Building a Guiding Coalition

Successful transformation is driven through the power of a volunteer army made up of leaders from across the enterprise who band together to knock down all the barriers to successful strategy implementation. 

A guiding coalition for Supply Chain 2020 needs to be composed of both managers and leaders who work together as a team. There needs to be the right balance of each. They need to be trained. It is important that they are credible in leading the change efforts. 

History tells us that success will happen when there is alignment around a well-understood goal. In Chapter 2, we discussed how this was defined by A. G. Lafley, past CEO of Procter Gamble, as the alignment of the organization against the customer s moments of truth. In Chapter 4, we discussed Ford s journey for quality. Each of these efforts was driven by clear alignment and the need to be more competitive. 

Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. 

The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side. At once began to bawl  

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As outlined in Figure 6.1, for today s supply chain leaders, the definition of supply chain excellence is all over the map. As a result, an important first step for the leadership team is to make a strong statement and define it for the organization. It needs to be a deliberate statement to detail "what it is and what it is not." The task then is to build a guiding coalition to achieve it. Defining supply chain excellence is job number one for the executive team. 

As the issues bubble up in the boardroom, now is the time to realize that bricks matter. Companies can only be successful in the long term if they design for value, clearly communicate the goal, and understand the potential of their own supply chain (effective frontier). There has never been a better time to build a guiding coalition to redefine the supply chain as a value network or to map the supply... 

Build a guiding coalition to enable success. Make sure that it has the right mix of leaders and managers. 

A common theme for the success or failure of any organizational initiative is building a guiding coalition a bonding of sponsors and influential people who support the project. 

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