Jump Start Design Work with a Converse Cause and Effect Diagram
Having trouble getting started on that Business Plan for your new service? Have an idea for a major process change, but don’t know how to plan it? Try using an Effect and Cause Diagram. Process improvement practitioners may think that’s a typo. They’ll claim the correct name is the Cause and Effect Diagram. Actually, the part of me that works in process improvement loves using Cause and Effect Diagrams for their traditional applications of Root Cause Analysis and understanding why errors occur. They make it easy to visualize the various reasons why an undesirable outcome happened (note that is past tense…happened).
But the other part of me is a planner, usually thinking about desired outcomes in the future. Years ago, that planner part of me started wondering if the Cause and Effect Diagram would also be useful in displaying necessary ingredients for achieving something desirable, like a new service or a fully implemented process improvement. The basic premise and constructs of the diagram would still apply. Show the outcome as the head of a skeleton, the bones of which describe the various requirements (causes) needed to achieve that outcome. Highlight levels of detail and related requirements by where they are placed in the skeleton.
If you’ve worked with Cause and Effect Diagrams before, this may seem pretty simple, and in fact maybe it is a more common practice that I think. If you have little or no experience creating Cause and Effect Diagrams, I encourage you to try it. If you have registered as a member of my web site (free and no obligation), go to the Resources Page where you will find a downloadable PowerPoint file that includes a Template that you can use to build your own. The file also includes a little background on both traditional and converse cause and effect diagrams. Not a member? Why not sign up now?
The best part of using the diagram in this new way is the return on time invested. You can convene a small group of 2-4 stakeholders for an hour to complete the diagram together. You’ll exit that meeting with a better understanding of what it will take to achieve your outcome. Suddenly, writing that Business Plan or Implementation Plan may not seem so daunting.
Because the application is different, I’m inclined to give the tool a different name. Effect and Cause Diagram? No, that doesn’t really roll off the tongue. I kind of like Converse Cause and Effect. But what’s in a name, anyway?
If you would like more help using cause and effect diagrams in the traditional way (like the process improver in me) or in a new way (like the planner in me), give me a call. I’m sure one of us can help.
Jeff
Use SOAR with SWOT to Accelerate Strategy Development
In essence, strategic planning is about changing from a current state to a desired future state. The better you can understand and articulate both, the easier it is to identify the necessary changes (Strategies and Tactics) that will be needed to move from current state to future state. This is where information and analysis play such a vital role – they can deepen our knowledge of not only the way things are now, but also what they could be like. But at some point, the information and analysis relevant to both the current and future state must be mined for key findings. There are different techniques for doing this, but two in particular work very well. They have an added advantage in that they have short learning curves, making them ideal for use in the Committees, Task Forces, and Work Groups often charged with developing a particular strategy or plan. In fact, you may already be familiar with one of them.
Understanding the “Current State”: Many people are familiar with a SWOT Analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Participants brainstorm observations, share insights, or identify relevant findings under each of these headings, usually in the same sequence as the acronym. There are some other nuances that contribute to a good outcome, but essentially the SWOT Analysis provides a framework for assessing current state or where an organization is at the present time. It can easily serve as the foundation of an Organizational Assessment.
Envisioning the “Ideal Future State”: Even though a SWOT Analysis includes opportunities and threats, which could be seen as somewhat future-oriented, their purpose in SWOT is to surface growth potential and vulnerabilities in the organization at the present time. For this reason, the SWOT Analysis has limited value as a tool for developing a Desired Future State. That’s where another tool, less familiar to most but similar in design, can help. A SOAR Analysis focuses on four aspects, two of which are shared with a SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. Again, there are nuances to completing a SOAR Analysis but essentially the participants identify the observations, insights and findings that help define the desired future state, or what success will be like.
Tapping the Power of Two: The two techniques can be, and often are, used separately. Many use SWOT Analysis alone to dissect a problem or challenge. SOAR Analysis can be an effective way to establish an Aim Statement or new Team Charter. However, because the essence of planning is clarifying both the current and future state, they can be used as two parts of the same planning process. And, when this is done, some additional efficiencies are gained. Having addressing the Strengths and Opportunities as part of a SOAR analysis in the vision / goals development, they can be simply imported into a SWOT Analysis, meaning almost half the work of the SWOT Analysis is already complete. And for the participants, the shared content of Strengths and Opportunities creates a logical, mental connection between current and future state.
Building “Bridges” with Solid Anchoring: The planning team can now proceed with identifying the “bridges” of change needed to move from current to future state. And, they can do so knowing that at either end of the bridges, they have solid anchoring in the form of an insightful current state at one end, and a well-conceived desired future state at the other.
If you want help using SWOT and SOAR Analysis in the development of your strategy or Strategic Plan, or if I can be of other assistance, just contact me at your convenience.
Jeff
Dig Deeper with Structured Interviews
When we think of information, we often think of numbers, data, maybe even statistical methods that can help us assess the numbers. This kind of quantitative information is critical to leading and managing organizations and work units. But there is another kind of information, more qualitative in nature, which is also very valuable in research and development, decision making, and process improvement. It consists of the perceptions, insights, and context gained from direct conversation with individuals, and one of the most effective Listening Posts for collecting this information is Structured Interviews.
Looking Beyond the Numbers: Structured Interviews reveal this added layer of information by leveraging the dialogue that is possible between the interviewer and interviewee to pursue specific trains of thought, obtain detailed explanations or descriptions, and learn about context and considerations. They differ from Focus Groups, another excellent qualitative information Listening Post, in that the interviewer has more time and freedom to follow an individual train of thought and delve deeper into each specific interviewee’s perspective without others influencing their thinking.
Application Examples: Because they can yield context and understanding, Structured Interviews are used in a wide range of applications including survey design, process improvement, issue refinement, stakeholder analysis, and implementation planning, just to name a few. Here are some more specific examples of how I have used Structured Interviews for clients:
> As part of an Organizational Assessment in the early stages of Strategic Plan development, I interviewed community stakeholders about the mission, reputation, and collaboration potential of my client.
> As part of a “Readiness Assessment” prior to an organizational restructuring, I interviewed the employees of two merging Departments regarding current responsibilities and interests.
> As part of a Benchmarking project, we used Structured Interviews to learn more about the best practices of another high performing organization for possible adaptation by the client organization.
Preparation is Key: Structured interviews work best when there has been thorough preparation, especially in two ways:
1. Defining the Research Objectives: This includes a detailed description of what information would be helpful as well as how it will be used.
2. Development of an Interview Guide: Key components include background statement, disclosures & confidentiality, key questions, anticipated / likely follow-up question opportunities, and closing.
Clear Research Objectives and a thorough Interview Guide will also drive the approach used to analyze and report the findings.
These two features comprise the “structured” part of Structured Interviews. The more the interviewer understands specifically what the client wants to learn and how the information will be applied, the better. This may lead you to believe that Structured Interviews are best performed by someone internal to the organization with detailed knowledge of the project or topic of interest. This may be true in some cases, but often, there are advantages of using an external interviewer. These include:
- Less “bias” and more questions that may be otherwise overlooked based on incorrect “assumptions”.
- Stronger interview skills and/or more interviewing experience.
- A tendency for interviewees to be more open and candid with an independent party.
If you have a need to build a deeper understanding...to go beyond what numbers or standardized reports can provide, contact me at your convenience. We can discuss the possible use of Structured Interviews or any number of other Listening Posts that would best fit your needs.
Jeff
Preparation is a key to a great Strategic Plan
Since many organizations have fiscal years that end somewhere between December and June, Fall through early Winter is a popular time of year for convening stakeholders to create or update a Strategic Plan. And, if you are considering engaging in Strategic Planning this Fall, now is the time to begin preparing. The preparation is critical and can take time. As a rule of thumb, I advise clients that as much as 60% of the work and time involved in developing a plan should be invested before the first formal meeting of the planning committee or team.
Information Fuels Strategy Thought needs to be given to the participants and the process they will follow. However, the bulk of this preparation needs to focus on information that will stimulate thinking, discussion, and insight about the desired future state of the organization and the changes needed to achieve it. The specific information varies by organization but should address three types of assessment:
- Industry Assessment: Includes issues, trends, and innovations or best practices. Issues typically relate to critical problems or challenges confronting organizations in your industry. This may include new regulations / requirements and resource constraints. Some of the trends in your industry may be in response to one or more issues.
- Market Assessment: Includes identification of the customer base and segments, community needs assessment, competitor analysis (if applicable), and relevant demographic characteristics and trends.
- Organization Assessment: Includes customer satisfaction/loyalty, employee satisfaction/engagement, stakeholder research, and key performance measure results (dashboards, scorecards). Also includes the results of the current plan, if there is one.
Time will be required to determine desired data and sources, collect it, and to identify key findings. It needs to be presented as information, not just data, in an organized format. Keep in mind that some of the information gathering may not require a large amount of time, but may need to take place over time. Good examples of this are some of the listening posts such as surveys, focus groups, or structured interviews used to gather input from various key stakeholders.
Catalyst for Seeing What Could Be There is a relationship between the scope and depth of information considered and the quality of strategic insight gained, so more information is better, to a point. It is acknowledged that larger organizations may be able to assemble and analyze more information than smaller ones. However the amount of information pursued can be scaled to the size of the organization. Even modest budgets, spent well, can be very effective. In truth, the scope of information may be as, or even more important than, quantity and depth. Great strategy is fed by the synthesis of a variety of information, so having information in all three assessment areas contributes greatly to helping leadership think about the future of the organization and identify needed change.
Time Well Spent With all the demands on our time, some may wonder if this wouldn’t be a place to cut back in the process and the time required for Strategic Planning. Could we make up for less preparation by ensuring we include good creative thinkers? Get them to “think outside the box?” Develop a range of scenarios? Probably not. In my experience, nothing can substitute for preparation and analysis. In fact, the time spent preparing information in these three areas will help with other aspects of your planning process:
- + The information will establish a common base of knowledge for all planning team members to draw on and then add to with their own perceptions and experiences.
- + Key trends and developments that are essential to consider in the planning process can be highlighted right from the beginning.
- + Stakeholders and planning committee members can spend less time with fundamental information and more time in layered analyses and in relating the different findings, formulating deeper insights.
- + The variety of information from the different assessments can contribute to more balanced participation among team members. This is because different people respond to, and are energized by, different kinds of information (facts vs. perceptions, quantitative vs. qualitative, etc.)
- + The convergence of all of this information at the same time enables the identification of important patterns and relationships among different sources of information.
- + Information from divergent sources and perspectives helps participants see the “big picture” and avoid a desired future state that is too narrowly focused on a single issue or insight, or too heavily influenced by one persons’ expertise or responsibilities.
It’s summer! Time spent well now will set the table for highly productive planning sessions later this year. If I can be of any help with the preparation phase or any aspect of your strategic planning process, contact me at your convenience.
Jeff
The Fading Boom
Listening to an early summer storm the other evening, I heard one of the longest sustained rolls of distant thunder I have ever heard. I am sure it lasted at least 20 seconds, and I was struck by how long it took to completely fade out. But it did. And before too long, there was another roll. This reminded me of another fading boom and one not far behind. I’m talking about the fading Baby Boom and the Millennial Generation that is rapidly becoming more influential.
Big in Size and Influence Information about the preferences, perceptions, purchasing power, and politics of the Baby Boom generation, born between 1942 and 1960, has been a staple of research and news reporting for over four decades. This is understandable in some ways, given the sheer size of this generation and their share of the total population. But this was also a generation archetype (Idealists) in a repeating cycle of four that was fundamentally different from the previous generation in some important ways1. This, combined with their large numbers, resulted in a legacy of change as they moved through the decades of their lives.
Where are they now? One of the reasons you are starting to hear less about the Baby Boom Generation is that they are exiting the workforce. This started in the mid 2000’s when the oldest Baby Boomers were reaching their mid-60s. By 2020, when the youngest Baby Boomers, born in 1960, are 60 years old, most in that generation will have left the workplace, and those still working will represent a small minority of the workforce. One way to visualize this late stage of the Baby Boom generation “ripple” through the age brackets of the population is with a population pyramid of Michigan. The one at right shows the relative size of each 5 year increment age group in 2016. Baby Boomers are in the horizontal bars near the top (oldest age increments) of the pyramid.
Millennials: The New “Prime Time” Generation The second generation to follow the Baby Boom, the Millennials (born 1982-2004), is another large generation. And like the Baby Boom, their archetype (Civic) is one that has tended to usher in a lot of change, for different reasons and in different ways, but change none-the-less. This is part of the reason why there is an increasing amount of news about the preferences, perceptions, purchasing power, and politics of this generation, even as the news about the Baby Boomers fades away.
So What? Whether you are a business, a non-profit organization, or a government agency, the differences among the generations are driving, and will drive, changes in both your customer base and your employee and volunteer pools. Social scientists, businesses, marketers, and political parties are finding out, or already know, about the differences between Baby Boomers and Millennials, as well as The Silent Generation (born 1925-1942), Generation X (born 1961 – 1981), and Generation Z (born 2005-??). What do you know about these generations? More importantly, how has, or could, that knowledge influence your strategies and practices? What could it mean to your marketing (messages, channels), your portfolio of services and products (key quality characteristics, preferences), and HR strategy (recruitment & retention, rewards & recognition)?
Where to Start? I have a short “Primer” Presentation on Generations: Their Impact on The Market and The Workplace. I can also provide you with data on the generational composition of your market or service area and your employees and volunteers. More importantly, I can help you use this information to fine tune your strategies and policies. Contact me to set up a free initial consultation about how understanding Generations can help your organization.
Jeff
1 As described by authors William Strauss and Neil Howe in their books Generations (1991) and The Fourth Turning (1997), and in their consultancy.
Improving Governance Structure and Performance
We tend to think of process improvement as deeply entrenched in the day to day operations of a work group or organization. And with good reason. History has shown there is a lot of room for improvement at this most detailed level of work. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities at other levels as well. And in an organizational hierarchy model, that includes the highest level of all: Governance.
When a Little Improvement Goes a Long Way: You may have thought once or twice that things could be going better with your governing Board. And if you are thinking that way, chances are at least some of the Board members are feeling the same. Now realistically, most Boards I have known do a pretty credible job considering time constraints and the voluntary nature of their role. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do better, with better structure, process, and culture. And in some ways, the Board members cast the longest shadows in the organization. That is to say, with their focus and work at the highest policy level of the organization, their performance can ripple though all other levels. If things go well with the Board, it can contribute to better performance in the rest of the organization. And if not?
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Get a Glimpse of the Next Service or Product with Focus Groups
In Focus Groups, we are usually asking questions about a current product or service or one that is in development. However, they can be an effective tool for learning more about what unmet needs and wants your customers may have. Going further, they can help you and your customers begin to identify needs and wants they will have, in the future. Think for a moment how valuable it would be to understand emerging and even future customer needs now, giving you the lead time you need for product development, refinement, and introduction to market. Want to stay ahead of the customer need curve? Here’s how Focus Groups can help.
The Right Tool: A Focus Group is a unique and powerful Listening Post. There are many other Listening Posts (ways to hear from customers), such as surveys, interviews, comment cards, and advisory panels. Each has strengths and weaknesses and so each works best in different situations. Some are designed for qualitative research while others work well for quantitative research. Focus Groups are designed for obtaining qualitative information and are unique in the nature and depth of information they can provide. By working with a small group of people (as opposed to interviewing just one at a time), it is possible to facilitate a dialogue among participants where they react to and build on each other comments. This leads to a deeper level of insight and more detailed articulation of thoughts and ideas on a given topic. You can read more about Focus Groups and other Listening Posts on my web site.
The Right Questions: The key element of a Focus Group is the prepared set of questions that will be asked by the Moderator. The research goal behind most Focus Groups is to obtain customer knowledge about a current service or product, and they can be helpful at all stages of a service or product life cycle. In the design stage, they can help you learn more about key customer requirements and drivers of satisfaction. During product refinement, they can provide feedback about the appeal of a prototype or specific design features. As you approach service introduction or product launch, they can be invaluable in the design and finalization of marketing strategies and campaigns, focusing on key messaging and perceptions regarding both mediums and message. With existing services and products, they are often used to gain a deeper understanding of what customers like the most, what disappoints them, and what else they would like to see, and why. In short, the research objectives drive the nature of the questions.
This opens up another possibility that I have started to see incorporated into the research objectives, and therefore the line of questioning, in more and more Focus Groups. That is, to find out what customers may want next. Asking customers several open-ended questions about what other products or services would be of interest, and how the sponsoring organization could be of more help to them, is not without challenges. It can take time to get the group into a productive conversation and not all ideas may prove that helpful. However, a good dialogue invariably leads to the identification at least several possibilities, sometimes to the surprise and delight of the participants themselves as they begin to clarify and articulate a true want or need that they may not have thought much about until that moment.
The Right Answer: This kind of information can be the beginning, not the end, of new service or product development. It would be important to add other kinds of research and information to the Focus Group findings, all part of the innovation and product/service development process. However, beginning that process with customer knowledge, obtained directly from customers, is always a good place to start. Keeping a continued focus on these early customer thoughts and then adding research and development will lead to a service or product that is designed to meet an emerging customer need.
Customer needs, wants, and expectations are changing rapidly, fueled by the emergence of e-commerce, the growing influence of millennials, mass customization, and other megatrends. For example, think about how the e-commerce innovator and giant, Amazon, is influencing expectations around price and availability. (For an appetizer on this subject, check out this short article recommended to me by my good friend and marketing whiz, Deidra McClelland). Rather than trying to keep up with customer interests, maybe it’s time to get ahead of them. If you would like to leverage Focus Groups to learn about what your customers will want next, or to fulfill other research objectives, contact me at your convenience.
Jeff
Leverage Annual Forecasts & Assessments
You see them everywhere this time of year. “Predictions for the New Year.” “Annual Trends Update.” “Our Forecast for 2018.” It seems as though suddenly there is no shortage of insight and ability to predict what lies ahead for your organization or profession.
Will they be right? Does it matter? It is pretty easy to become a little cynical. And in truth, what your work group or organization accomplishes this year probably has more to do with your own decisions and actions than the myriad of external issues and trends stuffed into these communications.
A good Plan must be relevant. Still, looking outside your organization from time to time is one important way to remain relevant, and even to innovative. With today’s pace of change, you need to be comparing your strategy to industry trends and customer needs on a regular basis. So before you make a New Year’s Resolution to ignore all this prognostication, consider selectively using some of them to check the strength of your Strategic Plan or Goals. If you choose to do so, you’ll be gaining time, not wasting it. Here’s how.
Leverage the work of others. Well-done Annual Assessments and Forecasts are a compendium of a variety of information from multiple sources. And the best ones include a sort of “meta-analysis” where the information is compared and combined to create additional insight. Usually, they are the result of many hours of thoughtful work (I know becouse I’ve worked on some). So reviewing their end product saves you time...the time you would have spent finding, analyzing, and summarizing the same information. And, you gain the perspectives of others beyond your own.
A farmer’s market of insight. In addition, the information is relatively fresh. The sponsoring organizations time these reports to be published on or around the change of the calendar year (Autumn is another popular time). In doing so, they schedule the work and retrieve “last minute” updates as close to the publication date as possible so the information is not seen as outdated. As a result, this is the time of year you can get a fair amount of relatively new information all at once.
Listening...and Looking. I recommend that my clients always be on the look-out for relevant information on the issues and trends confronting their industry or profession...a sort of "continuous listening" mode. But in addition to this passive approach, it’s a pretty good idea for leaders to actively go looking for the latest news on issues and trends 2 or 3 times a year. January should be one of those times. After all, there are organizations anxiously serving it up for you.
If you want help tapping relevant assessments of your profession or industry, now or any time in the coming year, contact me at your convenience.
Jeff
Get a Great Start On Next Year from Your Review of Last Year
As the calendar year draws to a close in December, you’ll probably find yourself getting into review mode. If December is also the end of your fiscal year, the review will likely be pretty structured and include financials, operating measures, and organizational and personal objectives. Even if it’s not the end of your fiscal year, you may very well find yourself in a reflective mood and engaged in some kind of informal assessment of 2017. It’s the mood of the season. What did we accomplish? What have we learned? What do we want to change in 2018?
Go with the Flow: Even though our schedule is especially tight during the holidays, December and January are excellent months to plan for and undertake a structured review of performance, for several reasons:
- For many organizations, it is the end of a fiscal year. For those with a July-June fiscal year, it is the half-way point. And for most of the rest with a fiscal year ending in September, it is the end of the first quarter, which is a great time to pause and assess how the new fiscal year has started. There is still time to make adjustments.
- Even if it is not the end of your fiscal year, it is the end of it for many other organizations. That means those organizations will be rolling out new initiatives and making subtle, or not so subtle, shifts in focus. The first quarter of the calendar year can be a period of significant change in your market and in your industry.
- In December, many associations and research organizations release “year in review” reports and “annual forecasts” for the new year, providing an annual spike in fresh industry and market information.
A Balanced Review: So the timing is right. But what should you include in your year-end review? Apart from the obvious financial and operating performance measures and objectives, most organizations readily take stock of accomplishments. And that’s a good idea. However, take a look at failures as well. What tactics were abandoned, becouse they did not turn out to be as important as originally thought, or they just weren’t feasible? What strategies failed? And most importantly, what did we learn from these failures? Did you conduct any kind of Lessons Learned review? If not, it’s probably not too late. For many organizations, the knowledge gained from failure analysis sometimes leads to their most successful innovations.
The Bigger Picture: So in your review, include the usual performance measures, successes and failures, and one more focus: alignment. Alignment has two components. First, is your purpose (mission statement) and your desired future state (vision or goals) still aligning with the needs of your marketplace and customer and the direction of your industry? Remember those “year in review” and “annual forecasts” publications I mentioned earlier? And secondly, do you have alignment within your own organization, between the purpose (mission), desired future state (vision / goals), and the latest thinking around the Tactics that will get you there. Tactics are the most fluid part of the Strategic Plan. Taking it further, does your strategic direction still align with your financial health (how are we doing?), feedback from your customers (what are they telling you), and the culture you are creating (what values would be catalysts to your vision/goals)?
Looking Back to Move Forward: In all of your review, don’t lose sight of one of the main reasons for review: creating something better. The clear perspective on where you are at, your current organizational status, will enable you to make better decisions about the scope, pace, and extent of change to undertake in the upcoming months. Should you add tactics related to a particular goal? Can you afford more infrastructure investment than you thought, or less? Is there an emerging trend in your industry that you need to better leverage? With a well-designed year-end review, you’ll know where you’ve been, but you will also know better where you can go. Reviews, then, can be a critical component of readiness assessment.
If you would like help designing, preparing for, or facilitating a productive year-end review, contact me at your convenience.
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