'. If the stakeholder groups are not aligned in what they want from the business, and there is no reason they should be, then the business must have ways to resolve any conflicts. If you choose not to provide value to all stakeholders, this means that you have chosen to give less than an expected share to one or more stakeholders. This usually results in a less than optimum result for that business and can seriously harm its long-term sustainability. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_10_1.php | |
| 10.9 | You should use lead indicators and other measurements to predict your long term sustainability. You have KPIs that tell you that you have been successful to now. You want to answer the question 'will the business continue to be successful?' Most Key Performance Indicators in use by businesses today are very poor predictors of the future (as anyone knows who has had to predict sales revenue from past sales figures). Most KPIs describe history, they tell you what has happened in the past. We are not saying that KPIs are useless and should be abandoned. Quite the opposite. Useful KPIs are essential. You need them. However, when you try to predict the future, you cannot rely solely on the past. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_10_9.php | |
| 2.4 | You need a planned and structured approach to improving processes, including setting and achieving targets. We make this point because it is a very frequent error. Businesses often set targets without making plans to achieve them. If you want a different outcome (eg, a new target) you must change the system and its associated processes. Processes and systems do not just change by themselves. (Unless it is to get worse.) Therefore, you must plan how you will go about changing processes and systems to reach those targets. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_2_4.php | |
| 7.5 | You should make certain your employees are properly enabled to carry out their work (ie provided with sufficient skills, knowledge, resources and authority). In order for employees to be able to be enthusiastic volunteers, they need Knowledge of what is expected of them; skills and resources; desire. Only when someone knows what to do and why, has the skills of how to do and the desire to want to do, is that person enabled. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_7_5.php | |
| 2.9 | The secrets to implement a project are: 1) discuss it to death before you do it so that you find the holes and so that everyone knows what part they get to play; 2) measure to see if it is being implemented and that it is leading to success. Measurement is an extremely useful tool to achieve implementation. In fact, if you do not measure that they are being implemented, it is unlikely that your plans will be implemented. You must measure if the plans are being implemented by everyone (or every section or every division) who should be doing them. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_2_9.php | |
| 6.10 | Variation means lack of consistency. Lack of consistency means additional cost and rework. Rework is a total waste of your resources. In most businesses, rework is the largest consumer of managers' and employees' time. Reducing your variation usually means reducing your costs. People who understand variation are more likely to understand the concepts of Process Capability that we explored in Principle 4 ('To Improve the Outcome, Improve the System'). Consistency means that your products will more often do what they are supposed to and your customers will be more satisfied. Managers who lack an understanding of variation will probably not practice according to a systems view of the business. This results in consistent under- or over-reaction. Product and service quality (and morale) often deteriorates as a result. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_6_10.php | |
| 2.8 | You must measure your progress. Measurement lets you know if the plans are being implemented and if the strategies are effective in achieving the Goals. You must measure progress towards achieving the Goal (remember a plan is an experiment to see if you can do something). Every policy and strategy must have an objective, you must be trying to achieve something. https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_2_8.php | |
| 10.6 | You should measure the investment you make in meeting the needs of each major stakeholder group. You should measure the apportionment of investment between your major stakeholder groups. The balance of investment of funds between the different stakeholder groups is one of the most important made by a business. Most businesses do not record or monitor what is invested in each group. How much are you investing in each of these stakeholders? Just what is it costing you? https://www.netgm.com/netgm_tools/BHA_questionnaires/P_10_6.php |
Summary of your strengths and opportunities
The report above is on the major strengths and opportunities. The table below shows these in summary, plus others that we consider are your strengths and opportunities. Your scores are shown for each question.
| Principle 1 |
Principle 2 |
Principle 3 |
Principle 4 |
Principle 5 |
Principle 6 |
Principle 7 |
Principle 8 |
Principle 9 |
Principle 10 |
|
| Item 1 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Item 2 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| Item 3 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Item 4 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Item 5 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| Item 6 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Item 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Item 8 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| Item 9 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Item 10 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| The 25 most important BHA questions are highlighted in bold. | This color indicators your strengths. | This color indicators your opportunities. | These are you 'almost strengths' - your 'minor opportunities'. |
Comparison of the 25 most important BHA questions (in bold) with your strengths and opportunities can be very enlightening.
Doing, Confirming and Improving
The other dimension of Business Sustainability is whether you complete the cycle of planning to do things, doing them, measuring to find out if your plans were successful and deliberately improving what you do. We asked 31 questions about planning to do things and thinking about things; 48 questions about doing things; 16 questions about measuring and 5 questions about deliberate processes of improvement. Out of 10, on average, you scored yourself as:
| 6.1 | for questions about planning |
| 5.0 | for questions about doing things to implement the Principles |
| 4.8 | for questions about confirming or measuring your progress |
| 5.4 | for questions about patterns of deliberate improvement |
Any set of questions for which you average less than 3.0 indicates an area that needs attention. You are above that level for all dimensions.
We understand that many of these suggestions are fairly generic. You may wish to obtain further assistance to work on specific action and implementation plans for your business. Netgm provides a personalized consulting service by e-mail, phone or face-to-face. If you want more information contact .
Disclaimer
Our diagnosis and the advice we provide are based on information that you provided to netgm.com. Scoring in self-diagnosis is difficult and prone to significant error. netgm.com takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information that you provided or for how netgm.com makes decisions based on that information or for any actions that you take or do not take as a result of the analysis.
Geoff Bell
www.netgm.com
22 January 2011
