Operational Excellence and Business Transformation
Drive organisational success through innovative solutions, comprehensive gap and risk analyses and informed decisions
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What are the key challenges in ensuring that OPEX initiatives remain aligned with the ever-evolving strategic priorities of the organisation?
Keeping them aligned requires regular updates to senior leadership. However, it’s even better to foster a culture where senior leadership regularly discusses performance, ideally on a weekly basis, next to a visual board in the Mission Control room. In all the organisations where I’ve implemented operational excellence, I coached senior management to discuss their strategic agenda weekly, either in a Mission Control room or a control tower, with all relevant metrics at hand. When needed, key personnel would join these discussions to provide further insights. This approach encourages leadership to frequently engage with the organisation to understand what’s happening and how they can assist. It’s a form of servant leadership taken a step further.
How important is it for OPEX initiatives to be aligned with broader strategic goals in your organisation?
It is not just important; it is imperative. Operational excellence (OPEX) initiatives can only succeed when they are supported by senior management and aligned with the company's strategy at the mission level and goals. Otherwise, OPEX initiatives become like a book on a shelf—something people only engage with when they have spare time, which is rare in today’s environment. Therefore, alignment is crucial.
Ahead of the Operational Excellence and Business Transformation conference we spoke with Gerard Poolman, Head of Operational Excellence at Shell. Gerard has nearly 30 years of global experience in Supply Chain, Sales & Operations management with the world's largest companies in different countries. A career highlight was winning the Kaizen Award for Continuous Improvement for Shell Chemicals in 2019. He is passionate about supply chain and asset management, operational excellence, the digital revolution, executive coaching, people & organizational development and loves to lead complex cross cultural change management initiatives.
*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the respondent and do not necessarily reflect those of Shell
30 September - 2 October, 2024
Vienna, Austria
Gerard will be presenting the pre-conference workshop at the Operational Excellence and Business Transformation conference:
For registration pricing and multiple attendee discounts, please contact:
Ria Kiayia
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Interested? Do you feel you will benefit?
An interview with Gerard Poolman, Head of Operational Excellence at Shell, The Netherlands
Workshop: Driving Operational Excellence: Developing A Comprehensive Program for Organisational Success
In a rapidly changing and competitive business environment, achieving operational excellence is essential for organizational success. But where do you start?
In this keynote address, we will explore the key elements of developing a comprehensive program for driving operational excellence, including:
- Developing a clear strategic vision that aligns with organisational goals and values.
- Grounding the program for operational excellence in purpose, not just profit, to ensure buy-in from all stakeholders.
- Building governance and infrastructure to support the program, including digital transformation where applicable, to ensure sustained success.
- Proactively identifying and mitigating barriers to success on the journey towards operational excellence, including resistance to change, lack of resources, and cultural challenges.
What, for you, are the benefits of attending a conference like this and what can attendees expect to learn from your session?
Conferences like this one are vital for senior management as they provide an opportunity to benchmark against top experts across industries. That’s why I participate—to network and share my experiences. As a workshop leader, I bring a long career in operations and business excellence, spanning all continents and various industries, from fast-moving consumer goods to heavy industry, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, logistics, and energy. Throughout my global career, I’ve led operational excellence initiatives under various methodologies, including Lean, Six Sigma, and Agile. In my workshop, I will outline a framework on personal title for combining these elements into a successful mix, discuss potential pitfalls, and engage participants in interactive sessions to tackle these challenges. Together, we will build a comprehensive understanding of what drives success and failure, equipping attendees with practical tools to enhance performance in their own organisations.
Can you share examples where misalignment between OPEX initiatives and strategic goals resulted in inefficiencies or missed opportunities?
This ties back to my answer to the first question. I’ve experienced situations in the past with previous employers where the OPEX initiative I was leading wasn’t fully supported by top management in a particular part of the organization. As a result, people complained they didn’t have time to complete the project, or they felt it wasn’t important enough. There were also comments about leadership being absent or dismissing the initiative as unimportant, claiming there were bigger issues to address. Ultimately, this led to a complete failure.
What strategies or tools do you recommend for maintaining alignment between OPEX initiatives and strategic goals as both evolve over time?
I touched on this in the previous question, but to elaborate: Senior leadership needs a strategic scorecard or balanced scorecard to clarify what they want to achieve. This scorecard should include not only financial metrics but also factors like employee satisfaction and safety, which are critical. The defined results should be displayed in a Mission Control room or control tower. At a minimum, these should be reviewed weekly in a short, crisp, and clear meeting, which should include the OPEX leader, who may even facilitate the meeting. Additionally, senior leadership should regularly visit the floor, especially when issues arise, to offer support rather than merely point out problems—a practice known as “go see” or “go to Gemba” in Japanese culture. This approach fosters a top-down and bottom-up flow of information, data exchange, and problem-solving. In Lean culture, problems are not seen as negatives but as opportunities to improve, and this mindset forms the foundation of the OPEX framework I advocate.
