The Dassault Systemes ‘Compass’ guides us to the apps which are the life blood of our capability and underpin our market strength: North for Social and Collaborative; East for Information and Intelligence; South for Simulation; and West for 3D Modelling.

Navigating with the Compass

It can however be viewed in a very different way: as a compass to navigate our way through turbulent waters, especially in times of political and economic pressure, when the environment in which we operate is creating demands on our competitiveness, market perception and ability to generate growth in the face of increasing economic risk.

Elements of Success

To be successful in such a challenging business environment requires a focus on people, capability, information and decision making, strategic and operational planning, and significantly – inspirational and decisive leadership.

At the heart of any successful business are people. People are at their best when they are kept fully informed, are properly trained and equipped for the task in hand, work together in a collaborative environment and are rewarded for achievements. People also need inspirational leadership, knowing that they are doing the right thing and are moving in the right direction, supported by clear information contributing to the domination of the market environment in which they are operating.

People also have a right to expect their leaders to develop clear, workable plans which will enable and achieve the success they rightly expect.

The elements of people, information, planning and execution, brought together by capable and decisive leadership, are at the core of any successful enterprise but it is surprising how often this simple algorithm can be forgotten. People can be treated as pawns by autocratic leaders who forget human emotional needs and the morale so dependent upon their recognition, leaders who fail to accept the need for accurate communication of information and the requirement for clarity in planning and in the implementation of those plans.

We are undergoing a programme of transformation, focusing on the fundamental change agents of Growth, People and One Team, a programme designed to make us more competitive, increasingly successful and giving us sustainable growth. This programme has leadership, people, information, planning and implementation at its heart; the elements for success we need to focus on instinctively.

Our unique business tool

Within Dassault Systemes we have a tool we can use to help us to keep the elements for success at the forefront of our minds – that tool is our Compass.  By using the orientation of the Compass to aid our strategic approach to transformation we can align our thinking with the Compass points.

• North: the culture of collaboration across our people, sales channels and support teams, focusing on growth.
• East: the information and intelligence we need to shape our approach to the market and beat the competition, as well as to focus on our customers’ requirements and issues. Information needed to take the right decision – and to do so swiftly to think and act faster than the competition.
• West: modelling and creating our plan to deal with the targets and objectives we have set to grow the business.
• South: putting our plan into action with minimum delay, transforming our thinking into reality to achieve successful growth.

But at the centre of the Compass:

• The Start/Play button: strong and decisive leadership at the heart of successful growth, leading our people, developing capability, inspiring our teams to go the extra mile, recognising and rewarding achievement.

Linking all this together creates a navigation tool – the Compass which steers us towards the ‘Way We Work’ in meeting the challenges ahead of us.

Using the Compass in this way can provide a reminder of the key elements of business success, enabling us all to play our parts and add real value to the direction of the company. Try it – you will be surprised about just how much your thinking and actions will change!

Above all, this version of the Compass brings us together as One Team as we transform our business and the Way We Work in EuroNorth.