Transform Your Organization in Seven Hours

How long would it take to transform the trajectory of your organization? Thirty-six months? One year? A single month?  

If I told you that you can catapult your organization’s success in as little as seven hours, would you invest the time?

Let me explain.

The fortunes of countless organizations are being radically disrupted. Changing consumer behavior, new technology, global competition, and other factors are all having an impact. For many organizations, finding a path forward can seem daunting. There are many questions that need answers: what approach to take, who to talk to, and what will the changes cost on an absolute and opportunity-cost basis?

In the past couple of years, our agency has been brought into quite a few organizations whose circumstances had changed: nonprofits that were once vibrant but whose donor base had aged, and for-profits that had viable businesses but were suddenly operating in stagnant markets.

In most of these situations, we started our engagement with both category due-diligence and a series of one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders. These interviews were with between six and ten executives at each organization. They usually included the CEO, CFO, CMO, head of sales and HR, and other key stakeholders (sometimes board members or customers). Each interview usually lasted forty-five minutes to an hour. The majority of the questions were the same in each interview.

In four circumstances, these interviews (seven hours of discussion on average) led to important epiphanies that helped transform the trajectory of the respective organization. Don’t get me wrong. It didn’t take seven hours to totally reinvent these organizations’ products or services and go-to-market strategies – that process took between eighteen and thirty-six months – but in each circumstance, the results from the seven hours of discussions were astounding and set these organizations on the right path forward.

What is the secret of these successes?

It’s the power of questions. By definition, questions demand attention and answers. An experienced business strategist can find consensus among key stakeholders they didn’t know they had, resolve disagreements that stifle progress, and most importantly, compel organizations to embrace change and make it happen. Doing the interviews on a one-on-one basis enables every voice to be equally heard — a dynamic that can be very different than in business or management meetings.

While we have found it’s best to use an objective, experienced outsider for this work, you or someone on your team can implement a version of this. I encourage you to formulate a series of penetrating questions that can help you unearth barriers to improvement and opportunities. Then ask these questions of key people on your team and others you trust. Check one person’s answers with other stakeholders. Keep asking questions until you have a few reasonable hypotheses then vet them with organizational leaders.

I hope this strategic approach is helpful. If you have any questions about the power of questions or this process, just ask.

Lawrence M. Kimmel is CEO of Rung-UP, the first agency custom built for C-Level executives at mid-sized organizations. He can be reached at Hi@Rung-UP.com.