This document discusses achieving business excellence through strategies like having a clear vision and communication plan, flawless execution, a performance-oriented culture with high standards, and an agile organization. It provides examples of companies that exemplify excellence like Southwest Airlines, Dell, Toyota, and Starbucks. Key lessons from top CEOs emphasize having an outside perspective, passion for the job, understanding culture, and creating next-generation solutions. Maintaining excellence requires clear communication, forcing hard decisions, focusing on results, and remaining flexible to change.

1. Achieving Business Excellence

2. Achieving Business Excellence

3. Achieving Business Excellence
Do you have a clearly focused and
well-communicated strategy for
EXCELLENCE?
EXCELLENCE =
Value Differentiation + Execution

4. Achieving Business Excellence
Key Point:EXCELLENCE is EXTERNAL
as well as INTERNAL

5. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Five Foundations of
EXCELLENCE in work
Prepare Ahead
Personal Experience
Pattern Recognition
Strategic (scriptural) Insight
Stick to Plan

6. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
The Four – I’s
• Ignorance
• Inflexibility
• Indifference
• Inconsistency
2

7. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
How to avoid the Four I’s
• Aggressive external market focus.
• Aggressive customer focus.
• Keep the “Main Things” the main things.
• Bullish on knowledge sharing and learning.
• Passion and commitment at all levels.
• Be agile, adaptive, and anticipatory.
• Revel in change.

8. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Southwest
One type of plane
Point-to-point
Fast turns
Low fares / no frills
Friendly staff

9. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Inventory turns
Logistics vs. Technology
Function vs. Fashion
Dell

10. Achieving Business Excellence

11. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Educated Guess
Differentiated Strategy
Focus
Resource Allocation
Bold Not Risky
What NOT To Do

12. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
NEVER negotiate It

13. Achieving Business Excellence
Charlie Trotter’s
Hire for Desire
Teamwork: NP
Communication
Highest Standards
Innovation
Truly Delight Customers

14. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Lessons from seven top CEOs
Dell, Welch, Gerstner, Grove, Gates, Kelleher, Walton = 696 B
• Have an outside-in perspective
• Be deeply passionate about your job
• Understand the importance of culture
• Create or adapt next generation
products, processes and solutions
• Implement the best ideas regardless of
origin
From: What the Best CEOs Know by Krames

15. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
The Toyota Way
• Challenging Vision
– We form a long-term vision, meeting challenges with courage and
creativity to realize our dreams.
• Kaizen
– We improve our business operations continuously, always driving for
innovation and evolution.
• Genchi Genbutsu
– We go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build
consensus, and achieve our goals at our best speed.
• Respect, Challenge and Help your People and Suppliers
– We respect others, make every effort to understand each other, take
responsibility and do our best to build mutual trust.
• Teamwork
– We stimulate personal and professional growth, share the opportunities
of development, and maximize individual and team performance.

16. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
In-depth study of 25 top companies renowned for
building winning corporate cultures…
• GE • Southwest Airlines
• Dell • IBM
• Wal-Mart • P&G
• Toyota • Whole Foods
• Nordstrom • Ritz Carlton
• Starbucks • Intel
The pattern of six common traits for all of these firms…
From Results Rule by Randy Pennington

17. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
They understand that: Results Rule!
1. Tell themselves the truth and value candor and
honesty.
2. Pursue the best over the easiest in every situation.
3. Leverage the power of partnerships both internally
and externally.
4. Focus the energy to make the main things the main
thing.
5. Show the courage of accountability.
6. Learn, grow and improve every single day.
From Results Rule by Randy Pennington

18. Achieving Business Excellence
Is Your Business Up To Speed?

19. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Good to Great:
1,483 to 11
400 – 700%
15+ years

20. Achieving Business Excellence
Keys to maintaining excellence at
Work & Business
• Communicate clearly
• Force the hard decisions
• Focus on results
• Remain flexible to change
• Prove your value to the
customer
• Force collaboration
• Rigorous but not ruthless

21. Achieving Business Excellence
The Evergreen Project
10 year study of 160 top companies
40 distinct industries
200 management practices
Winners, climbers, tumblers, losers
Winners had an average Total Return to Shareholders of 945%...
The Losers only averaged a TRS of 62%
From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson

22. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
The Four Primary Practices:
1. A sharply focused, clearly communicated and
well-understood strategy for growth.
2. Flawless operational execution that
consistently delivers the value proposition.
3. A performance-oriented culture that does not
tolerate mediocrity.
4. A fast, flexible, flat organization that reduces
bureaucracy and simplifies work.
From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson

23. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
The Secondary
Management Practices:
• Talent = find and keep the best people.
• Key leaders show commitment and
enthusiasm for the business.
• Embrace strategic innovation.
• Master the power of partnerships.
From: What (really) Works by Joyce, Nohria, Roberson

24. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Key Drivers of Financial
Performance
Business Success Tolerate
CR=104.12 Nothing
Global study: Quality P&S
Less
16 countries &
Customer Relationship
29 companies
139 offices
CR= .404
5,589 respondents
Employee CR=.277
Satisfaction
CR=.275
CR=.249
CR=.334
CR=.280
Empowerment Coaching High Standards
CR=.285 CR=.371 CR=.365 CR=.191 CR=.247
Long-term Enthusiasm, Training & Fair
Orientation Commitment, Development Compensation
Respect
From: Practice What You Preach by Maister

25. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Disciplined Execution Clear Vision
Detailed Strategy
Guiding Coalition
Alignment
Systems
Communication
Support
Adjust
Reward / Punish

26. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
Individual Workshop
• Go back and look at all of your audits.
• Where were your low scores, where were your high
scores – what is the pattern?
• Look over your notes – what were the key themes?
What are the most important ideas?
• Answers all the questions on pages 14 – 16.
• Put in as much detail as possible.
• Be very honest with yourself.
• Think in terms of actions and outcomes.

27. EXCELLENCE IN WORK AND BUSINESS Achieving Business Excellence
THANK YOU
If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to send a note or call.
My email address is: john@johnspence.com
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Lastly, I have a new book coming out in September!