Abstract for: Implementing strategic insights to transform operations performance in large organizations

There are very few stories of ‘wildly successful initiatives’ where step change breakthroughs were sustained. In this paper, we examine 20 years of experience leading to such transformations in industrial settings. In the transformation efforts that succeeded, system dynamics model based insights and the five disciplines of a learning organization were applied, enabling the organization to self-generated an entirely new future for themselves, worth billions of dollars. Performance and organizational results of the transformations are presented. The generic policies and interventions needed to create this kind of change in every individual and collectively in the organization are discussed in this paper. Sufficient repeat experiences of cross functional actions embedded good practices, built alignment across functions, created new habits, improved operating discipline, and led to culture change that sustained.