The Supply Chain Executive as a Key Change Agent
January 5th, 2007Changing people’s minds, reinventing organizations, and altering the way we do things are some of the most difficult issues one can deal with. The process of implementing change is something that leading companies are very good at, and they use this core capability to adapt to constantly shifting market conditions.
In these organizations, the Supply Chain Executive stands out as a Key Change Agent responsible for the processes that bring together all other functions into an integrated, seamless system which collects and disseminates information, provides products and services to delight customers, and ensures making a profit.
Any value driven initiative implies change aimed at improving customer satisfaction, lowering operating costs, and maximizing asset efficiency, and involves the supply chain organization by necessity. As information, products and services, and money flow horizontally in a supply chain, any change in the latter affects all vertical functions (read: silos) involved. Richard H. Thompson, Senior Vice President for Charter Consulting put it best when he said:”The best supply chain leaders are great change agents. They are forced to play in everyone else’s traditional ’sand boxes’ and stir things up.”
To make change happen succesfully, a methodology and a strategy are absolutely necessary. One of the best change methodologies was developed by Harvard busines school professor John Kotter, and was described in his 1996 book “Leading Change“. Kotter describes the following eight steps which must be observed to ensure success in change implementation:
- ESTABLISH A SENSE OF URGENCY
- CRAFT THE GUIDING COALITION
- DEVELOP A VISION AND STRATEGY
- COMMUNICATE THE CHANGE VISION
- EMPOWER BROAD-BASED ACTION
- GENERATE SHORT-TERM WINS
- CONSOLIDATE GAINS AND PRODUCE MORE CHANGE
- ANCHOR NEW APPROACHES IN CULTURE
A great strategy for change implementation is described in an article entitled Campaigning for Change by Larry Hirschorn published in the Harvard Business Review journal a few years ago.