As you lead your organization, you will look for new ways of doing things, and you’ll consider the experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned that made a positive impact. Running my own firm has taught me many valuable life lessons, both professional and personal, which has provided me with the context to formulate my coaching. These are the best practices of:
- the SmartPlan360™ Platform
- the Knowledge and Strategic Charting
- the Four P’s of Branding
- the Start/Stop/Continue Workshop
- the Rethinking For A Change Workshops
- the SmartGuides
- the SmartCard
Now, I would like to explore the basis of the SmartPlan360™ Platform (SP360).
I designed this after consulting hundreds of company leaders for 25 years. What I noticed was the stark difference of organizations who were either growing, staying the same size, or declining and even going out of business. The “cues” as we like to call them at MarketCues were the key foundations and areas that caused them to either succeed or fail.
I also found that there is not one strategy that fits all. Quite the contrary! In order for an organization to be successful it needs to formulate a core organizational strategy that is particularly unique to them, that only they can provide and promote. Some describe this as the Unique Selling Proposition, and it is that, but it’s so much more when it is based on just what their customers’ want and are willing to pay for.
This is often a gap we find: the organization is expert at something but it’s not uniquely what their customers need or want. Sometimes it’s because the market has moved on but the organization didn’t move with it. Other times it’s because the technology framework has altered the needs of the workforce who are untrained and unprepared to use new tools.
On the one hand, I wanted SP360 to be totally objective lacking in any bias from me or anyone in our firm. This called for an online survey that was impartial, one that was agnostic in its beliefs, but could provide an exacting analysis regardless of the type or size of the organization. To accomplish this, SP360 gathers its intelligence from the organization’s key groups of stakeholders, including employees and customers.
The results of the “internal” and “external” groups are then compared using an ai-driven algorithm. This objective analysis is followed by in-depth executive interviews that qualify the results of the survey’s data.
One of the primary benefits of SP360 is everyone is heard. No one is left out. And all thoughts are considered carefully. This process creates a collaborative spirit which leads to a positive culture. Because everyone has participated, the results are generally accepted at face value. The best part of this is that the group’s self-identification of their gaps or challenges make it easier for them to see and accept and want to do something about it.
SP360 is a gap identification tool that holds everyone accountable to a measurable performance level. As a result, the group is provided with the positive feedback it needs to move forward, make informed strategic decisions, and not be embroiled in opinion-making that can disrupt a team’s best work. With SP360, any team at any time can identify its constraints and develop a winning strategy to overcome their gaps and obstacles.
I designed it as a tool for both leaders, managers and facilitators to help successful people become even more successful or for people who are currently struggling with strategic issues who need a helping hand to get to their next stage of growth.
