In our Blue Ocean Strategy Basics series, we continue to highlight building execution into strategy and the three ‘E’ Principles of Fair Process. Once featured, each principle is made accessible through the Blue Ocean Strategy Basics archive of this site. For our introduction to building execution into strategy and the second E Principle of Fair Process, we turn to page 175 — 176 of the book Blue Ocean Strategy (co-authored by Professor W. Chan Kim and Professor Renée Mauborgne).
There are three mutually reinforcing elements that define fair process: engagement, explanation, and clarity of expectation. Whether people are senior executives or shop floor employees, they all look to these elements. We call them the three E principles of fair process.
Explanation means that everyone involved and affected should understand why final strategic decisions are made as they are. An explanation of the thinking that underlies decisions makes people confident that managers have considered their opinions and have made decisions impartially in the overall interests of the company. An explanation allows employees to trust managers’ intentions even if their own ideas have been rejected. It also serves as a powerful feedback loop that enhances learning.
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[Image via sunny-drunk.]
