What Are Influencing Factors and How Do They Affect Value?
Now that we have a sense of why you have decided to work with Value Creation Associates, it is time to delve into the factors that resulted in the existing condition of your company. In a broad sense, we refer to these as the “Influencing Factors” and there are a few ways to uncover them. But first what do we mean when we say influencing factors?
These factors are those outside and inside circumstances that set boundaries, place limits, offer opportunities, and create the conditions the company must deal with as it seeks ongoing success.
One of the best ways we’ve found to approach this is by addressing these factors as seen through the eyes of your employees and by various disciplines or departments.
Some examples might be: what does the engineering team believe are the key influencing factors? They may say the customer specs are too tight or the package required for the design is too small. Quality may say the equipment is too old or incapable of holding tolerances or the material supplied varies too much. The manufacturing floor personnel may say the lighting in the building is too dark or the tooling is worn out. Purchasing may say the suppliers are always late and the customers’ schedules are unrealistic. You get the point. We are trying to paint a picture of the conditions the company is faced to operate under both from a perceived and a factual basis. In many cases we’ll find the list is long but when boiled down to truly influential factors can be a real eye opener.
Allowing the personnel in each department to make their own list, in some cases with very little restriction on what can be mentioned, can be a real learning experience. The real question is often whether the personnel feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with management. We’ll need to assess this with you to help make sure the information we gather is more than just the gripe of the day versus the actual longer term details.
Once we have this list of factors we’ll then discus each in detail to determine the source, the impacts and the results created by its influence. In some cases we will not be able to change them but once identified and understood be better able to deal with them. Those that can be changed will be identified and contribute to the strategies we help establish to move the company forward.
In our next article we’ll talk about Hurdles and /Roadblocks – Real and Perceived. Knowing or being able to determine the difference can be crucial to breaking new ground in performance and growth of the company.
Call today to begin our process FREE.
Value Creation Associates LLC
Gary Gauthier-Chief Insight Coach 248-672-1943
Dave Gingrich-Chief Innovation/ Implementation Coach 248-446-2626
