Rapid Realignment: How to Quickly Integrate People, Processes, and Strategy for Unbeatable Performance

FIVEBetter and Better: Continuous Process Improvement

Process definedImprovement-building principles

The focus in Chapter 4 was on achieving horizontal alignment, beginning with customers: learning about them, figuring out what they want, and pushing beyond satisfaction to delight. Customer delight results from exceeding expectations for price, design aesthetics, quality, usability, consistency, or whatever it is that people value. More than satisfaction, delight immunizes customers from the temptation to look elsewhere; it generates loyalty, repeat business, referrals, and competitive advantage.

What we didn’t spend much time on in that chapter, however, are the processes that create and sustain customer delight. How can we design our processes ...