Archive for the 'Management Questions' Category

Aug 22nd 2007 Task Management Questions

  • What if I don’t do this now?
  • What if I don’t do this at all?
  • Is this my project or priority or is it someone else’s?
  • Is this activity critical to get me from where I am to where I want to be?
  • Can anyone accomplish this task other than me?

Source:
Winners’ Wisdom
by Jim Stovall
The CEO Refresher

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Aug 21st 2007 Questioning Success – Important ‘Why’ Questions

  • Why do we continue in this business?
  • Why should anyone buy this product?
  • What will prevent competitors from matching us? What will we do then?
  • Why are we making so much money? Why won’t it eventually come to an end? What must we do now to prepare for or moderate that change?

Source:
Probing
by Jonathan Isaacs
Boston Consulting Group

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Aug 20th 2007 Profit Spiral Questions

  • Why are we here? (Mission)
  • Where are we going? (Vision)
  • How are we getting there? (Strategies)
  • Who’s doing what? (Structure)
  • Under what conditions are we doing all of this? (Culture)

Source:
The Profit SpiralTM
by Katherine Catlin
CEO Exchange

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Aug 18th 2007 Problem-Solving Questions

  • What options do you see for addressing this issue?
  • What are the pros and cons of your preferred option?
  • How will that solution meet your (or the business’s) needs?
  • What steps do we need to take to implement your solution?
  • Who else needs to be involved?
  • What obstacles do you foresee and how can we get around them?
  • How are we going to measure success?

Source:
Do You Need to be a Hero?
by Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D.
The CEO Refresher, October 2006

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Aug 17th 2007 Opportunity Assessment

Executives should step back and apply their strategic judgment and operating knowledge to assess opportunities along five key dimensions:

  1. How much does this opportunity strengthen our core business franchise?
  2. What are the chances of our becoming a leader in the new segment or business?
  3. Could this move have a defensive benefit, pre-empting our present or future competitors?
  4. Does this investment position our core business strategically for an even stronger future opportunity or hedge against uncertainty?
  5. Can we be certain of superbly executing implementation?

Source:
Guard That Home Base
by Chris Zook
Bain & Company, 10/15/2001

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Aug 16th 2007 Nature of Goals

  • Are our goals outcome-based or activity-based? (Outcome-based goals describe the results or impacts that directly answer the question “How would you know you succeeded at X?” By contrast, activity-based goals only restate the activities people plan to do.)
  • If our goals are activity-based, is the connection to the underlying outcome-based goal(s) well understood and communicated?

Source:
Better than Plan: Managing Beyond the Budget
by Douglas K. Smith
Leader to Leader, No. 15 Winter 2000

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Aug 15th 2007 Middle Manager Questions

Ask yourself the following questions to determine whether you are getting the full value from your middle managers:

  • Do my managers have a clear vision of how our business works as a whole, not just in their functions? Have they ever met a customer? Do they know the business from the outside in?
  • Do they understand that their role is not only to communicate the company vision, but also to determine which processes and activities will make it a success? Do they know how to focus people on processes and the appropriate activities? Do they know how to co-ordinate these processes horizontally and vertically?
  • Are my middle managers spread too thinly? Have I given them the adequate time, training, and resources needed to succeed?
  • In the attempt to empower the workers, have I undermined the managers? Do my managers have to direct the workers in performing the necessary activities?
  • Do my managers feel that they are part of the solution, not part of the problem?

Source:
Let Middle Managers Manage
by Jeanie Duck
Boston Consulting Group

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Aug 14th 2007 Mercer’s Questions for Managers

  • How do our customers measure and define value?
  • How do we measure and define value?
  • What are the key drivers of the economics of our business?
  • What is the relative impact of each of these drivers on the value of the business?
  • Is the current level of value driver performance enough to satisfy our investors?
  • Is our model of the business––our understanding of what drives value––still valid or has it changed?
  • How do we make the business strategy visible and controlling for everyone in the organization?
  • Are we making the right decisions in light of the strategy? What do we need to do or change to be more effective and efficient?

Source:
See the Forest and the Trees: Gaining visibility into the real drivers of value
by Tony Siesfeld
Mercer Management Journal, Issue 16

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Aug 13th 2007 Measuring an Organization’s Effectiveness

You can diagnose your organization’s effectiveness and assess its path toward high performance by gathering answers–typically through a survey–to 10 key questions:

  1. Is our organization clear about the top three priorities for making our business more valuable?
  2. Is our leadership team cohesive and aligned?
  3. Are individual roles, accountabilities and authority clear for the most important decisions?
  4. Does the organization’s structure reflect the sources of value in the business?
  5. Do we have enough highperforming people, in the jobs where they can have the most impact?
  6. Do we measure what matters–and link incentives for our people to those measures?
  7. Does our front line consistently execute well on the activities that are critical to success?
  8. Does our backoffice support contribute value commensurate with its cost?
  9. Do we have a highperformance culture?
  10. Do we have the capacity to change?

Source:
The decision-driven organization
by Paul Rogers
Bain & Company

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Aug 12th 2007 Defining/Rethinking Your Business Architecture

  • What is our “elevator pitch”?
  • What are our most differentiated capabilities?
  • What are your most leverageable offerings?
  • What are your most crucial “control points”?
  • What are your most valuable intellectual assets?
  • What are the key assumptions we make about our business?
  • Who are our customers? What customer segments do we serve? Who are our most strategic customers?
  • What do we do for our customers? What needs do we fulfill? What services do we provide?
  • What makes us different? Why do customers do business with us, and not with competitors?
  • How do we plan to grow our business?
  • How do we defend our profits?
  • Who do we partner with (on the supply and the demand side)? What are your most important partnerships?
  • How are we organized?

Source:
The Seven Steps to Nirvana: Strategic Insights into eBusiness Transformation
by Mohanbir Sawhney
The Exchange, Pebble Beach, June 2001

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