409 Posts Found

Ultimately, strategy is a way of thinking, not a procedural exercise or a set of frameworks. To stimulate that thinking and the dialogue that goes along with it, we developed a set of tests aimed at helping executives assess the strength of their strategies. We focused on testing the strategy itself (in other words, the output of the strategy-development process), rather than the frameworks, tools, … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Management Questions, Strategy Questions

The following series of five yes-or-no questions can help you manage future performance in a new way. Your answers will steer you toward a turnaround conversation appropriate to the situation and the underperformer.

Once you become familiar with the questions you´ll be able to assess which conversation is needed in a matter of minutes. You´ll be on your way to managing underperformance instead of living … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Human Resources Questions, Management Questions

• Can we create a reliable story around what we do?
• Can we create symbols, rituals, or culture around our offerings?
• Can we create and mobilize tribes to help our cause?
• Can we leverage the power of every individual within our company to humanize our brand and create more passion around what we do?

Source: The Seven Myths of Hyper-Social Organizations: Why Human 1.0 is Key … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Customer Questions, Marketing Questions

• Does it violate any strategic laws of gravity?
• Do my numbers match my strategy?
• Will it create value?
• Is it material?
• Is it differentiated?
• Is it just `PowerPoint engineering´? (assuming that anything people say they can do, they can do)
• Where are we in our strategic journey?
• Are we properly balancing growth and risk?
• What are the facts?
• Is the problem solvable, and do we care?
• Who can solve that problem?
• Why might we fail?
• How can

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Strategy Questions

• How can we better measure our ROI on R&D spending?
• Do we have the infrastructure to support our global innovation and product development needs now-and three years from now?
• Who owns product lifecycle management? Who should own PLM for the company?
• Do we have a definition, strategy and roadmap for PLM?
• How do our current CRM, SCM and ERP initiatives link to PLM?
• What impact could improvements in PLM have

… [ Read more ]

Subjects: Management Questions, Process Questions, Products & Services Questions

Schoorman and Ballinger developed seven “trust items” that were tested with notable validity. For leaders interested in testing the trust waters in their organization, these seven questions provide a useful framework or litmus test to determine whether there is a need for further examination of the extent to which trust is present or absent in an organization. On a scale of one to five, with … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Management Questions, Organization Questions

• Do we have a thorough understanding of our customers’ purchasing patterns and psychology, and of the drivers of decision making in our category?
• Have we embedded pricing discussions into the innovation and new-product launch process so that any opportunities to bundle or unbundle products, create all-in-one systems, or develop add-on products are identified early on?

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Pricing

For many companies, achieving social advantage will require fundamentally rethinking their social and business strategy. Executives who want to lead their organizations into this unfamiliar territory might begin by posing the following questions to their management teams:

• What are the social and ecological costs generated by our current business model?
• Who bears these costs and what are

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Social Responsibility Questions

1. What can I do to make you more effective?
2. What’s keeping you from falling asleep at night?
3. What one thing should I do more? (or one thing I should do less?)
4. What roadblocks are holding you back? (or preventing your projects from moving ahead?)
5. What’s the most important issue

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Leadership Questions

• What information are we collecting?
• Where and how are we collecting it?
• Who owns it?
• Who has access to it?
• What are we doing with it?
• What would be the impact to the organization if it got into the wrong hands?
• What

… [ Read more ]

Subjects: IT Questions, Risk Management Questions

BMI begins by assessing the company’s current context, the needs of its customers, and the models of its competitors. These steps should be completed with sufficient clarity and honesty to reveal what is currently working, what is not, and what might constitute a better value proposition. To that end, we offer the following questions for executives and managers seeking to create a shared awareness of … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Innovation Questions, Strategy Questions

• How will information technology increase transparency in the industry?
• How will transparency impact consumer behaviors, retailer strategies and producer strategies?
• How can we capture value and mitigate the challenges of transparency in terms of price, reputation and other drivers of purchase behaviors?
• How should we react to empowered stakeholders — from

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Management Questions

1. What do you think about this change?
2. How do you feel about this change?
3. What do you see your role as in this change?
4. What is your opinion about this change?
5. What is your experience with this type of change?
6. What are you working on and

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Change Management Questions

Is your company reaching “full potential” value for its customers? Answer yes or no to the following six questions:

1. We make it easy for prospective customers to find us and understand our products and services.
2. We have the capability to offer expertise, tools, and other assistance to help customers determine their criteria for a good solution and which solutions best fit their situation.
3. We offer various approaches for

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Business Continuity / Crisis Questions

• What leadership competencies/attributes are required to drive our business strategy and lead the evolution of the culture? How robust is our existing leadership pipeline, and where are there risks?
• What are the pivotal job families/roles most critical to executing our business strategy? How will we differentiate talent strategies/investments accordingly?
• What are the implications for skill development, given our business strategy?
• What are our existing/emerging talent requirements in

… [ Read more ]

Source: A Tipping Point for Talent Management? | Subject: Human Resources Questions

• How many customers do you have? How many are repeat customers? How many have only bought once?
• How many customers have you lost in the past year?
• How many customers have you retained in the last year?
• Do you calculate the Life Time Value (LTV) for each of your customers? Do you calculate profitability for each of your customers? If so, do you then grade them according

… [ Read more ]

Author: JoAnna Brandi | Source: Numbers, Numbers, Numbers | Subject: Customer Questions

• In the past 90 days, what were your three most important strategic accomplishments?
• In the past 90 days, what were the three most important ways you fell short of your potential?
• In the past 90 days, what are the three most important things you have learned about your strategy.

Source: What Determines Which Businesses Win and Which Lose? by Wayne Strom, PhD, Keith McFarland | Graziadio … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Learning Questions, Management Questions

Design

• What is our mind-set about complaints?
• What do we want to accomplish with our service recovery approach?
• What experiences do we want our customers to have when they give us feedback?
• What guidelines should we follow when handling complaints?

Measure

• What are our goals and

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Customer Questions

1. How does this individual perceive the problem I intend to solve?
2. What is the pithy summary of my idea that will appeal to this person?
3. What roles does this person play in the decision-making process?
4. What is my goal for this encounter?
5. What is the basis for my credibility

… [ Read more ]

Subjects: Marketing Questions, Sales Questions

• Do we know what forces are shaping our current and emerging business environment?
• Do we know what new driving forces might emerge?
• Do we know which forces might not change much over the scenario period?
• Do we know which of these forces have more uncertainty associated with them?
• Do we know how these forces might interact to give rise to one future rather than

… [ Read more ]

Subject: Strategy Questions