Seven Things You Need to Know for Your Kick-Off Meeting Success

On November 22, 2018   /   business analysis, business leadership, business planning, strategic planning  

People giving a hand bump at completion of successful meeting.I was facilitating a Strategic Planning Kick-Off meeting. The meeting was a transition meeting. Therefore, the client was being transitioned to me from the set-up-team so I could take the Business Strategist Lead. As I reflect on the meeting and the dialogue we had, I started to think about what to include in a Kick-Off meeting. Creating kick-off meeting success for project management and strategic planning teams has its challenges. Here are seven things you need to know for Kick-Off Meeting success.

Kick-Off Meeting Purpose

First things first, get clear on your purpose and ensure everyone else is too. Remember, a kick-off meeting is used formally to tell all team members, the client, and key stakeholders the initiative has started, clarify the roles and ensure there is an understanding of the process, the approach. So clarity of purpose is important.

Transition the Team Members

On the strategic planning side, I work with a team who help move Canadian businesses from where they are to where they need to go and it does take a team to do that. You need to transition the team carefully, so the client (internal or external) understands the new dynamic. Often the key point person changes as the client are shifted into the planning execution process. This successful transition is critical as the client needs to be working with a single point person during the analysis and planning process.

Never work in isolation as it takes a team to build buy-in, motivate and create enthusiasm to move a team forward. Richard Lannon Share on X

Guiding with an Agenda and Presentation

This to me only makes sense, an agenda and presentation. It is important for the client should know what to expect. The agenda should outline the items covered. But the presentation should be high level and walk the clients through the phased strategic planning process, clearly identifying what will take place. Maybe in later blogs, I will cover the agenda and presentation requirements in more details. Surface to say, no agenda and a poorly laid out presentation create a disastrous kick-off meeting.

Building Enthusiasm and Motivation

I am fortunate to now work with business owners and professionals where enthusiasm and motivation are not an issue. The reason is simple; as they have an invested and vested interest in their success. They got to where they are because of a lot of work and motivation. But that is not always the way it is when you are attending a kick-off meeting. As a Planning Lead, you need to take some time ahead of the meeting and find out the motivations for the initiative. So you need to look beyond the standard business speak and see if you can dig deeper into motivation. As for the enthusiasm builder, you will know very quickly where everyone is when you start to set up the next steps.

Fielding and Answering Questions

A kick-off meeting should be a safe place where everyone can ask relevant questions. The key is relevant questions. As part of the transition applying an approach to engaging, relevant questions and deflecting some questions or issue or solution, the dialogue is important. Remember you are only walking through phased approach you will be taking to help the client solve their challenges and create an implementation plan for the future. Stay to the program.

Getting the Next Steps and Action Items

Getting to the next steps is important. But more important is getting to the next steps. In my world, the completed client questionnaires, getting the current state financials and booking the one-on-one interviews with key people, and the first current state workshop is imperative. I do not close the meeting until I have the key people in the room agreeing to and setting dates for the next steps. I suggest you do the same. Hint: Ensure you have a single point of contact with authority — someone who is responsive.

Book Cover, SET for Success (strategic planning approach) by Richard Lannon

Creating Your Credibility

In reading a topic on creating credibility I realized, it focused on professional credibility. Fair enough, the people you are working with should believe you are capable of doing the work. Having a great resume helps, being able to answer questions about your career helps. You should willingly volunteer your career information.

More important is the creating connection and relationships. I now openly do an AMA (ask me anything) at all my kick-off meetings, and clients do. This last week I had a CEO ask me about my childhood, another time I had a president ask me about my marriage and family, and yet another time, I had a CFO of a mining service company, ask me why they should work with me as opposed to someone else. The latter, I responded truthfully and told the client success comes down to relationship and connection. The decision they need to make is what relationship do they believe will best foster their success.

Creating credibility is about fostering relationships on a business, personal and life level. Rarely is it about just business.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In conclusion, with this blog, I wanted to address some of the items I experienced through my career with kick-off meetings beyond the standard linear approach and thinking. These meetings are a great opportunity to go beyond the standard business and professional format. The more I work with clients, the more I see real people, with real lives, looking to move forward beyond where they are today. They are dealing with real issues on a business, personal and life level. I am truly into supporting Canadian business success, whether it is from a fundamental or advanced level. The question is for you, when it comes to your work, your clients, your business, are you doing the same in your kick-off meetings?

Remember, do your best, invest in the success of others and make your journey count.

Richard Lannon

Author: SET for Success, a roadmap to transform your business

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19 Financial Analysis Approaches Business Leaders, Managers, and Professionals Should Know

On January 3, 2018   /   analysis, business analysis, strategic planning  
19 Financial Analysis Approaches Business Leaders, Managers, and Professionals Should Know

It is not often that I write about numbers. Why, because some professionals find it boring and want to nod off at the mention of numbers, while others simply say, well my numbers are giving to me by someone else.

Here’s the thing, you may not create the numbers, but you need to know how to read them and understand what they mean. At least you need to be able to have a meaningful conversation with a financial analyst, accountant or chief financial officer.

Recently I have been working on three separate strategic planning and business analysis initiatives. We followed standard best practices. That is to say, identify the current state, define the future state, assess the risk and create the strategic plans and roadmap so the clients could implement. As part of these initiatives, we have had to gather the numbers, which essentially means ask for them, and use them to help assess the current state financially. Eventually, we used the number to do future state projections and budgeting. I am a big believer in the adages, the numbers don’t lie, and you need to know where you are to determine where you can and need to go. Numbers help in making better business decisions.

So I thought I would provide some of the more common financial analysis options used to help business leaders and professionals make better business decisions. The type of financials you require will be driven, in part, by the type of initiative. You can use the following as a checklist for the types of financials you may need to understand. You should ask your accountant, financial analyst or CFO what other numbers maybe be required as I can’t cover them all here but I do hope this blog on the numbers helps.

Vertical Analysis is used on financial statements where each entry of the major accounts, assets, liabilities, and equities in the balance sheet are represented as a proportion of the account totals. It shows the relative sizes of different accounts on a financial statement. When done on an income statement the top line of sales (100%) is broken down by percentage of product or service sold. It can be used on a project to understand top line spend (100%) against a category of spend. For example, labor, hardware, software, etc. However, if you are looking at a company’s financials overall, you may want to understand the financial breakdown of sales vs. expenses regarding percentages. (PS: you should know what an incomes statement and balance sheet, and how to read them)

Horizontal Analysis is sometimes called trend analysis and should be something you understand and monitor. You compare ratios or line items in financial statements over a certain period. It’s a useful tool evaluate trend situations. You can use this analysis against a balance sheet, income statement, industry data or a multi-period project budget to understand what is going on.

Forecast to Budget: The use of historical data to determine the direction of future trends. Forecasting is used by companies to determine how to allocate their budgets for an upcoming period. It is also used to budget for projects.

Run-Rates: If a company has revenues of $100 million in its latest quarter, the CEO might say: “Our latest quarter puts us at a $400 million run rate.” All this is saying is that if the company were to perform at the same level for the next year, they’d have annual revenues of $400 million.

Productivity: Productivity is the relationship between the quantity of output and the quantity of input used to generate that output. It is a measure of the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization in generating output with the resources available. Productivity = output/input.

Return on Assets: Investors and managers base the market value of the business on the profit it generates. The return on assets, or ROA, of business, is a ratio commonly used to calculate profitability.

Inventory Turnover: Companies that are based on the sale of a product depend on regular sales to generate a profit. In these cases, the financial health of a business depends on its inventory turnover, or in other words, how many times a year it sells its average inventory.

Cost-Benefit Analysis is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives that satisfy transactions, activities or functional requirements for business. It is a technique that is used to determine options that provide the best approach for the adoption and practice regarding benefits in labor, time and cost savings.

Breakeven Analysis: An analysis to determine the point at which revenue received equals the costs associated with receiving the revenue.

Sensitivity Analysis: A technique used to determine how different values of an independent variable will impact a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions.

Profitability Analysis: A component of enterprise resource planning (ERP) that allows administrators to forecast the profitability of a proposal or optimize the profitability of an existing project.

Net Present Value (NPV): Defined as the sum of the present values (PVs) of incoming and outgoing cash flows over a period. Incoming and outgoing cash flows can also be described as benefit and cost cash flows, respectively.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR): Also called the discounted cash flow rate of return. It’s a rate of return used in capital budgeting to measure and compare the profitability of investments. ‘Internal’ refers to the fact that does not calculate environmental factors like interest rates or inflation.

Return on Investment: A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of some different investments. You calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

If you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business. Marcus Lemonis Share on X

Asset Turnover:  Indicates business capability to generate sales per every dollar invested in total assets

Cash Conversion Cycle: Measures the effectiveness (average amount of time in days) to convert resource inputs into cash

Current Assets to Liabilities Ratios: It calculates the extent to which a firm can meet its short-term obligations.

Debt to Equity Ratio: It indicates how much of total funds are provided by creditors versus by owners.

Market Segmentation Analysis: It indicates revenues by your business market segments and can be adjusted to segment product and service lines.

Final Thoughts

So, did I just bore you? Are your eyeballs rolling back into your forehead? Sorry about that. I know I didn’t provide you a lot of case examples. I have limited space in a blog. These are the financial analysis basics. When I am working on an initiative, I find myself working with a team. Most recently that team has included a combination of stakeholders all working to serve the client’s needs. It has included a senior consultant, project lead, a researcher, financial analyst and of course the client we are serving. As the management consultant wearing the hat of a strategic business analyst and business advisor, I get to work with a team of people who provide the information needed and packaged in a way that it can be analyzed. All I have to do is ask. I guess for you, as a business leader or professional, you need to be able to do the same thing. You may not have to create the numbers, but you do need to know what to request, how to read them and determine what they mean or at least ask what they mean.

Good luck!

Remember, do your best, invest in the success of others and make your journey count.

Richard

Staff, Investopedia. “Forecasting.” Investopedia. June 05, 2015. Accessed October 27, 2017. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/forecasting.asp.
“Run Rate.” WordReference Forums. Accessed October 27, 2017. https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/run-rate.3041745/.
Phillips, Jack J., and Patricia Pulliam Phillips. Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods. London: Routledge, 2016.
Marshall, Alfred. Principles of Economics. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Smith, Charisma. “An Analysis to Determine the Point at Which Revenue Received.” Prezi.com. April 18, 2014. Accessed October 27, 2017. https://prezi.com/ghwtqx4172gc/an-analysis-to-determine-the-point-at-which-revenue-received/.
Staff, Investopedia. “Sensitivity Analysis.” Investopedia. December 03, 2015. Accessed October 27, 2017. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sensitivityanalysis.asp.
“What Is Profitability Analysis? – Definition from WhatIs.com.” SearchERP. Accessed October 27, 2017. http://searcherp.techtarget.com/definition/profitability-analysis.
“Net Present Value.” SpringerReference. doi:10.1007/springerreference_2028.
Boundless. “Internal Rate of Return.” Internal Rate of Return | Boundless Finance. Accessed October 27, 2017. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-finance/chapter/internal-rate-of-return/.
Staff, Investopedia. “Return On Investment – ROI.” Investopedia. September 01, 2017. Accessed October 27, 2017. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp.

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9 Focus Areas In Strategic Business Analysis for Success

On October 3, 2017   /   business analysis, leadership, strategic planning  
9 Focus Areas In Strategic Business Analysis for Success

Recently I was having breakfast with a CEO of a ½ billion dollar annual revenue resource company.

He was telling me how they had a strategic planning session with a former executive where they mapped out their plans for the next five years. As with most companies, the plan is to grow, to expand and explore new worlds and go where they have never gone before. Does that sound familiar?

So being the strategic planner and business analyst that I am, I asked if they had defined, scoped and prioritized their initiatives yet. There was an awkward moment of silence. Sixty seconds when you are not sure if you should begin to pray, cry or buy a lotto ticket. The response was they had not gotten that far yet because they were busy operating the business. But their people will do that, get right on it, right?

Business leaders and professionals often do not take strategic planning to the next level, a situation I know only too well. Companies create great plans and ideas from their initial strategic planning and mapping sessions only to front-load everything and not take the time to understand where they should focus, why and what should be the priorities.

This is where strategic business analysis (enterprise analysis) comes in. As in the question, I asked above; strategic business analysis is used to define, scope and prioritize initiatives, a step in the strategic planning process that gets missed. In the real world of business, a strategic business analysis is an essential component of every project or change initiative to ensure outcomes align with the goals and objectives the entire organization and its departments.

In a review of the IIBA Body of Knowledge, several books on strategic analysis, my book, SET for Success, and from the work I have done with small to large corporations, strategic business analysis requires a keen focus on the following:

  1. Understanding the business structure, architectures, and people and culture
  2. Conducting capability analysis to ensure the organization can do what it says it plans to do
  3. Ensuring proper strengths and weaknesses are recognized, and opportunity and threats are identified and defined
  4. Business problems and opportunities are analyzed, and solutions are brainstormed beyond the norm of improving processes, increased sales and cut costs
  5. Performing feasibility and risk analysis on the potential solutions and compare the solutions alternatives through success and failure analysis, pros and cons discussions, and cost, ease, benefit analysis and developing decision grids to prioritize solutions
  6. Determining the proper scope change initiatives based on business, structure and organizational parameters and capabilities
  7. Developing the business case to drive out the investments and expected returns externally or internally for the key initiatives.
  8. Creating a communication plan that helps guide the organization through the changes that will take place as initiatives become implemented, and
  9. Building a roadmap focused on using project management best practices of implementation with business champions, key initiatives, tactical focus, time and dates and a reporting structure to ensure initiatives are moving forward as originally planned.

There is a lot going on here, and it would be a mistake to think that this is the private domain of business analysts identified on an organizational chart. It is not. Business analysis and strategic business analysis is a set of skills that bridge a position. In today’s business world the CEO, COO, VPs, various Managers, and Professionals must be able to perform these critical tasks at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Granted there is a difference in the tools and techniques employed, and the expected outcomes and deliverables that exist in the details. The key is that there is a shared vision of success connected to the goals and objectives of the organization. Something many business leaders and professionals miss with a negative impact on the organization.

It is great to have a strategic plan. You also need to pick and prioritize your project focus. Share on X

Effectively implementing strategic plans means using proper strategic analysis and strategic business analysis to ensure you make the best strategic decisions, that you are actually strategic through proper strategic management considerations and that you are focused on the best initiatives and projects for your organization at this point and time. Strategic analysis and therefore the strategic business analysis focuses on factual support of business decisions. Hopefully, in the end, the business has made better business decisions.

Final Thoughts

I have always enjoyed the topic of strategic planning, management, and analysis because it is incredibly interesting to help shape an organization’s future and because learning strategic business analysis is for everyone in business, from the executive to the professional. Granted you may not be working at the strategic level in your career, but you have a business impact at the tactical and operational levels. If strategic business analysis helps scope out the initiatives and projects delivered by mid-level and project managers, then other professionals have to flush out the details to ensure that prioritized initiatives and projects deliver.

The best part is that strategic business analysis is connected to strategic management which is concerned with the overall goals and objectives of the organization, includes multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process, has to incorporate short and long term specifics of initiatives and projects and knows that there is a trade-off between effectiveness and efficiency. If you are going to envision it and plan it, you better make sure you are addressing the right problem, leveraging the best opportunities and you get your priorities straight; strategic business analysis will help. Good luck.
Do your best, invest in the success of others, and make your journey count. Richard

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6 Strategic Insight Terms You Should Know to Help You Focus

On August 15, 2016   /   business analysis, leadership, strategic planning  
6 Strategic Insight Terms You Should Know to Help You Focus

dictionary-1149723_1920Recently I wrote about the importance of communications and having a common stakeholder language.

From a strategy insight perspective this is extremely important. Definitions and a common language help keep people on track so they move things forward. Often I have to tell my stakeholders what the terms mean in the context we are using them in and that they cannot change the definition. This approach helps move stakeholders forward. In the strategic facilitation this is a valuable approach. Even if you are not doing strategic facilitation or planning, as a business leader and professional you need to know the key terms to align your work and project initiatives. That is the implementation of the strategy.

Related Article: 8 Ideas for Creating a Common Language and Communication Plan

Here are six strategic analysis, planning and implementation terms I often give to clients to ensure that we are all speaking the same language and our work aligns with the over arching business requirements and stakeholders needs.

Strategy Agenda Item is a high level plan of action item designed to achieve a vision. Since strategic planning is a component of the business planning that is to be done before you take tactical action it is imperative that there is a clear understanding of the strategic agenda items as they provide focus. Often rather than focusing on internal operational issues, a strategic focus means addressing and solving business problems through the effective use of existing resources. As strategic initiatives are defined resource usage is analyzed.

Strategic Initiatives should represent the most significant line of business or cross line of business projects that are planned to improve the business in some way with consideration for the four key business impact zones. In this part of strategic planning phase the team is deciding the essential focus and key initiatives that must be met to achieve the strategic agenda items. Depending on the size of your organization these will become enterprise, program or project initiatives. They can be very strategic or tactical based on your organization’s size, structure and present culture. At the initiative level the way you define success in the attainment of our objectives should be clarified, the speed and distance of action determined and the critical success factors defined. This takes a while to do.

Business and Initiative Champions are individuals that go beyond their operative responsibilities. As defined here, they are individuals trying to influence strategic issues larger than their own immediate operational responsibilities. They take the initiative and accept responsibility and accountability for it. The potential ways and objectives of championing cover the whole process of strategy: the formation of the content of strategy as well as the process of implementing strategic contents.

Related Article: 5 Questions Business Analysts Should Have in Their Question Inventory

If the focus is more of being an initiative champion then that person should bring discipline and rigour to planning and execution of an initiative ensuring the timing and achievement of milestones and deliverables are agreed upon and managed. They will need to tie investment in strategic items and strategic initiative to specific and measurable outcomes and enable issues to be addressed and resolved proactively, before they jeopardize outcomes.

A champion can be used more specifically to refer to a senior manager who champions the project, ensures that it is properly resourced and uses their influence to overcome barriers for the team.

Measurable Outcomes are the measurable results of the implemented objectives and must be defined in measurable terms. Measurements are essential for understanding what is happening in your business–what gets measured gets done. In a business environment, measurements come in many forms and include hard, soft, lagging and leading indicators.

Lagging indicators are used to measure performance and allow the leadership team to track how things are going. Because output (performance) is always easier to measure by assessing whether your goals were achieved, lagging indicators are backward-focused or “trailing”—they measure performance already captured. Just about anything you wish to monitor will have lagging indicators. Leading indicators are precursors to the direction something is going. Because leading indicators come before a trend, they are considered business drivers. Identifying specific, focused leading indicators should be a part of each business’s strategic planning and decision-making process.

Related Article: Lagging vs. Leading Business Indicators – Do you know the difference?

You can pre-determine or reverse engineer measurable outcomes by either using the SMART and/or CAR principle. As part of the measurable outcome determination always consider key stakeholders.

Key Elements are the big things that need to be done in order to be successful. They are the big buckets of work. The key to creating key elements is to understand the scope of work at a high level and to be able to state them clearly. A scope of work sets forth requirements for performance of work to achieve strategic and project objectives. The scope of work must be clear, accurate and complete. It needs to be understood by a wide audience. Defining key elements is part art and science and takes a while to master.

Milestone is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road. Within the framework of strategic planning, a milestone is a special event that receives special attention. It is often falsely put at the end of a stage to mark the completion of a work package or phase. Milestones should be put before the end of a phase so that corrective actions can be taken. In addition to signalling the completion of a key deliverable, a milestone may also signify an important decision, which outlines or affects the future of an initiative or project. In this sense, a milestone not only signifies distance traveled (key stages in a project) but also indicates direction of travel since key decisions made at milestones may alter the route pre-determine in the various plans (strategic, tactical or operational).

The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows. Aristotle Onassis Share on X

Final Thoughts

Whether you are working on a top-down, bottom-up or mid-level initiatives having clear definition of these terms will help you. It is very difficult to walk into a room and write a list of terms on a white board and ask people to define them. You will spend a lot of time on an activity that should be done prior to meeting. I believe the professional provides the words and defines the terms that will be used. I have provided variations of these terms when working with clients to align their thinking, to build or interpret roadmaps and plans already created and to ensure stakeholders had a common language. I invite you to adapt them for your own use. Good luck.

Always
Do your best,
Invest in the success of others,
Make your journey count.
Richard

Article adapted from SET for Success, Chapter 15, by Richard Lannon

Richard Lannon – SET for Success
business strategist, conference speaker, trainer, coach, author, blogger, radio host, podcaster and your business cheerleader
BraveWorld Inc. http://braveworld.ca/

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5 Common Mistakes To Avoid During The Strategic Facilitation Process: Part A

On July 3, 2016   /   facilitation, General, strategic planning  
5 Common Mistakes To Avoid During The Strategic Facilitation Process: Part A

meeting-1219530_1280There are times when a business analyst is asked to step up and become a strategic business analyst, effectively guiding the strategic facilitation process. Strategic facilitation is focused on the skill and art of guiding a process to solve business problems or leverage opportunities at the enterprise level.

However, that does not mean you forget the operational aspect of the organization. As a strategic facilitator, the business analyst brings together tools and techniques, methods and processes, and key business artifacts available for the strategic planning purposes.

In all forms of facilitation, there are some common mistakes that are made, mistakes that can be avoided with preparation and a keen sense of the deliverables.

Here are 5 common mistakes to avoid during the strategic facilitation process – part A.

Not Having An Approach:  This is a significant issue. There are many times I had to audit strategic business analysis gone sideways and have found a lack of a defined approach. Strategic facilitation only works if you are clear on what you need to do. For example, the S.E.T. Approach. In the S.E.T. Approach, you structure your approach, engage people and transform the business. The first part is about structured analysis and might include a combination of preparation activities including one-on-one sponsor and stakeholder interviews, short answer (open-ended questions) surveys to no more than 6 or 7 people for clarity purposes and maybe document review. The purpose is to understand the situation using an approach.

Lack Of Clarity On The Issue:  In strategic business analysis, planning and implementation there is usually some issue driving the situation. You need to answer the question, what is the driving force for strategic analysis and facilitation process?

For example, I had a situation where an important contract was not re-signed and the company lost 25% of its revenue. Due to rapid growth, another client experienced a lack of cohesiveness which negatively impacted their organization’s culture and its ability to perform. The point, something is driving your work, what is it? You do not want to be in the situation where the primary purposes strategic facilitation and planning is unclear. Get clear.

No Defined Method Or Solution Domain:  I am amazed at the number of meetings I have gone to, and professionals are trying to solve problems without a method to apply. Even worse is when there is a standardized method to apply, but they don’t know what it is. It happens all the time. You need to ask if there is a solution domain that you should be using. In this case, I am looking to understand if the business environment has a lean or six sigma standard, are they ITSM/ITIL, a Balance Score Card or Setability Model in the environment. There are lots of possibilities. It depends on the situation. Maybe you are introducing something new. That is fine as long as it fits. If you are the strategic facilitator, then you need to ensure that the method for discussing the issue is clear and communicated well in advance. Sometimes you will need to provide training in the method used to discuss and solve issues. This should be part of defining your approach.

Related Article: Group Dynamics and Requirements Elicitation

Participating In The Solutions:  It is easy to become the solution person and add your opinion, be the trainer and start teaching people stuff, or set yourself up as the expert and people look to you for the answer. They will ask for your opinion. Don’t allow this to happen. As a strategic facilitator it is not your job to participate in that way. You need to become neutral in the process and learn to be a guide to ensure that the discussion is lively and relevant at any particular point in time. This means you need a toolbox of approaches that you can use. Learn to deflect through redirecting questions or statements asking for your opinion. If you are to participate, recommend that you use a neutral facilitator, someone with experience in strategic analysis and planning. Remember strategic facilitation is about guiding a process through a maze of progressive elaboration to eventually converge on a common decision and direction.

Failing To Involve Various People Types

The engagement activity is a people skill on a number of levels. First, the introvert versus the extrovert. You need to engage effectively in leadership to avoid having a few opinionated attendees taking over. The people who talk the most do not necessarily have the best ideas. So get the quieter people engaged in the process. Second, learn to profile on the fly and adjust your behavior and communication style to the other persons or group needs. This means learning not to be you. For some people this is a difficult skill to master. But the better you understand you, the better you can understand other people. Third, learn group dynamic approaches to deal with the various characters in the room. Have private nicknames for the participant’s persona that give you a bit of a snapshot of the person’s character in a group meeting and approach you can apply to the situation.

If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse, Jim Rohn Share on X

There are lots of mistakes in strategic facilitation that the business analyst can avoid making. Often it means investing in developing a set of skills that go beyond documentation and providing technical solutions. These skills can be applied at a variety of levels in the organization and to a business analyst’s work. If you are a business analyst who is focused on strategic analysis, then the bar is raised when it comes to your strategic facilitation abilities. It is best to invest time and effort in avoiding some common mistakes.

Remember to Always, Do your best, Invest in the success of others, Make your journey count,
Richard

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Use What If Questions to Create Innovation in Your Business

On April 3, 2016   /   strategic planning  
Use What If Questions to Create Innovation in Your Business

While visiting a few friends at a cool retro music shop I found an original 1985 vinyl version of the Back to the Future sound track. It brought us all fond memories of being back in that day where What If Questionswe could all state what we were doing at the time. Then we thought what if, we could go back to the future in our businesses. What if we changed something? How would the story unfold differently? Where would we be today? Granted we can’t go back to the future but we can ask what If questions to understand scenarios, create a story, find potential solutions and surmise future outcomes.

When I am speaking on business analysis facilitation principles at the corporate and university level, I will often create a scenario by asking ‘what if questions’. Sometimes I start with something that has no bearing on the business discussion whatsoever. For example, what if everything you touched turned to gold? I always get a lot of ‘right-ons’ with that question. But what if you touched the person next to you? Here I get mixed responses, some misgivings, some concerns, some want to melt their friend down and turn them into a watch. Then I ask some standard questions that we learned in grade school, who, when, where, why and how. This in turn helps create a scenario story.

Every business should use what if questions to create strategic innovative thinking to understand difficult situations and create possible solutions. ‘What if’ questions should be focus on a situation or challenge that should be solved or to look at the world around you differently. For example a business could ask some of these what if questions and build a solution story around them.

What if you simplified our customer value proposition?  This is a challenging what if question. It assumes you are in some way different in the market place. That you stand out from the competition. Over the years I think every business leader struggles with this one. What if you could stand out from the competition? What really makes you different? How can we state it so clearly even a child would understand it (ie: Duct Tape Principle)? Why would our customers care to know that information? In what way would it change your communication or business? There are lots of questions to ask.

What if you were an inch wide and a mile deep?  This has to be one of my favorite questions to ask. Every professional service provider has heard the expression; you need to be an inch wide and a mile deep. I don’t think a lot actually accomplish it. Adding what if component allows for interesting thinking and it is tied to the first question. Achieving inch wide mile deep would mean you are really niche in your business. Your services fit a specific market.

What if our customers paid what they wanted for our products or services?   This is a bit of a new business model that is scary for a number of business people. It has been popularized by content owners. Basically content owners offer their intellectual property and the customer decides what they want to pay. This model is showing up in the creative service industry as a pricing strategy. Customers could pay zero but a minimum floor price can be set. Some set the price after usage. This is somewhat like tipping. Some of my business colleagues are using ‘donation pricing’. Under this model customers can leave a one-time donation or donate regularly if they like the product you produce. This business approach is something to watch for as it will be seen more and more in certain industries. Would you survive if your industry turned to this pricing model?

What if 33 percent of your employees were going to retire in 5 years?  Another one of my favorite questions as it forces you to think creatively about succession planning. This is a real challenge for some companies. They are seriously reaching the maturity ceiling on all their resources and have to act now to solve this challenge. What scenario story would you create for this one? How will your business be impacted? What are the options to solve this challenge? Add in the question, what if there are no qualified people in the market place to replace my present employees. In some parts of the country that is a serious concern. There are many possible solutions to this challenge that include process and technology investments, a changed employee to contract model, a work from anywhere model, a no office model. There are all sorts of ways this challenge is being solved.

What if your employees were contractors or freelancers?  I have been a proponent of this model for almost two decades with the onset of flexible workforce and questioning whether you need employees or not. This questioning does not apply to all industries. With the rapid life choices and technology innovation freelance work is a serious option and hiring free lancers is easier with services like UpWork and Fiverr. My whole support staff are freelancers and I use professional contractors in partnerships to complete client work. It is thought now that freelancing is outpacing conventional job market due to desire for flexibility, freedom and control in our work and personal lives. By 2020 one in three jobs might be people working independently online. I tend to agree with this trend as I have personally and professionally experienced this trend in my business and my client’s businesses.

Final Thoughts:  In the last five years I have seen some major changes in product and service industries. I suspect you have experienced the same thing. Sometimes it is a challenge to know what to do next. The important thing is that you take the time to ask the right what if question, use them for innovation thinking and create stories around them. Don’t limit yourself in your thinking but do focus your intent. Make sure you are picking what if scenarios that deal with the key impact areas of your business (process, technology, sales, and people).

There’s an unlimited amount of ‘what if’ questions I could ask related to business and economic acceleration that impacts you. I believe what if questions will help you create a story for your greater business success. If anything, get the creative juices flowing.

What are the what if questions you are asking about your business? Send me a note and let me know. I’d like to know.

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Get to Know Richard

Richard works with companies that provide products, services, and expertise to other businesses. As a senior strategic business analyst and consultant, his focus is strategic planning, business analysis, and training and development of client organizations.

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Richard Lannon
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Website: http://braveworld.ca
Email: richard@braveworld.ca

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