An interesting role play exercise

A recent consulting engagement exposed me to an interesting exercise. One where the team members each write an article about the organization's state a few years down the road. It is a sort of role play where the team members play the role of a journalist writing about the organization. Here was my demo contribution for the team.

XX,000 CEOs at
BY NEIL BHANDAR FOR

Tough economic times can be like a smelting furnace, the intense heat melts away everything, slag and impurities skim to the top, added fillers segregate into their own layers based on their individual specific gravity and the base metal stands by itself. The global Retail sector has experienced a similar smelting from the economic turbulence in 2009.

The smelting caused the slag to rise to the top which is in the process of being washed away; those brands that have a defined unique identity have coagulated into their appropriate layers/positions. The big and the small have each formed their own isotropic layers. market is one such grocery retailer in the greater Philadelphia area that has survived this storm and emerged with its unique and defendable position in the market it serves. Not only was able to plug their leaking customer count but delivered strong growth and continues to give the communities a reason to visit the stores and shop more than they ever did in the past and more than their competitors.

The emergence and survival of is not a happenstance but the result of visionary leadership, strategic planning and a meticulously implemented process over the past year. It is no surprise that organizations as old as (100+ years of existence) have a defined culture one that lives and breaths in every individual employee at . The success of this transformation at has its roots in this culture, the principles and values indoctrinated in every organizational endeavor.

We took time to understand the drivers of this transformation and the investment it took to make this transition happen at . The genesis of ’s success is the feedback loops the organizations established, one that is visible in the figure below.

Every change driver has a feedback loop that enables the organization to experiment, get feedback and fix the gaps quickly. This closed loop system combined with a trusting culture, honest, open communication creates the framework for constant improvement at every level within the organization.

Change Drivers	Benefits
Organizational Capacity	Work life balance
Organizational Capability	Knowledge Continuity & Institutional learning
Measured Deliverables	Intrinsic Motivation
Strategic Plans	Direction & Vision

Change Drivers	Feedback Loop
Organizational Capacity	Succession Planning
Organizational Capability	Individual Development & Lateral growth
Measured Deliverables	Timely, Direct & Actionable Feedback
Strategic Plans	Organizational Transparency

The feedback loop fosters learning, the systems thinking and the closed loop helps break functional silos.

In a conversation with NSB the Director of the Marketing department, NSB shared some of the tactical action plans that the Marketing department has instituted. These tactics though Marketing centric are an evidence of the holistic nature of drivers that have helped .

NSB says “We are a retailer but we behave like a business services company” at every level and every function including Marketing. The Marketing department sets aside time every other week to think of next generation ideas; These ideas include debates over what is the SCA for (Sustainable Competitive Advantage). The discussion includes and is not limited to conversations about how to bring the differentiating attributes to life in the store, success metrics, Operations and Merchandising engagement and buy-in.” NSB went on to share how the strategies developed during 2009 helped plan every week in 20XX far ahead of the start of the year. The store activities, the weekly circular, the promotions, events and sponsorship were all planed in advance. ’s strategies are so clear that make it easy to layout plans ahead of time, changes to the plan are driven purely by competitive activity.

NSB also said “Our strategies are so focused and targeted that changes to our plans from week to week take less than 5% of our time, most times we choose to ignore other grocery competitor’s tactics because we are so unique our guests visit our stores for more than just what is one our shelves and the weeks promotion item”. We spend a disproportionate amount of time out thinking ourselves not our competition.

In talking to members of the marketing department their knowledge of the state of business was quite obvious. Every one knew the P&L numbers, their market share, the competitor’s market share, the revenues and profit targets for the year and everyone literally recited the top 5 strategies for 20XX.

NSB also added “ is a very flat organization and so the staff has a lot of responsibility and ownership, we are all CEOs without the title and pay but the same sense of know how about the market place, the company, the competitors and authority to make quick decisions in the best interest of the shopper and our business”. NSB went on to add “Everyone on the team from communication, insights to brand presents their material like as if it is their own business, they lay out options and refer to actions in terms of their cost, the implications, the cross functional alignment required to make it successful, risks and mitigating strategies in place, you could never tell if this is an analyst or a department head”.

NSB also told us about how the changes has positively affected in the overall approach to pursuing and delivering projects. Marketing no longer thinks of its own deliverables but meticulously lays out the string of tasks and functional owners, then works across functions to get their engagement and alignment. The organizational transparency and deep knowledge of the financials (P&L) creates an interesting dynamics of interactions. The team is eager to take calculated risks and understand the implications to the business from every action before it is initiated. The culture rewards risks taking and honest open communication helps everyone express a point of view as long as it is constructive, actionable and supported by metrics.

Conversations with the Marketing folks revealed no one takes no for an answer and everyone get a voice and everyone is heard, with the type of culture and the processes in place there are always many heads working on a every opportunity and always many solution options to choose from, each solution as great as the next. The toughest part is to decide which option to pursue and who is really running the ship at ?

does have one President but with the energy, ownership and knowledge it appears like every single employee is the CEO!