X Matrix

Description:

The X Matrix assessment aligns the resources of a company to its most critical tasks. Also known as Policy Deployment is a step-by-step planning, implementation and review process for managing change.  Guiding executive management in the process of creating a shared vision, helping executives understand how current or new business requirements fit in that vision, focusing on the current, emerging, and strategic pressing needs of the business, guiding the company in the best use of its resources to meet those needs, ensuring that company resources have the tools needed to turn the plan into reality.   Building the matrix includes defined goals and objectives, metrics, and owners of these metrics.  The last step is to develop the execution plan, by shifting the teams focus, from the trivial many to the vital few.   At this point the leadership team can transition their thinking by, recognizing the need to stop accepting incremental improvements and start thinking about breakthrough improvements. 

If you were to survey the employees with the following questions would you get the same responses?  Would you get any response?

• Where are we going?
• How do we measure success?
• What are the major corporate initiatives for this year?  Next year?
• How does my job connect with these priorities?

What if you were to extend these same questions to different department managers?  HR, CSR, Engineering, Operations, IT, Sales, Maintenance.  How widely would their responses vary?

Most organizations have anything but ‘a shared vision’ of the future; There is little definition of how planned improvement activities ‘fit together’ to form a comprehensive plan.  Metrics on the floor are not linked, or understood, to corporate objectives.  Typically there is little shared vision on where the company/organization is going.

Create your companies strategic direction on a single page of paper

Goals

Annual Priorities

Metrics

Ownership

How these link together and all on a single page of paper

Policy deployment, or development of an “X” matrix is defined:

Used in policy deployment and has (5) primary areas.  The “south” is the 3 – 5 year break through goals.  “West” is the on year step-down goals.  “North” is the AIP’s or annual improvement priorities.  “East” is both the a) targets to improve (also known as KPI’s) and the b) champions that support the AIP’s.  Most targets turn into ‘bowlers’ that are measured monthly.

Let TGG professionally facilitate this vision sharing session with your executive team.  We can help you identify and measure performance gaps in all areas of your business and then put this new-found-employee-based strategy on a single sheet of paper.  After the goals and annual priorities are established TGG can use the following tools that will be used to execute the road map that links to your goals:

• Current and future VSM or SVSM (strategic value stream map)
• Strategic A3
• Scored Shingo assessment
• Lean Six Sigma deployment

TGG will help your management team ‘aggressively deselect’ projects that get in the way of the ‘vital few’ that promote breakthrough growth.

Duration

1 day SCO
5 days RUN (3 day session followed by a 2 day session)
2 days Evaluate

Typical Outcomes:

• 4% of sales identified projects
• 2% of sales active projects
• Identify and define 3 to 5 year goals for the organization
• 5 to 7 AIP’s
• Measurements or KPI’s for each of the AIPs