To a hammer, everything looks like a nail - A discussion on addressing business problems as more than just symptoms

The most tempting thing to do when confronted with a problem is to take action to correct it immediately. Many business problems are merely symptoms whose causes are not fully understood or addressed until after “the solution” has been applied without full success. Similarly, for many seeking business improvement, everything often looks like a process.    Surprisingly, many transformation leaders often skip the diagnosis before starting the cure. Even when that is the situation, it is highly productive to conduct a proper diagnostic assessment that will either (a) confirm that you are on the right track already or (b) reveal new insights enabling a course correction. The C3IQ Organizational Performance Self-Assessment may be the quickest way to determine which situation is yours.

Several symptoms strongly suggest the sources of many barriers to enterprise excellence are not mainly related to process:

1.    The enterprise strategic plan does not specifically describe customer desired outcomes, measures of their success, or numerical goals for improvement.

2.    Leadership’s priorities and directives are ambiguously communicated, creating confusion, conflict, delay, and rework.

3.    No competent doctor would start prescribing medication for a sore gut without ruling out a diagnosis of cancer or other causes.

4.    The number of complaints and size of customer service and support functions has grown faster than the number of new customers acquired; there is no goal to shrink those numbers by improved product design or innovation significantly.

5.    The rank of the enterprise among its industry peers has not significantly improved in the past two years.

6.    Management commitments are not quickly, reliably, and fully executed as planned.

7.    Employee performance evaluations are universally hated and do not connect to strategic objectives and customer priorities.

8.    The main way customer priorities are determined is through surveys.

9.    Different departments and business units operate under their own silo-specific practices, in conflict with others.

10. There is no articulated and broadly practiced method for determining who “the customer” is or what they most value about products they use.

11. Critical knowledge is lost when talent leaves the enterprise; succession planning is only done for less than .1% of employees.

12. Processes are changed, but customers experience little or no improvement in responsiveness.

13. Many initiatives are in place, though there is no unifying system integrating them and connecting them to strategic direction.

If you said YES to at least half of these symptoms, the root cause might be the culture of the enterprise. Peter Drucker and many other management gurus have long stated that culture eats strategy, and otherwise defeats change leaders’ best intentions. Changing the culture is among the most complex endeavors a change leader can take on. Although we have had amazing success, it is not for the faint of heart and should only be started if the key elements for success are in place. So, before we take on that task, let’s find out where we are and what it is that needs changing.

Actions to Take

• Take our C3IQ Organizational Performance Self Assessment - Unlike a traditional IQ test that seeks to evaluate our personal cognitive ability, the C3IQ is intended as an organizational performance assessment of priorities and practices of a customer-centered culture.  
• Attend one of our upcoming workshops for Strategy and Tools for Transformation Leaders. This #workshop provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn everything you need to accelerate #businesstransformation and #culturechange. Get the proven roadmap with new tools for rapid, scalable and durable success with hands on approach during the workshop. Seats are going fast. Register here. We hope to see you there. https://bit.ly/c3excellence