Package versus ingredients

In achieving excellence, many things have to come together, fit seamlessly and work without friction.

Distinguish between 'ingredients', which we define as one of the pieces of the puzzle that stands alone and provides value in its own right, and 'packages', which we define as a set of ingredients that has value greater than the sum of its parts.

For example, the bullets and the graphics on a slide show are the ingredients. The sequence, the delivery, the pre-sell and authenticity of the speaker combine to make the package.

Technicians take pride in the ingredients, rightly so, they labor hard to fine tune and polish it. When executing your strategy, be sure your team has a few of these. Technicians produce the outputs that are needed to deliver results.

Customer outcomes will be met only when 'packages' are delivered. For example, in selling a product, the price, time to learn, ease of use, ease of buying, ease of upgrades, ease of abandonment all come together to deliver value. In strategy execution, the 'package' has ingredients such as stakeholder management, change management, portfolio management, managing culture, project management and innovation.

Oh yes, a 'package' may be an 'ingredient' to a bigger package...