The Capable Company Building the capabilites

Most companies don't flounder because of poor strategy. The culprit is poor execution of the game plan. If executives know this, why don't they do something about it? The problem is that strategic intent, written in the language of a few visionaries, gets lost when the rank and file tries to interpret it in operational ways. The Capable Company provides the Rosetta Stone executives have been seeking: a systematic way to translate strategy into capabilities and projects. While some companies do this intuitively, this book lays out a repeatable process so that leaders at all levels can rapidly focus and align their actions - even as business conditions change - to build competitive advantage.

Richard L. Lynch and James F. Dowling are Partners at Results-Based Leadership, Inc. (www.rbl.net).

John Diezemann is a management consultant in Groton, Massachusetts.

Rich Lynch the lead author of Measure Up! Yardsticks for Continuous Performance, 2nd edition and Corporate Renaissance: The Art of Reengineering, also from Blackwell Publishing.

List of Figures

xi

List of Tables

xiii

Preface

xv

Acknowledgments

xviii

1 Introduction

1

(12)

The New Business Reality

1

(2)

Kairos Moments

3

(2)

The Anatomy of the Capable Company

5

(5)

Just How Capable Is Your Company?

10

(3)

Part I Setting Direction

13

(66)

2 Enable Capable Leaders

15

(20)

The Challenges

16

(1)

Getting the Right Results in the Right Way

17

(2)

Driving the Agenda

19

(3)

Generating Intellectual Capital

22

(3)

Accelerating the Development of Leaders

25

(2)

Relentless Focus on Execution

27

(5)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

32

(3)

3 Chart the Company Course

35

(21)

The Challenges

35

(1)

Setting the Course

36

(9)

Reading the Local Charts

45

(1)

An Agenda for Action

46

(1)

Opportunities, Obstacles, and an Ever-Changing Environment

47

(2)

Scenario Planning

49

(1)

Picking the Right Course

50

(2)

Making Mid-Course Corrections

52

(2)

Assess Your Company's Adaptability

54

(1)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

55

(1)

4 Make Strategy Visible

56

(23)

The Challenges

56

(1)

Taking the "Capable Company Eye Chart" Test

57

(1)

Desired Relationships Among the Businesses

58

(2)

Ramifications of How the Business Chooses to Compete

60

(6)

Identifying the Work that Creates Advantage

66

(4)

Defining Business Capabilities and Gaps

70

(3)

From Capabilities to Projects

73

(1)

Company DNA Under the Microscope

73

(4)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

77

(2)

Part II Delivering Value

79

(32)

5 Build the Value Exchange

81

(12)

The Challenges

81

(1)

Determining the Right Products and Services

82

(2)

Making the Right Choices on Acquiring Capabilities

84

(2)

Building Requisite Capabilities and Partnerships

86

(3)

Balancing Infrastructure and Superstructure

89

(2)

Alignment in a Boundaryless World

91

(1)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

92

(1)

6 Forge Customer Relationships

93

(18)

The Challenges

94

(1)

The Customer Life Cycle

94

(2)

Attracting the Right Customers

96

(1)

Converting Prospects/Browsers to Customers

97

(5)

Fulfilling Customers' Needs

102

(3)

Retaining and Leveraging Customers

105

(4)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

109

(2)

Part III The Development and Alignment of Capabilities

111

(30)

7 Architect Business Structure

113

(17)

The Challenges

113

(1)

An Architecture Primer

114

(3)

Architecture Requirements

117

(8)

Aligning IT to Business Strategy

125

(1)

Creating a Dynamic Architecture

126

(1)

Balancing Organizational and Corporate Structure

127

(2)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

129

(1)

8 Align Capabilities

130

(11)

The Challenges

130

(2)

The Problem with Best Practices

132

(1)

Organization Archetype Implications

133

(9)

Aligning People, Process, and Technology Proactively

142

(4)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

146

Part IV Accelerating Change

141

(47)

9 Track a Moving Target

149

(14)

The Challenges

150

(1)

Solving the Scorecard Conundrum: Where and When to Start

150

(1)

Aligning Measures with Business Strategy

151

(6)

Taking the Enterprise Perspective

157

(1)

Driving Accountability

158

(1)

No Excuses: Getting and Delivering the Right Data

158

(1)

Allowing Performance Measurement to Be Interdependent

159

(2)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

161

(2)

10 Continually Refresh Capabilities

163

(25)

The Challenges

163

(1)

A Model for Continual Business Alignment

163

(2)

Take Account of New Business Realities

165

(3)

Extract Change Drivers

168

(2)

Identify Business Capabilities

170

(2)

Updating Architecture Requirements

172

(3)

Tuning Capabilities Through Projects

175

(3)

Changing the Course of In-Flight Projects

178

(1)

Orchestrating a Projects Agenda

179

(3)

Coming Full Circle

182

(1)

The Building Blocks of the Capable Company

183

(2)

Example of a Capability Refresh Cycle

185

(3)

Epilogue: Governance in a Capable Company

188

(3)

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The Capable Company Building the capabilites that make strategy work

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials