See, feel, smell and eat quality!
A successful, valuable event of the AG/SO section at the Jowa company in Gränichen. This well-attended event provided valuable impulses for the 50 participants on how employees can be sensitized and motivated to live quality. It was demonstrated in an impressive way how the training of employees, which is important for the hygiene sector, is structured.
During the interesting tour through the production, the effect of the practice-oriented employee training could be noticeably observed.
Karin Engel was able to fascinate the participants excellently with her demonstrations and explanations and let them experience and try it out for themselves.
At three workplaces, the team practiced packaging correctly according to regulations and time specifications, producing party sandwiches according to a recipe, but also recognizing faulty products. Unnoticed observers noted team behaviour, errors (80 grams instead of 8 grams of paste per layer of bread) and procedures. Big AHA experience at the work meeting.
The subsequent aperitif offered by Jowa convinced all participants that the quality of the manufactured products such as snacks, cheese cakes, sandwiches is really first class. Many thanks to Jowa, Karin Engel and her staff for the very interesting event. As was convincingly demonstrated, the traditional strategic planning process has a few weak points in its application. For example, objectives and actions are often insufficiently aligned with strategy. Non-financial goals get too little attention. The links between actions and strategic goals are hard to see. As a result, it is difficult to make the strategy understandable to employees. No wonder, then, that strategies often exist only on paper, but are not effectively implemented. The BSC system is a means of counteracting these deficiencies. It is an instrument of strategic controlling and strategy implementation. Goals are defined in accordance with the strategy for the four perspectives of finance, market, processes and learning. It is important that the objectives are related to each other in a cause-and-effect relationship, which as a final effect ensures the achievement of the strategic objectives. It is precisely these causal chains that force us to keep focusing on the really important goals and actions.
As Kurt Hörhager made clear in the concluding discussion, in his experience the advantages of a good BSC application are to be found primarily in the area of communication. On the one hand, the development of the BSC requires in-depth discussions within the management, which ultimately significantly improve the understanding of the business and the acceptance of the strategy by all those involved. On the other hand, the methodology forces to identify and highlight causes and effects. This provides an excellent basis for making the strategy and the goals and actions derived from it understood throughout the company. And it is precisely these communicative aspects that are the important success factors when it comes to translating a strategy from paper into practice.
Bruno C. Baumann Executive Committee Zurich Section
