Are you talking about the right things?
AS we get overloaded with more uncertainty and complexity the need to keep things simple; to ask “are we focused on the right things?” becomes ever more important.
Over my leadership career over the last 30 years I’ve always strived to keep things simple. That hasn't always been easy.
Certainly the industries I was in, whether construction, advanced materials, man-made fibres or insurance, the issues were far from simple. But there was a common theme; we were always seeking to be distinctive in providing value for not only the customer, but the other stakeholders; owners, staff, the community etc..
There is a good Anglo-Saxon phrase that means what it says and says what it means. We had to be “Joined-Up®”
I have now used Joined-Up as a concept for decades in my conversations with my own executive teams. This has increasingly become a theme with clients and my TEC members over the past 10 years. The Joined-Up Model is designed to promote the right conversations, at the right time, with the right people taking ownership.
At its heart is the blindingly obvious concept that any organisation needs to address the needs of three primary stakeholder groups - customers, owners and “the people who do the work”. It is the focus on these three groups and the consequent levers we have to pull that leads to us identifying where the blind spots are, and where the opportunities lie.
What usually comes out from these discussions is that few organisations can claim to be excellent in all these areas. That said, any business that has been around a few years has had to develop competency in several. By structuring a conversation around where the gaps are, how important are they for the specific organisation and what specific actions might be taken, often an executive team are motivated to address blind spots because the why, what and how are clearer.
Where should the priorities be? What is our change agenda?
We recognised that to get to the heart of these conversations it would be useful to have a Joined-Up® diagnostic. You are welcome to try it yourself. You’ll get a short pdf but will not be bombarded with marketing follow ups - we’ll give you the opportunity to follow up further if you wish to. We are interested in the broad findings and feedback.
The diagnostic takes 5-10 minutes.
The six areas are designed around the three main stakeholder groups. To the right is the outside in view, to the left the inside out. The top would be regarded as hard, analytical, action elements - stuff you can put on paper. Below is more emotive, the hearts and minds.
In each of six areas, we’ve framed 5 key questions, easy to ask sometimes harder to answer honestly!
You will receive a high level pdf of your assessment immediately and we’d be interested in your feedback.
If you are interested in the more detailed assessment you are encouraged to contact us and, if you are in Australia, we can have a short exploratory conversation.
