In this new world of rapidly changing networked companies business leaders must recognize that their view of what they lead needs to change. They are not just leading organizations, hierarchies, business units or employees. (1)
Rather, they lead a value-adding network, goal determined, self-organizing and social – in other words: their business system.[1]
The systems view recognizes the company as one element in its business ecosystem. Within that it is a self-organizing and self-creating living being gifted with both physical and social features, where one function can constrain the whole.
[1] Hans-Peter Liebmann, Professor em. of Marketing and Sales, University of Graz (Austria).
Your company organization is just the instrument, which you expect to make the functions in your company perform as you desire. Your company system (or business ecosystem) however goes far beyond these internal functions. It contains all elements which can help or hinder your entire eco system to deliver your operational goal. (see illustration above)
Build a shared system view with your entire operational team. Everyone who plays a role in the business ecosystem must attend and find their responsibilities represented in the view.
Agree on
With the entire operational team find agreement on "the weakest link in the chain" - the function with the largest difference between "must
achieve for the goal" and "actual performance". This is a candidate to focus on in the constraint focused operational plan.
If your goal is for consistent growth it is inevitable that some functions will reach the limit of their capacity with growing load. These are candidates for obstacles in the operational plan.