Delivering value to customers to build a great and memorable experience is the aim of every supply chain whether in government or private organization with or without profit. Some years ago, within healthcare settings the concepts of “patient centred” and “value-based care” were coined, both are based on Lean principles and can be applied to all organizational settings. However, once the organization realizes the importance of these concepts, it is not always easy to manage customer experience and deploy value-based processes because of organizational structures get in the middle. To discover a Lean way according to each organization purpose, values and culture can be not only a challenge but also an opportunity to unleash organizational effectiveness.
Why “People Centred”?
Since the beginnings of Lean it is clear that to satisfy customers` needs is the goal of every organization. It was first in hospitality industry where became evident that satisfying customers` needs is a process often defined as a “journey” with touchpoints and moments of truth through which a product-service experience is built on customers with an impact not only on their perception but also other potential customers` current and future decisions. Also, service industries realized that employees played a key role and that unsatisfied employees will lead to unsatisfied customers so if a company wants to design and deliver great customers’ experiences, the first step is to mind the employees` ones. Finally, many companies understood that a sustainable purpose is one connected to people not to products or services which are the means but not the end.
What does “Value-based” means?
Value is defined in the eyes of the customer, although an organization can have many different types of customers, sometimes they could end up cheating and covering up waste by finding “customers” for everything they do. That is how the term “business value-added” was coined, just between waste and value-added activities, also in the middle of compliance and bureaucracy. It is most evident in government and non-profits, also heavily regulated industries but almost all organizations have to some extent business value added activities. To have value-based processes we need to define who the “real customer” is and to subordinate everything else to reduce business value added to a minimum avoiding to confound the purpose of the organization with the means to achieve it and to get lost in the middle of bureaucracy which not only put at risk current performance but also sustainability by losing meaning and developing poor experiences for both employees and customers.
How to achieve “Organizational Effectiveness”?
First step is to define a meaningful purpose for the organization which must be people centred because adding value to customers is to transform in some way their lives through meaningful experiences. By itself a meaningful purpose will inspire employees, but again the organization needs to remain people centred from within and it is by staying focus on keeping their people inspired to fulfil a meaningful purpose every day how the organization can get rid of bureaucracy undercover as business value added. Learning, healthcare and social developing are perhaps some of the most meaningful purposes that an organization can have and might serve as examples for several industries outside the government and non-profits. Also, avoiding the pitfalls that might cause people working with highly meaningful purposes to lose their inspiration by getting caught in daily bureaucracy could be a great lesson for organizations around the world.
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