409 Posts Found

Approach

• What style of annual planning is right for our company?
• Where are we drawing external inspiration from?
• How are we tailoring it to our business model and stage?
• Is there anything we explicitly don’t want to do, because it’s not a fit or we don’t agree with it?

Vision

• How far forward are we looking?
• How are we balancing a big vision with what we can practically do in

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Source: Annual Planning Sucks — A CPO, CRO, CFO, and COO Share Advice on How to Make it Better | Subjects: Management Questions, Strategy Questions

Look at the customer requirement and ask searching questions about why the customer will buy from a business point of view. Here is a checklist.

• What is the customer’s business objective for this campaign?
• What critical success factors declared by the customer does this campaign address?
• What benefits both tangible and intangible will the customer derive form a successful implementation?
• What are the rough costs of all the

… [ Read more ]

Author: Ken Langdon | Source: Step-by-Step – Sales Campaigning | Subjects: Customer Questions, Sales Questions

1. How many different sales forces should we have?
2. How should they be structured and staffed?
3. What degree of specialization is needed?
4. What is the appropriate mix of in-house and outsourced activities?
5. What resource levels should be dedicated to each sales force?
6. What determines the boundaries between the sales forces?

Authors: Adrian J. Slywotzky, Benson P. Shapiro, Stephen X. Doyle | Source: Strategic Sales Management: A boardroom issue | Subject: Sales Questions

Preparation for a crisis is just as crucial as the response. We recommend that leaders start with their organization’s people, processes, and technology. Here are six essential questions for leaders to ask as they evaluate the operational resilience of this triad:

1. Are we sufficiently prepared for problems when they arise?
2. Are there clear roles and responsibilities for business continuity?
3. What are our risks involving automated software updates?
4. Are

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Anita Lynch, Hise Gibson | Source: Post-CrowdStrike Six Questions to Test Your Company’s Operational Resilience | Subjects: IT Questions, Risk Management Questions

Here are the things to think through when you are building a compensation strategy.

1. What Is Your Compensation Philosophy? Start with your compensation philosophy. Identify the principles and practices your organization uses to make compensation decisions:
   • Do you generally make offers at the midpoint of the market rate for that role, or is it usually higher or lower? Why?
   • What are the important considerations for how

… [ Read more ]

Author: Kent Plunkett | Source: How To Hone Your Compensation Strategy | Subject: Human Resources Questions

Here are some crucial things to think about when designing a leadership development process:

• Is it on-going or a one-time training event? Leadership development, just like personal development, is a process and cannot be accomplished in one sitting.
• Have you identified what your leaders must know and be able to do in order to be effective? A list of targeted skills and/or abilities (those popular competencies)

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Janet Oliver, Joe DiSabatino | Source: What Executives Need to Know About Developing Their Leaders | Subject: Human Resources Questions

Ecosystems and ecosystem thinking are the lens through which you should view important decisions about your value proposition, as well as about how to capture and deliver value. Below are questions you should ask. 

Value Proposition

• Will ecosystems change where we should compete?
• What unmet customer needs will be most promising?
• What new customer segments might we serve?    

Value Capture

• How can we benefit from value pool shifts?
• Which costs will drive

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Matthew Duffey, Venky Jayaraman, Veronique Roos-Emonds | Source: From stagnation to innovation: Make business model reinvention real | Subject: Strategy Questions

Reset questions are the six questions a team asks when they are resetting the strategy: 

1. What is the situation, and how will this change? 
2. What is success? 
3. Where will we play? 
4. How will we win? 
5. What will stop us? 
6. What should we do?

Author: Rebecca Homkes | Source: The Illusion Of Alignment: Why Your Strategy Execution Is Failing | Subject: Strategy Questions

Too many companies suffer from data and technology investments that are siloed by function or business and not clearly connected to the company’s value creation strategy. To go beyond digital, you will need to make a priority of your data and technology strategy and be able to clearly and tangibly demonstrate how it directly enables your company’s place in the world and your plan for … [ Read more ]

Authors: Mahadeva Matt Mani, Paul Leinwand | Source: Seven imperatives for moving beyond digital | Subject: IT Questions

In a percentage answer, in your 1:1s, how often do you…    

1. Schedule 1:1s in advance on a recurring basis?     
2. Have an agenda for your 1:1s?    
3. Involve your direct report(s) in the creation of that agenda?    
4. Review notes from the previous 1:1 before your next 1:1?    
5. Promptly reschedule canceled 1:1s?    
6. Start 1:1s positively?    
7. Show up on time?    
8. Start with topics provided by your direct report(s)?    
9. Briefly revisit action items from the previous 1:1?    
10. Actively listen to

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Authors: Gabriela Riccardi, Steven Rogelberg | Source: Managers take this simple assessment to hold better one-on-one meetings | Subject: Management Questions

1. Where did we predict we would be now? 
2. Where are we actually? 
3. What did we learn from any gap between the two? 
4. What are the most consequential barriers to meeting the goal (and how do we know)? 
5. Who owns the decision rights on them?

Author: Bill Lescher | Source: Lessons from the U.S. Navy on Building a Culture of Learning | Subject: Management Questions

1. When did you last review how you allocate your time?
2. How much time do you spend a week actively reflecting on your strategy and priorities?
3. Structured versus open: How much of your calendar is unplanned?
4. Drumbeat versus flow: How much of your calendar doesn’t follow a set routine?
5. Operator versus counselor: How much time do you spend problem solving with teams (rather than attending business update and review meetings)?
6. Ambassador

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Jeff Hill, Xavier Mosquet | Source: For CEOs It’s About Time | Subjects: CEO / Executive Questions, Management Questions

BCG has identified four aspects of innovation culture on which companies often focus: what successes you celebrate, how you create, how you lead, and how you team. Importantly, these aspects either add—or destroy—value, depending on how your teams work together. Each aspect, when framed as a question, can help you determine what route to pursue to bolster your company’s innovation culture.

1. What do you celebrate? What

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Authors: David Blanchard, Deborah Lovich, Hannah Lu Schmitt, Johann D. Harnoss, Justin Manly, Robert Werner | Source: An Innovation Culture That Gets Results | Subjects: Innovation Questions, Organization Questions

Top performers understand that while a company can pursue outstanding holistic performance, it still must develop its reinvention muscles to respond effectively in times of uncertainty. The opposite is also true: an organization can push to reinvent itself, but if it doesn’t deliver financial results, the transformation won’t be sustainable.

After committing to a transformation, the executive team should ask questions in ten categories about the … [ Read more ]

Authors: Cesar Okajima, Fábio Stul, José Pimenta da Gama, Sara Pliego | Source: How bold is your business transformation? A new way to measure progress | Subject: Change Management Questions

• How many customers does your firm have? How many customers do you really have?
• How do these customers differ in terms of their value to the firm? For example, how many one-time buyers did you have last year? How many customers accounted for half of your revenue last year?
• How many customers who bought your products last year can be expected to buy from you this year?
• What

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Authors: Bruce Hardie, Michael Ross, Peter Fader | Source: What Do You Really Know About Your Customer Base? | Subject: Customer Questions

Capital markets

• What has driven our historic shareholder returns over various time horizons?
• How does our valuation stack up to peers’ today, and why?
• What are the highest-impact levers to change our valuation (growth, margin improvement rates, etcetera)?

Strategy

Are we in the right businesses, geographies, sectors, product lines, and customer segments?

How can we strengthen our competitive advantage in these chosen areas?

What are our highest-potential M&A, partnership, and divestment opportunities?

Commercial

• What

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra | Source: Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance | Subjects: Management Questions, Strategy Questions

1. What are the greatest opportunities we haven’t yet capitalized on? 
2. What are the greatest threats that could end this storied franchise if not addressed? 
3. What is the one thing I could do to screw it up?
4. What do you hope will change? 
5. What should not change? 
6. What aren’t people telling me that I need to know? 
7. What am I not hearing that I should be hearing?

Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra | Source: Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal | Subjects: Corporate Governance Questions, Leadership Questions

Use these eight questions to guide your search for a new board leader.

1. Are we aligned on the qualities we’re looking for? Boards should be searching for someone who can maintain a collegial yet objective relationship with the CEO that is built on trust; with relevant strategic experience to help guide the company in the right direction; and with the courage to challenge management and the

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Dennis Carey, Joseph E. Griesedieck, Michael Useem, Ram Charan | Source: Choosing a New Board Leader: Eight Questions | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

Reflective recognition gives you, the leader, a window into what matters most to another person while at the same time, helping employees get to present their own progress and accomplishments. What’s more? When employees stop and reflect on their own achievements, how they’ve tackled challenges, and how they’ve made progress, it is great for engagement, too. The first step is to empower your employees to … [ Read more ]

Author: Christopher Littlefield | Source: A Better Way to Recognize Your Employees | Subjects: Human Resources Questions, Management Questions

1. Why now?
2. Is this a reversible or an irreversible decision?
3. If irreversible, what makes it so? Can I break it down into multiple smaller decisions, some of which may be reversible?
4. What factors won’t change in 10 years? How much of our plan is optimizing for durable traits versus betting on new trends and traits that will change?
5. How do we know we are succeeding in our goal?
6. What are

… [ Read more ]

Author: Kintan Brahmbhatt | Source: 35 Impactful Questions Managers Should Ask Themselves Regularly | Subject: Decision Making Questions