Unleashing Your Organizations Potential: A Process for Achieving Breakthrough Results

When people ask me about my work, I tell them I'm a fractional Chief Information Officer. In this part-time leadership role, I work with people, processes, and technology to help small and medium-sized businesses achieve breakthrough results. The next question is usually, “How do you do that?”

To answer that, I share my specific process called the “Five Deltas”. In physics, Delta refers to a change in velocity (hence the ideal rocket equation!). For me, the Five Deltas represent the steps I take to accelerate performance. The steps are Discovery, Diagnosis, Design, Deliver, and Dashboard.?

Let's delve into each one.

When analyzing an organization, it's essential to take a comprehensive approach to evaluating its people, products, and technology. This is the “get to know you”, Discovery step and involves an initial or series of meetings, either in person or remotely.?

During the conversations, I ask questions such as: Who are the leaders of the organization and how do they perceive its technological capabilities? What is the organization's value proposition for its products and services? What are its core values and culture? What does the technology stack look like and how well is it integrated into its processes??

By understanding the current state of the organization through Discovery, we can move on to the second step, Diagnosis.

The Diagnosis phase involves a deeper analysis of the organization. It focuses on the organization's goals and how it plans to achieve them, including a review of its strategic plan.?

During this phase, a gap assessment is generated, identifying the difference between the organization's current state (determined in the Discovery phase) and its desired future state (documented in the Diagnosis phase).?

This assessment considers various factors, such as organizational culture, people, products, processes, and business models, a lot more than just technology. This work leads to the Design phase.?

During the Design phase, the leaders of the organization work closely together to develop a strategic plan that will bridge the gap between where the company currently stands and where it wants to be.?

The Design process is highly collaborative and iterative, building on the insights and information gathered during the Discovery and Diagnosis phases. The goal is to create a comprehensive plan that takes into account the unique needs and goals of the organization, while also being flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances and evolving priorities. Design output is a prioritized list of initiatives implemented during the next step, Delivery.?

Delivery is an exciting time when the ideas that were envisioned in the Design step become real. To reduce risk, initiatives are implemented at small scales to prove their effectiveness, similar to how startups iterate. By reducing risk we ensure that the capital necessary to continue the process is preserved for ongoing investment. With a focus on innovation and continuous improvement, long-term success and growth is sustainable.

The last Delta stands for Dashboard. The Dashboard is where we monitor the effectiveness of the initiatives and the overall organization’s progress toward achieving its goals. Dashboards provide ready access to information that might otherwise be difficult to find or understand.?

The Dashboard allows for more informed decision-making and optimizing processes to become more efficient and capital effective. Through their use, potential problems can also be uncovered before they become bigger issues. Lastly, the Dashboard phase allows for new ideas to flow from the lessons learned.?

In conclusion, the Five Deltas is a set of defined steps to achieve breakthrough results. They consist of Discovery, the big-picture look at where an organization is. Diagnosis, a deep dive into where the organization is going, and an assessment of the gap between the two. Design is a collaborative process of creating a strategic plan to bridge the gap.?

Then Delivery, using the startup model of small-scale initiatives and iteration. And lastly, Dashboard, where information is made available to make better decisions. Combined as a system, these Five Deltas provide a solid foundation for accelerating an organization’s results.?

Are you looking to elevate your organization's performance to new heights? From analyzing your current systems and processes to identifying a path to the future, I'm here to guide you every step of the way. With my business and technical experience, you can expect to see significant progress and growth. Don't wait any longer, let's begin the journey toward success together. Let's connect today and explore the possibilities: https://calendly.com/ericslangley

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