Organisation Capability Improvement Methodology OCIM™
Introduction
‘A Methodology is a body of methods, rules, assumptions and conditions employed by a discipline: a particular procedure or set of procedures that guides activity to achieve a target outcome’.
The purpose of methodologies is to assure the target outcome, by guiding the stakeholder participants with commonality of language, approach, and discipline, leading to enhanced efficiency, effectiveness and risk minimisation.
The OCIM™ is one such methodology that specifically includes the measurement of an organisations Capabilities and their related Maturity levels, and calibration of actions to reflect the measured Capability Maturity Level.
All organisations have methodologies for going about their business at all levels, some formal/explicit and some informal/implicit, that said the effectiveness of an organisations methodologies in delivering the desired outcomes and performance can vary and are influenced by the maturity of a set of specific organisation capabilities.
OCIM™ is not prescribed as the approach for using OrgCMF™ Capability Maturity Assessments and Reports. Organisations that believe they have a sufficiently mature and effective methodology already functioning can use their existing approach. In this scenario the use of Capability Maturity Assessment and related reports and action guidance, should fit into any integrative level methodology, and provides additional measured and useful information within an existing methodology, to enhance both actions and outcomes. It will be obvious from a quick review of OCIM™ how this is achieved, and make it easy to add the enhancement to the organisations method(s) and outcomes by adding OrgCMF™ Capability Maturity Assessments.
There can be many different scenarios and contexts, where Capability Maturity Assessment can add significant value to an organisation, we group then into three ‘Use Cases’
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Attention & Alignment (AA); Often a tactical step to capture some data and information (Capability Maturity Profile) which can be used as a Catalyst for change or action, a Call to Action, bring a group of stakeholders into a position of alignment and inform a Problem/Opportunity Statement.
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Continuous Improvement Program (CIP); where an organisation, unit or team uses a methodology to guide performance improvement in a consistent and structured manner over a longer-term horizon, and Capability Maturity Measurement guides, communicates and tracks progress.
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Step Change or Improvement (SCI); where an organisation uses Capability Maturity Measurement and guidance data and information to determine readiness for a specific initiative, guide its implementation and track progress. This may relate to a specific Organisation Change, Transformation, Goal or KPI over the short or medium term.
Formal or Informal
The OCIM™ methodology guides the approach overall, it can be implemented as a formal structured program at Organisation, Unity, Team or Capability level, in some organisations it becomes documented and implemented as a Standard Operating Procedure. Equally it can be used informally by a team or group, perhaps by getting together in a physical or virtual meeting room and working through the process together, even to the extent the Capability Maturity Assessment has just one group response, where the participants discuss and choose the answer to each Survey question.
OCIM™ Summary
Stage 1: Problem/Opportunity Statement
For each of the 3 ‘Use Cases’ outlined above, the starting point should always be a clear definition of the problem and/or opportunity. This statement makes clear the current situation and the target situation (Aim – Ambition) and should be based on Qualitative and Quantitative data and information. Business & Operational KPIs’ are important indicators of current situation & context and make it the ambitions and goals transparent and effective.
We know from academic and operational research that an organisations capabilities and their maturities are what determine existing performance levels and they also set the change capability (Agility) for the Organisation, Unit, Team or Capability under consideration. Delivering change outcomes and improving performance usually requires new capabilities and/or improved maturity of existing capabilities.
Capability is;
“The ability to mobilise resources to achieve an aim”
Capability Maturity is;
“The Functioning & Learning Level of an Organisation.”
Stage 2: Select or Configure Capability Maturity Assessment
This stage is about filling out the missing pieces of the picture by getting a clear picture and information on the relevant capabilities and their maturities required to achieve the aims and ambitions set out in Stage 1 ‘Problem/Opportunity’ Statement. We achieve this by selecting either a pre-configured OrgCMF™ standard maturity assessment or configuring a unique maturity assessment appropriate to the context of the Organisation, Unit, Team or Capabilities under consideration. This step can be quickly completed on-line by choosing the following on a simple User Interface by selecting:
- Assessment Tier: Sensor, Triage, Diagnostic or any mix (The Depth of Maturity Assessment)
- Relevant Dynamics: The Forces that influence the Functioning & Learning Level of the System
- Relevant Constructs: The Capability Building Blocks that create the Forces
- Assessment Details: The information that explains the context and guidance for assessment participants.
- Assessment Participants: The individuals invited to participate and/or view Assessment and Report Guidance in real-time.
Stage 3: Complete Capability Maturity Assessment
During Stage 2 – ‘Configuration’ you will have defined the assessment and the assessment period. We recommend you keep the period the assessment is open as short as possible and indicate to participants the estimate time to complete it. Each participant receives a link to the online survey, and completes the survey, they will have access to the real-time report if you permit it during configuration so they can see progress. It is essential the Assessment Administrator provides regular reminders and updates to maximise the response rate. The Invitation email should have outlined the importance and purpose of the Assessment and the involvement of the invitee to maximise engagement. Encourage the use of the text-based comment field in each question to elaborate the basis of their selection for each question and their chosen statement.
Stage 4: Analyse, Correlate & Prioritize
This important stage brings together the data and information provided by the Capability Maturity Assessment Survey Report and the available Organisation, Unit, Team or Capability information, i.e. the unique insights from the ecosystems and their key stakeholders. It is at this point that Performance, Practices, & KPIs are discussed as each Assessed Dynamic and Construct maturity levels and related comments are reviewed. It may be determined that a deeper level of Assessment is required before this Stage 4 can complete (e.g. for a Triage Assessment for a ‘Dynamic’ , a Diagnostic Assessment is required, but often deeper assessment is unnecessary or is used by the change and improvement owner and/or team to implement improvements. The Capability Maturity Assessment real-time reports provide visual indicators of maturity and guidance on appropriate actions related to each ‘Dynamic’ & ‘Construct’ Assessed. It is during this stage that decisions are made on which Capabilities are the priority for maturity building to achieve the initiative aims, they may be new Capabilities to be acquired and built to a target maturity level or they may be existing Capabilities that require higher levels of Maturity.
Stage 5: Empower Owners to plan and implement improvements
Having engaged key stakeholders in stage 1 to 4 as appropriate, it is important that building capabilities is devolved to the lowest possible level in the organisation, the place where the capabilities are derived. Identify where is the centre of competence for each chosen ‘Dynamic’ & ‘Construct’ and who is the most appropriate person to own and drive the change and improvement. Often Capabilities are associated with specific functions, departments and roles, but from a systems perspective we are looking across the whole organisation as regards the ‘Inters’. The critical success factor for this stage is that ‘Action & Improvement’ owners are identified, empowered, briefed and motivated to build the assigned and agreed Capabilities. The OrgCMF™ Body of Knowledge is available to all, and the reports are made accessible to key change and improvement stakeholders as appropriate. The Change and Improvement Leadership ensure each owner has guidance and support to build the relevant capabilities, understands the key operational and business KPIs that will be enabled by enhanced Capability Maturity for their actions and are allowed to plan and execute their improvements within a light touch but effective governance process.
Stage 6: Implement Change & Improvement Sprints
Using Agile techniques of fixed time lined sprints with useful and measurable outcomes for the action owner and their teams is the primary implementation technique for OCIM™. This avoids trying to ‘Boil the Ocean’ and aligns with Organisation Learning Theory, where development phases are sequential and cumulative building through the increasing levels of maturity. For the target ‘Dynamics & Constructs’ being improved a backlog of proposed actions and changes are listed , then prioritised using the Capability Maturity Assessment Report as guidance which allows selection of those priority actions that meet the calibration criteria from the report guidance and the Sprint is planned and executed where the planned activity, resources and outcomes fit within the fixed sprint time. To read more about leveraging Agile techniques across the organisation. During implementation owners and their teams may want to re assess their Target Dynamic & Construct Maturity, or complete a deeper diagnostic assessment to enhance their Capability Maturity Building and using the OrgCMF™ Assessment Platform Tool is such that it is easy, intuitive and effective to meet the needs of each owner and their team.
Stage 7: Monitor, Control & Re-assess for CPI & SCI Capability Maturity Improvement Programs
One of the most valuable contributions of OCIM™ (Or any good method) , combined with OrgCMF™ Capability Maturity Assessment is that there is a simple accessible, usable and useful set of Knowledge, Language, Tools and Practices that can be used across any organisation to improve Change & Improvement outcomes and reduce the risks relating to change initiatives. By Re-assessment and continuous enhancement of Capability Maturity individuals and teams can deal with the sophistication and complexity of an organisation system, progress can be monitored and benchmarked internally and externally and learning shared. Focus can be adjusted as the Organisation learns.
