To Create Customer Value, Clarity Of Purpose Is Necessary

After we have completed the steps required to assess the level of insight you have into your own company and the outside world in which it functions daily, our next step will be to work toward establishing “Clarity of Purpose”.

This defines what you are really trying to do with your company and how Value Creation Associates can assist you to get there. We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the day to day grind of running the business.  It is exhausting in many cases in good times and worse in the economic climate we are now facing. It is crucial that we take a step  back away from these daily tasks and put time and effort into visualizing the future state of the company.  This comes from our definition of what we want the company to become and where we want it to go.

As the tag line from Albert Einstein on our business cards reads; “Insanity; doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results”.

If we spend 80% of our time attending the daily needs of the company and the other 20% looking back on what might have been there is obviously no time left to chart the course for change in the future.

It truly does turn in to a rat race when we are pulled and tugged in every direction daily to get through the day; stuck as a slave to reaction rather than plotting the course to be proactive. This may sound a lot easier than it really is but stop and think about it; when was the last time you and your staff actually spent quality time doing any type of assessment on what is driving the company today and how it can be changed? My bet is not recently and not with any preparation to maximize the outcome potential. The use of outside experienced advisors such as Value Creation Associates can help turn this scenario around.

To be effective it takes a real commitment on the part of the management team to be open to outsiders evaluating the company’s performance and the organization’s effectiveness. There is little doubt that some will have difficulty doing this but it is not our intent to point fingers at anyone, all of your team contributed in some way to the current state both for the better and the worse.

Your company must have the courage to be realistic about the situation. Facts, data and reality must replace conjecture, opinion and speculation. It is unfortunately entirely normal for a company that has exhibited some degree of success to go through a period when it becomes too introspective and isolated from the outside world because it is  focusing on the effort require to maintain the success.

When this inward focus happens the organization becomes vulnerable to competitors who are expending the effort to stay actively engaged with the needs and actions of their customers’ businesses.

So what’s next?

Now that we’ve contemplated a dose of reality, in the next article we’ll discuss one of the beginning stages of strategic planning; “Influencing Factors”, what internal and external actions, events, pressures are the most influential in the success and ongoing health of your organization.

Until then, we urge you to call us at:

Value Creation Associates LLC

Gary Gauthier: Chief Insight Coach 248-672-1943

OR

Dave Gingrich Chief Innovate/Implement Coach 248-446-2626