The first axiom (Axiom:1) is that all things must start at the beginning! (TM)
And the beginning, in the context of a Business Process improvement endeavor, is a commitment of the most Senior Manager (CEO, CIO, etc.) to support, invest and establish the activity as critical to the success of the organization. I refuse to quote the statistics of how many initiatives have failed due to lack of support! The field is littered with the 'good intent idea but do we have time for this now?' carnage.
Isn't that ironic? Let's see... hmmmmm.... should I invest the resources into galvanizing my organization around strategy, improvement and success? Or should I just push my senior staff to producing more of whatever it is we are producing?
I'll be benevolent here: Clearly CEO's and CIO's are not opting for a meatball sandwich over the welfare of the company. There are numerous dynamics at play given customer, competition and shareholder demand. But I do challenge that there are more important things than aligning to the strategy!
