C3 Explained

C3 (pronounced see three) is short for Customer-Centered Culture, first coined by International Management Technologies' president, Robin Lawton, in his 1993 book, Creating a Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation & Speed, published by the Quality Press. Mr. Lawton is the creator of the C3 system approach to organizational transformation. C3 is a pragmatic, powerful and unique way to link customer priorities with your organization's success.

The Need for C3: A common assumption about organizational improvement is that the use of new tool(s) will achieve a competitive advantage. That has often lead to programs such as reengineering, TQM, teamwork, lean, benchmarking, cycle time reduction, customer relationship management, process improvement, ISO, theory of constraints and, most recently, Six Sigma. While each of these initiatives has offered value, the following are some of their most common weaknesses: application is most relevant for manufacturing and production operations, difficult to apply to knowledge, service and creative work little or nothing is done to help the alignment between organization strategy and customer priorities significant implementation costs are incurred with no guarantee or limited evidence of ROI process improvement may occur without any measured impact on customer-desired outcomes, satisfaction or sustainable innovation new skills are acquired but no fundamental change in thinking, behavior or culture occurs; vital lies remain sacred and unchallenged

-- How C3 Works: --

The C3 starting assumption is that rapid cultural transformation becomes possible only when a new set of beliefs is adopted. The transformation is then sustained by using new measures of excellence. Our C3 tools help you deploy and support the new culture.

C3 works first to change beliefs fast. Not many are eager to begin questioning or challenging closely held beliefs. Those beliefs may include vital lies, assumptions that constrain change, innovation and customer-centeredness. So every C3-based program involves the provocative, engaging use of humor to examine the laughable but real absurdities of current organizational behavior. It is well-established that our ability to laugh at our foibles reduces resistance to alternative or new views.

The second step is to replace internally focused, producer-centered thinking with an alternative: customer-centered thinking. This is accomplished not by telling you and your audience what to think. Every C3 program (whether a key note address, strategic planning session, executive briefing, workshop or video-based training) uses a process of experiential discovery. It results in participants achieving new but predictable insights into the degree to which:

• customer priorities are really known (or unknown)
• performance measures address what customers care about most (or least)
• we understand who "the customer" really is
• strategic objectives are consistent with customer values
• the voice of the customer is anticipated, captured, understood and acted upon
• continuous improvement is mistaken for innovation (better candles vs. light bulbs)
• high leverage opportunities have been identified (vs. just low hanging fruit)

The above elements set the stage for you to decide whether or not to put C3 to further work for you. If these initial insights require no further response, do nothing more. You will have at least been entertained with fresh, innovative thinking about how to better satisfy customers and profit by it. Certainly, you will have a more intimate understanding of what C3 is than can be conveyed here.

On the other hand, if the need is sufficient and the readiness to really achieve transformation exists, IMT will work to design a modular or phased deployment plan for you. In any event, you will have a working understanding by this point of where your organizational and customer needs can be best addressed.

-- C3 Is: --

• A jargon-free integration of past and emerging best practices, infused with a pervasive customer focus.
• A conceptual reframing that improves alignment of organization objectives and measures with customer priorities. Emphasis is on achieving improvement in desired outcomes first, internal processes last. (See Steps 1-4 vs. 9 of the 10 Steps to Alignment).
• A set of management principles. The principles are relevant for:
  
  
  • organizations engaged in knowledge or service work
  • any enterprise: for-profit, public and not-for-profit
  • individuals at any level of responsibility, but especially managers, professionals and change leaders
• A transformation deployment strategy designed to produce 5:1> returns on investment and measurably improved customer satisfaction over the first 18 months of deployment.
• Over forty tools that are easy to use. These tools enable users to:
  
  
  • prioritize the right issues to achieve biggest improvement in both customer satisfaction and organizational performance
  • establish a common transformation language that is unambiguous
  • align organization strategy and measures with customer priorities
  • organize and manage projects that produce compelling results
  • capture the voice of the customer
  • uncover unspoken customer priorities
  • measure seemingly immeasurable expectations
  • design innovative products customers love
  • shorten response time or process cycle time by 50%