The Culture Behind Speed: What the Passport Office, Covid 19 Vaccine Rollout and Zara can Teach Us About Moving Fast

Digital services have reset expectations, and customer demands for speed are higher than ever. Digital technology speeds up strategy cycles and makes slow implementation outdated, and geopolitical disruption is adding to the problem. But just when organisations need to move faster, they are slowing down. 

At the same time, decision making in business is becoming more complex with more data, interdependencies and stakeholders than in the past. But slow decisions increase risk, making rapid implementation of strategies more important than ever. Value decays more quickly these days, and leading organisations like Marks & Spencer, AT&T, BT and Sainsburys have acknowledged that they have, at times, moved too slowly to keep ahead of their competition.  But the research is startling: according to Ron Carucci in Harvard Business Review, 67% of well formulated strategies fail and Bain research has found that only 12% of companies deliver their strategic ambition.

The businesses which move fast  
The good news is that you can create organisations which move fast, proven by Amazon, Zara, and even the UK Passport Office. 

It was a complete eye-opener how, during the pandemic, vaccines could be developed quickly and then rolled out across the UK. Under a dynamic chief executive, the UK Passport Office became customer-focussed, and slick and speedy in its delivery to customers. And Zara ensures rapid innovation by designing and shipping new clothing already on the hangers to its international customers. The vaccine rollout in the UK had clear leadership and named accountable people who had a clear mission. They were relentlessly monitored by their senior leaders and politicians who quickly cleared the ground of any obstacles as they occurred. 

Amazon’s Covid response was also remarkable. They added 175,000 new employees in five weeks. Warehouses, delivery stations and transport routes were reconfigured in days. Local fulfilment centres redesigned workflows and shift patterns and created new routing and packing models, and they added 50% more warehouse space in a single year.  NHS England, Barts Health and the Excel Exhibition Centre, together with military planners and contractors, opened a 500 bed “Nightingale” hospital with potential for 4,000 beds. Planning began in March and the hospital was open by April. 

What sets fast companies apart?
So, what is it that sets such organisations apart? How do you ensure outstanding speed to execution?  There are a number of things which make a big difference. First, business strategy must be tested and developed in the field with a fully resourced and timed implementation plan. Strategies should also be assessed for capability: does the company have the right people with the right skills and if not, what is the plan to create or source them? 

Secondly, they build the organisation’s cultural “engine” for speed. Jobs are described by outputs, not activities. Performance reviews measure achievements against these outputs and there is continuous communication between the employee and the appraiser throughout the year to keep things on track. 

The role of the leader in these fast-moving organisations is to keep the mission front and centre, with energising storytelling, unapologetic ambition, positive feedback and role-modelling behaviour. Decision-making is a skill that can be learned and gets better with practice, and outstanding delivery organisations, those that move really quickly, are those that train people at all levels in fast decision-making. It’s also important to continuously pay attention to structures. They build simple structures, with the lowest possible number of management levels, avoid any matrix structures with overlapping accountabilities, and avoid any semblance of “shared” senior leadership roles like the plague. They heavily delegate and then train people to shoulder the burden of that delegation. They provide continuous ground-clearing support so individuals can succeed in moving fast. They celebrate successes and reward the ‘heroes’ in the organisation who deliver quickly. 

The role of AI
AI has an important role to play in enhancing speed. But you will go even faster if you focus on the new technology and the people who are going to use the system at the same time, not one after the other.  Technologists should be enablers, not dictators, of ways of working, and they should be trained in socio-technical system design. AI can speed up work cycles, routine interactions and physical workflows. Much more can be done if employees are given the opportunities to use these tools and to innovate. 

There need to be clear ground rules for using AI and these should always be clear, particularly checking and verifying sources of information and ensuring guardrails are in place as innovations are introduced. Staff should be trained in the use of AI regularly as it evolves. Trials to test proof of concept, pilots with clear ethical and legal frameworks and rapid evaluation cycles are important. If all of this is done, then leaders can shorten the cycle time for key activities and can expect more rapid outputs from processes which use AI. 

The role of leaders
Finally, in fast businesses, the top team acts as both inspiration and coach, with a focus on operational leadership. They care very deeply about their people and do not inflict third rate leaders on them. Instead, they develop and train their leaders to be outstanding in getting things done through others. Operational effectiveness should be at least a third of the chief executive’s job because operational performance is the key to speed of delivery. The boards of these companies should also have non-executive directors who are outstanding at operations.  These companies recruit leaders on the basis of enthusiasm, commitment and track record of delivery. Technical and subject expertise is no longer enough. 

The benefits
Therefore, it is possible to change organisations if leaders understand how to build one that can move at speed. Not only will this improve profitability and rate of growth, organisations that move quickly and get things done are also great places to work. In the end, organisations are organic systems and with the right alignment of leadership, culture and technology, they are capable of incredible things if they are designed and mobilised in the right way.