#17 Joining up the organisation to create alignment, flow and performance with Jon Lindsay

Welcome to Episode 17 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast. I am so pleased to have Jon Lindsay as a guest. Jon helps business leaders develop flow, which he defines as, “talking about the right things at the right time with the right people taking ownership”.   Jon was one of the early adopters of the enterprise excellence model, introducing Lean to the insurance business he ran in the early 2000s. In recent times Jon has used the concept of “Joined-Up” to reflect the need to respond to all stakeholders of an organisation, based on the principles of clarity of purpose, simplicity and consistency to deliver value. Jon Lindsay has had an expansive career covering many of our finest education systems. Jon has led one of Britain's oldest textile companies and lead one of the first continuous improvement journeys within a finance company.Links:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonroolasjoined-up.com.au  (Company Website)tec.com.au  (Company Website)Phone: +61407799875 (Mobile)Email: [email protected]: Jonroolas Quotes19:02min we were one of pioneers in using a certification called investors in people, which became very strong in the UK, which was recognising that we actually had to empower our workforce, train them, acknowledge their skills, but make sure their skills were being used, because a lot of people throw money at training without actually making sure there were being used. Investors in people was really designed to actually accredit people who were doing that job. 26:58min and the fact that we were selling a fibre for a certain price to a spinner, didn't matter, it did matter, because they were squeezing us down on price. But the end product was, firstly a fabric because it draped, and it was beautiful. And then it was made into a garment and it was a certain colour. And then it was sold in the shops. And the added value all the way through that supply chain. And by the way, that was going from us to somewhere in Asia, to somewhere in the South Pacific, for dyeing. And then it was going to a garment maker maybe in Sri Lanka. And then it was going from there to a wholesaler in New York, and then it was going to be sold on the West Coast. I mean, it was just unbelievable. And we tried to track it. And what we realized is we we could track it, but it was just such a dynamic process. You had to work on the pull through. So, we looked at things like accreditation branding, and we developed the tensor brand to actually make sure that only people who had certain attributes could actually click through, so we were trying to manage a whole supply chain.Key Takeaways1. Clearly understanding who your customers are; what they value, but also their emotional feelings and intelligence. 2. Have a clear vision for your industry, your business and plan your strategic direction with these in mind. 3. Lead culture with your employees. Engage your employees on the change journey. Help them develop their own vision and empower them to set their individual strategic direction.  This was a really neat model that helps us gain clarity on the key aspects of a business we need to join up, customers, employees and owners. To learn more about what we do, visit https://enterpriseexcellencegroup.com.au/Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.