And while each approach has provided some important benefits, executives tend to describe their experiences with such approaches in fairly similar ways: "We eventually got some pretty good results. But it seemed like it took way too long. And I'm still not convinced that the change went deep enough . that it's going to stick over the long haul."

The problem, generally speaking, is not one of technical shortcomings. The techniques associated with the various change strategies do work, and the technical expertise to help an organization apply them is readily available. (The world faces no imminent shortage of consultants.)

The challenge tends to be on the people side. In other words, it's the soft stuff that's the hard part. It is difficult to keep people constructively engaged and energized throughout the change process. This is where traditional change strategies come up short.

For all of their technical power, total quality applications can be viewed by people as bureaucratic at best and insulting at worst. ("Are you implying that I haven't been doing a quality job up until now?!")

While the principles of reengineering are logically unassailable, there is no denying the implicit threat that they contain; being asked to be part of a reengineering team feels a bit like being asked to volunteer for a suicide mission.

And a focus on customer satisfaction ultimately sets the organization's sights too low. While it sounds like a positive concept, customer satisfaction is merely "the absence of dissatisfaction." Such a goal is not terribly energizing for people.

A strategic focus on creating customer value can help you address this soft stuff by creating a work force that is:

*More informed. Everyone in the organization knows just what makes customers buy and how their performance affects those purchase decisions.

*More aligned. Everyone in the organization pulls toward a single, highly integrated goal that is critical to the success of the business.

*More energized. Everyone seeks out new ways to deliver customer value--an inherently positive, creative pursuit.

Striving to deliver the maximum value to the customer is energizing and self-sustaining. Call this The Value Effect. The application of The Value Effect is based on three main principles:

*What an organization can achieve is ultimately determined by the processes by which work gets done. Therefore, improvement efforts focus on work processes: documenting, understanding and optimizing them.

*The people who do the work understand the work processes best. Therefore, improvements should be made by process improvement teams representing all relevant stakeholders.

*If you look for the work to be done or the answers to be discovered for you by consultants, you and your people won't own the results; therefore, the results won't stick. Any consultants you might engage should serve as expert guides throughout the improvement process.

With those three principles firmly in place, here are the steps involved in leveraging The Value Effect:

First, form an executive steering committee. This enables senior management to provide the kind of overall business leadership and experience-based knowledge and wisdom that it uniquely possesses, while simultaneously turning that senior group into a more effective, successful team.

Once in place, the steering committee guides the organization through three distinct phases:

*Phase 1: Exploration.

*Charter cross-functional teams to lead inquiries into three main areas:

* What is truly of value to our customers?

* How ready are we as an organization to embrace change?

* What is the current state of our core work processes?

This information better positions the steering committee to make informed choices as they move the organization into .

*Phase 2: Implementation

* Cross-functional improvement teams are chartered to redesign work processes so that:

* Existing problems are remedied.

* Opportunities to create Customer Value in new ways are seized.

* In parallel, work is done to ensure that all employees (especially those not currently on process improvement teams): know what is of value to customers, feel what is of value to customers, and understand how their work affects the delivery of value to customers.

Once the steering committee determines that the work of the various improvement teams has been successfully accomplished, they are ready to lead the organization into .

*Phase 3: Institutionalization

The steering committee works to ensure that the changes stick. They create and implement the various mechanisms, tools and metrics needed to make sure that a focus on customer value is now a part of the organization's standard operating procedure, rather than a passing program.

Why is The Value Effect so powerful? Three main reasons:

*It places everyone's work squarely into the mainstream of the business. In fact, not only is value creation in the mainstream of the business, it defines the mainstream because, in the final analysis, "maximizing value received" is the only thing that makes customers buy.

*It is accepted at face value. You don't need to do a lot of proselytizing about the importance of customer value. People already understand it, viscerally and profoundly; it's how they've made buying decisions all their lives.

*It meets people's needs to work for a higher purpose. When you are striving to create customer value, you are, perforce, working in the service of others--arguably the highest of higher purposes.

End result: an organization that is aligned and energized around mainstream business issues. Or, said most simply, The Value Effect works because it addresses the hard part . which is to say, the soft stuff.