The Way We've Always Done It
The Way We've Always Done It
Retailers bring Parker Avery on board to help solve a variety of business challenges—many of which revolve around replacing legacy systems (including the often-prolific use of complex spreadsheets—even in large retailers). These projects typically involve a fair amount of defining what the client’s desired future state is and the associated process design—often down to minute details. These ultimately become the key business requirements that are included in an RFP/RFI and some system demonstration scripts used in technology assessment and selection projects. It is important to understand that one of the key tasks in getting to the future state is first understanding the existing state. That is a client’s current processes, systems, roles, responsibilities, and organizational culture.
Why so much focus on this when the objective is to get to the new, shiny stuff? Let’s explore why a deep understanding of the current state is necessary to move forward. Most of us have heard the story of the young girl helping her mother prepare Easter dinner. If not (or it’s been a long time), here’s a refresher:
Before Placing the Ham in the Oven
Before placing the ham in the oven for baking, the mother cut off both ends. “Why did you cut off the ends of the ham?” asked the daughter.
“That’s the way my mother always did it,” was the reply.
The daughter quickly vanished. In moments, she was on the telephone with the grandmother verifying whether or not what she had been told was true. The grandmother replied that she did, indeed, always cut the ends off the ham. When asked why, the grandmother replied, “That’s the way my mother always did it.”
As fate would have it, the next week brought about a visit from great-grandmother. Overcome with curiosity, as young children often are, nothing would do but pose this same question.
“Great Grandmother, Mommy always cuts the ends off her ham before she puts it in the oven. Mommy says she does it because that’s the way Grandmother always did it. Grandmother says she did it because that’s the way you always did it. Is it true, Great Grandmother? Did you always cut the ends off of the ham?”
“Yes, indeed, my child, I always cut the end off the ham” replied the elderly woman.
“But why?” asked the young girl.
Holding her hands about 12 inches apart, she replied, “Because my pan was only this big.”
Decades ago, Great Grandmother was confronted with a set of circumstances. Her pan was not large enough to accommodate the ham. She came up with procedures to handle those circumstances. She did the best she could with what she had.
But ‘adequate’ is no recipe for success or longevity.
Understanding the current way a company does business, particularly through the lens of an outsider, can reveal a tremendous amount of insight. In particular, what things need to change and why that change is necessary. During strategy and selection projects, Parker Avery typically does a detailed ‘gap analysis’ which shows a client very specifically their existing processes, tools, and even roles & responsibilities vs. retail industry-leading practices. These analyses expose the difference or gap between the two states. This exercise is usually an eye-opener to the client stakeholders concerning the amount of effort required to reach their desired state. It also helps the company understand the magnitude of the change management activities that will be needed to accompany the transition.
Contributor
The Parker Avery Group is a leading retail and consumer goods consulting firm that transforms organizations and optimizes operational execution through development of competitive strategies, business process design, deep analytics expertise, change management leadership, and implementation of solutions that enable key capabilities.
