Key Definitions

An objective is something you wish to realize – an aim you want to achieve. If you don’t have objectives, any future direction will do, and you will drift around. Or as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland put it: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there”.

So, to have a sense of direction and avoid ad hoc wandering, it is essential to have clear objectives. The more these objectives are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-bound – the more intentional and directed the efforts can be of the person, team or organization that sets them.

Conceptual Model

The Guiding STAR Matrix gives an overview of the four groups of objectives that are always needed in every situation to set a well-considered future direction, whether it is for an individual, group or entire organization. Often, people will only think about what needs to be strengthened moving forward, but the Guiding STAR Matrix indicates that after the S, objective-setters should follow the other letters of the STAR abbreviation to create a complete picture of what to aim for. Only with all four categories filled will a brightly shining star emerge to guide people in taking the best possible steps into the future.

Key Elements

The four categories of objectives that should always be determined are the following:

1. When thinking about the future, it is natural that the first topic that comes to mind is what needs to be improved. People will quickly zoom in on what is going wrong or working poorly, and therefore needs to be fixed. Besides these weaknesses that require upgrading, people can also focus on further developing current strengths. But whether it is correcting faults or building on existing qualities, the common denominator is that a change for the better (future/+) is foreseen, requiring the individual, team, or organization to adapt their behaviors, learn new skills and/or embrace different values and beliefs.
2. In the drive to set ambitious improvement objectives, it is often forgotten how important it is to identify which current qualities are still valuable and need to be preserved. This is particularly difficult as familiar characteristics are typically seen as normal and therefore taken for granted. Hence, the second step in determining objectives is to clearly define which current capabilities, relational networks, cultural norms, sense of community and leadership behaviors are highly beneficial (current/+) and need to be safeguarded. They need to be explicitly recognized and objectives set to protect them.
3. Avoid. After thinking about what to improve and what to preserve, the third step in objective setting is to consider which potential risks are lurking in future that need to be mitigated. These risks include intentional negative reactions by other stakeholders, but also vulnerabilities to changing circumstances and the threat of making mistakes (future/-). Once these risks have been identified by considering “what if…?”, people can try to find ways to avert the risk from materializing by taking preventative action and/or look for possibilities to minimize the impact when things do go wrong.
4. Reduce. Once the future improvements and risk mitigation have been determined, a good way to wrap things up is to explicitly determine which current qualities, behaviors and/or investments shouldn’t be preserved, but should be eliminated – decreased or even stopped altogether (current/-). Some of this scaling down will be because the current way of working is ineffectual or even dysfunctional, but it could also simply be that there are insufficient resources available and priorities need to be determined, or that a clearer focus needs to be achieved.

Key Insights

• Objectives are needed for directed action. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, any behavior is fine, and you will wander about. But for intentional behavior, it is necessary to set objectives that can be aimed for and can be used to track progress.
• Objectives are needed at all levels. Organizations need to set objectives if they don’t want to drift about, but so do units, teams, and individuals. Everyone needs direction.
• Objectives need to indicate desired improvements. A key part of setting direction is to outline what needs to be strengthened. By specifying that there is a gap between the current situation (A) and the desired future situation (B), it can be made clear what needs to be corrected and/or developed. These change aims are called improvement objectives.
• Objectives come in four different types. Only specifying what needs to be strengthened can give a narrow and unbalanced view of what needs to be achieved. Besides setting improvement objectives, it is important to simultaneously determine what to treasure (preservation objectives), what to avoid (mitigation objectives) and what to reduce (elimination objectives). All four together give a complete picture of what to strive for.
• Objectives should be set by following the STAR acronym. To create a consistent and balanced set of objectives, it works best to go through the four different types in the order of the STAR acronym – start with what needs to be Strengthened, then what should be Treasured, Avoided and Reduced. Be aware that people usually find it easiest to determine what needs to be strengthened but tend to struggle when thinking the others through.

Key Definitions

All commercial organizations need to sell products and/or services to customers to survive. As even the best value propositions don’t sell themselves, firms need to organize a sales process to ensure that customers purchase what is on offer.

The process of acquiring new customers is often referred to as hunting, while the process of cultivating existing customers is referred to as farming. In most firms both processes are required, but the mix of acquisition and retention can differ widely.

Conceptual Model

The Hunting & Farming Typology gives an overview of the four generic types of sales processes, comparing them to four common ways of dealing with animals. Along the vertical axis a distinction is made between hunting (customer acquisition) and farming (customer retention), while along the horizontal axis a distinction is made between selling to big customers (large enough to be approached individually) and small ones (each so little they need to be approached as a group). Each of the four quadrants describes a fundamentally different way of running a sales process. By extension, each approach requires a different type of organization, performance management system, set of skills and culture.

Key Elements

The four generic types of sales processes are the following:

1. Whale Tracking. To take a stunning picture of a whale, you need to go out and track one down – this is also called outbound sales. It requires a thorough understanding of one or just a few specimens and a willingness to pursue each lead for a long time, with the intention of eventually catching the big prize. Success largely depends on the skill of the salespeople doing the hunting – they need tenacity, perseverance, and a risk-taking attitude. Sales performance is often motivated by giving significant bonuses and is supported by a culture valuing ‘scoring the deal’.
2. Fish Catching. While you need to go out to find a whale, the best way to catch a lot of fish is to let them swim into your net, which is also called inbound sales. This approach requires an understanding of where large schools of potential leads can be found and then luring them ever deeper into the ‘trap’. Success depends less on the individual salespeople and more on the structure of the sales funnel – together with marketing people an attractive setting needs to be created that tempts enough leads to willingly swim into the net and let themselves be caught. The supporting culture values ‘seduction and conversion’.
3. Horse Breeding. You can go out hunting for wild horses, but it usually makes more sense to breed with the ones you already have. In this approach, the intention is to keep the existing clients happy and gradually increase their size. This requires a thorough understanding of each magnificent beast’s unique character and a willingness to cater to their specific wishes. Success largely depends on the skill of the salespeople at building and maintaining long-term trusting relationships and adapting to each customer’s whims. The supporting culture values customer intimacy and relational continuity.
4. Bee Keeping. While you can pamper each individual horse, as beekeeper you need to focus on what will keep a whole swarm happy. This approach requires an understanding of the needs of the average bee and then shaping a hive that will satisfy their wishes and get them to constantly come back with a bit of honey. Here too, success depends less on the individual salespeople, but more on creating an attractive setting that tempts each customer to faithfully return to the ‘nest’. Ideally, each customer will feel at home, or even experience a sense of belonging. The supporting culture values building long term loyalty.

Key Insights

• Sales processes can be like hunting or farming. Sales activities can be focused on acquiring new customers (hunting) or nurturing existing ones (farming). Most organizations will engage in both activities but can have a hugely different mix between the two.
• Sales processes can be directed at big or small customers. Sales activities can be targeted towards individual big customers, that can be known individually, or designed to deal with larger numbers of difficult-to-know smaller customers.
• Sales processes come in four generic types. The Hunting & Farming Typology describes four distinct approaches to structuring the sales process, giving them names that show a parallel between ways of dealing with animals and selling to customers.
• Sales processes need to be supported by a sales organization. Each of the four types of sales processes requires a different team of salespeople, with different skills, a different performance management system and a different culture. It is possible to combine all four in one firm, yet they need to be organized differently and often separately, to avoid creating a stuck-in-the-middle mishmash of conflicting ways of working.
• Sales processes shouldn’t only focus on salespeople. Traditional salespeople tend to focus on whale tracking and horse breeding, because it makes them more important than the sales system. Yet enlightened sales managers take a broader perspective, looking for ways to move to the right and keep the ‘feet off the street’. Fish catching and beekeeping are often more efficient, less person-dependent and easier to automate.

Key Definitions

Managers are problem-solvers – they are oriented towards tackling issues that impede an organization from reaching its goals. They constantly try to understand what types of problems are holding the organization back, or might threaten the organization in future, and then look for a solution to enable the organization to move forward.

Yet, problems differ in their level of difficulty. Rittel and Webber (1973) famously made a distinction between tame and wicked problems. Tame problems are by their nature easy to solve, even though they might require a lot of work. Wicked problems, however, are challenging messes that are difficult, if not impossible, to resolve.

Conceptual Model

The Wicked Problem Scorecard is an evaluation framework for assessing a problem’s relative difficulty. An index value can be calculated for any type of problem by using 15 characteristics to judge its level of wickedness. By giving a score of 1 (fully tame) to five (fully wicked) for each of the 15 measures, then adding all the scores together and dividing by 15, an index value is calculated indicating the relative difficulty of the problem. This scorecard is not intended to convey an objective truth, but to give a rough estimation to sensitize the problem-solver(s).

Key Elements

The scorecard consists of three categories of five characteristics each:

1. The first part focuses on the nature of the problem itself, without consideration of the stakeholders. A wicked problem is not evil, but just outright confusing and frustrating by its very structure. This is also often referred to as a problem’s level of complexity or complication. A problem is wicked if it has the following characteristics:
   1. Definition. The interpretation of the problem varies widely depending on who you ask;
   2. Separation. The problem is linked to an intricate web of other problems;
   3. Timing. The problem requires immediate attention and needs to be resolved quickly;
   4. Data. Most information needed to understand and solve the problem is unavailable;
   5. Predictability. How the problem will evolve in future can’t be objectively foreseen.
2. The second part of the scorecard focuses on the people who play a role in the problem. Some stakeholders are involved because they believe that their interests (or those of third parties) are at stake, while others can be involved as potential problem-solvers. A problem is wicked if the stakeholders have the following characteristics:
   1. Identity. The stakeholders are unknown or there are different views on who they are;
   2. Drivers. The stakeholders’ worldview and understanding of what is important differs;
   3. Motivation. Some or all of the stakeholders don’t really want to solve the problem;
   4. Separation. Some or all of the problem solvers are themselves part of the problem;
   5. Capability. The problem solvers have limited power to influence the problem.
3. Solution. The third part of the scorecard focuses of the nature of the potential solutions. A solution is any type of practical intervention directed at alleviating the problem. Some integrative solutions can resolve the entire problem, while some narrower measures can nudge the problem a bit closer to a solution. A problem is wicked if the solution is like this:
   1. Availability. There is no fixed set from which to choose, so solutions must be invented;
   2. Predictability. How possible interventions will influence solving the problem is uncertain;
   3. Selection. No solution is the best, as each has its own strengths and weaknesses;
   4. Execution. All potential solutions are very difficult to put into practice;
   5. Impact. Any intervention will immediately change the nature of the problem.

Key Insights

• Wicked problems are everywhere. At school we learn to solve tame puzzles, but we seldom learn to grapple with wicked messes. Yet, wicked problems abound, when setting strategy, developing new policies, innovating, and implementing organizational change. The more senior the manager, the more their work consists of managing wicked problems.
• Wicked problems need to be recognized. It is important to know the level of wickedness of a problem, to avoid overoptimism, naïve quick fixes, and mounting frustration. In many cases, the realistic manager will understand the problem can’t be solved but only managed.
• Wicked problems need to be assessed. The level of wickedness can’t be scientifically determined, but can be pragmatically estimated, by evaluating three types of characteristics – what is the nature of the problem, what is the profile of the stakeholders and what is the nature of the possible solutions.
• Wicked problems need to be measured. The Wicked Problem Scorecard is a pragmatic way to quickly measure the level of wickedness of a problem. This helps to clarify the difficulty of the challenge and create a shared understanding among all involved.
• Wicked problems need to be tamed. It is foolish to treat a wicked problem as if it was tame, but it is pessimistic to assume that a wicked problem can’t be tamed a bit. A first step towards taming a wicked problem is by recognizing and measuring its level of wickedness. Calculating an index number is useful, but doing the assessment together is even better.

Key Definitions

In most countries an official working week is 40 hours, but few managers are able to squeeze all their activities into this limited timeframe. Most managers end up laboring longer hours and even then their work isn’t finished, but they run out of time, energy and/or attention.

Time management is the process of consciously allocating time as a scarce resource, investing it into activities that will give the most attractive returns, while not overspending time on work, to the detriment of one’s family, friends, health, and other endeavors.

Conceptual Model

The Time Management Funnel gives an overview of the three steps that can be taken to limit the amount of time that managers need to invest in work. The assumption is that managers have fewer hours available than demanded, so they need to filter and squeeze activities to fit within their “time budget”. Demands for time will come from the external and organizational conditions surrounding managers but will also depend on their specific ambitions (strategic and operational goals). Managers should start by limiting their long list of potential activities, by filtering out the low value drains on time. Then they should limit their short list, by prioritizing the highest value ones. Finally, they should limit task time, by working more efficiently.

Key Elements

The five parts of the time management funnel are the following:

1. To first way to limit the long list of activities is to delegate as many tasks as possible to others and then limit the amount of “vertical” control needed to ensure that this work is carried out correctly. This means making sure that colleagues are hired, trained, and retained who are capable of taking on significant responsibilities independently, and then going through the Empowerment Cycle (see model 21) to quickly build their autonomy.
2. The second timesaver is to limit the complexity of the organization by reducing the number of interfaces and alignments. This can be done by creating small separate teams with the freedom to run end-to-end processes independently, instead of having large teams that need a lot of internal coordination, that in turn need to coordinate with other teams. All forms of “horizontal” alignment burn through management time at a high rate.
3. Streamline. The third way to compress the long list is to limit the number of steps and stakeholders in decision-making processes. Each extra cook in the kitchen increases the amount of discussion time needed exponentially, while each extra quality check creates additional bureaucracy. By streamlining decision-making to a few people and a few steps, 80% quality can be achieved in only 20% of the regular time, which is usually good enough.
4. Prioritize. Even if the long list of potential tasks is reduced to a much shorter one, it is still important to rank the remaining tasks and focus on the key ones. In the Fruits & Nuts Matrix (model 26) this prioritizing was done along two dimensions, first distinguishing which activities will have the highest impact, and then identifying how much effort each activity will require. The low hanging fruit (high impact, low effort) should usually be done first.
5. Accelerate. Finally, it is also important to use time efficiently, by speeding up activity execution. Important ways to accelerate include not overengineering an outcome (avoiding perfectionism in favor of “good enough”) yet getting most things right the first time around (avoiding constant repair work). Also, not multi-tasking (focus on one task at a time) yet being quick at switching to a next task (redirecting focus).

Key Insights

• Time is a scarce resource. Managers deliberate extensively about how to spend their money but spend their time casually, as if it is endless. Yet, time is a scarce resource that can only be spent once. In practice, managers end up stealing time from their private lives to plug the holes in their work “time budgets”, often damaging their relationships and health.
• Time management requires conscious spending. To avoid overspending time on work activities, managers need to intentionally manage their time budget. They need to be frugal, by choosing what not to do (limiting activities), and they need to be efficient, by doing the things they have chosen in less time (limiting time per activity).
• Time management requires a three-step funnel. Limiting time spending starts with reducing demand. This is called limiting the long list and is achieved by empowering others (to limit the time needed for control), simplifying the organization (to limit the time needed for alignment) and streamlining decision-making processes (to limit the time needed for agreement). The second step in the funnel is to limit the short list, by prioritizing the remaining time demands. The third step is to limit task time, by working more efficiently, speeding up the execution of the highest priority activities.
• Time management can be helped by lower ambitions. The time management funnel helps to invest time wisely, but “step 0” can be to ask whether the investment goals make sense in the first place. Lowering ambitions to a more feasible level is the easiest way to live within the available time budget. Your ambitions might create more stress than stretch.
• Time management requires a time investment. Ironically, managers often feel they don’t have the time to consciously manage their time. But you need to invest time to save time.

 

 

Key Definitions

Digitalization is the process of using digital means to change activities that were previously carried out physically or using analogue technology. These digital means include IT hardware (equipment such as computers, mobile phones, and robots), software (programs such as operating systems, applications, and artificial intelligence) and connectivity (interaction methods such as the internet, 5G, and near field communication).

Digitalization can be applied to a single activity (e.g. printing a letter instead of typing one), to a workflow of activities (e.g. tracking inventory with an ERP system instead using paper records), to a value proposition (e.g. using banking apps instead of branch offices) and even the entire business (e.g. running a platform instead of a physical store).

Conceptual Model

The Digitalization Staircase gives insight into four categories of digitalization and the potential benefits that can be gained as the ‘staircase’ is ascended. The higher up one goes, the more competitive value the move is likely to create – from sustaining the current competitive position to disrupting the competitive game and building a new position. Yet, the higher one climbs, the larger the scale of change will be – from a modest transition to a full-scale transformation.

Key Elements

The four steps on the staircase are the following:

1. Digital Automation. When single activities are performed by a machine without a direct human operator, it is called automation – traffic lights change, heating is turned on and a robot vacuum cleaner whizzes around. While some of this automation is possible using analogue technology, digital means are generally smaller, cheaper, and more powerful, hugely accelerating the process. The result is often that tasks can be carried out cheaper, faster, and more accurately/reliably than by manual means.
2. Digital Process Transformation. When not just one, but a sequence activities, is digitalized, it is called digital process transformation – e.g. when the invoicing or quality control systems are digitalized. Generally, the activities are not automated separately, but the entire workflow is reconfigured, changing the shape and order of each activity. As with automation, the result is often lower cost, higher speed, and more accuracy, but also a process that is more convenient, more controlled, and leads to better quality.
3. Digital Experience Transformation. When it is not only an internal process being digitalized, but also the externally oriented process of interacting with the customer somewhere during their customer journey, we speak of digital experience transformation. As with the previous steps on the stairs, the customer experience can be made cheaper, faster, more accurate, easier, more controlled, and of higher quality, but also more personalized, more integrated into a frictionless flow and overall, more enjoyable.
4. Digital Business Transformation. When multiple internal and external processes are significantly changed by introducing a different business model based on digital means, it is called digital business transformation. Besides all of the previously mentioned strengths of digitalization, a business transformation can create an entirely distinct business model, potentially targeted at a specific market segment, while also building a unique competitive advantage that is dominant and very difficult for others to copy.

Key Insights

• Digitalization is about leveraging technology to create value. Digitalization is the process of using digital technology (i.e. hardware, software and connectivity) to replace manual labor and/or analogue machinery (not to be confused with digitization – the change of analogue information into zeros and ones). From a business perspective, digitalization is about employing new technology to adapt an organization’s way of working to create added value and strengthen an organization’s competitive position.
• Digitalization is not always transformational. Although we live in the ‘Age of Digital Transformation’, not every application of digital technology is ‘transformational’. It is important to distinguish which aspects of an organization’s work are being changed by digital means to understand the level of transformation.
• Digitalization can be found at four levels. Digital technologies can be applied at four levels or steps on the ‘digital staircase’ At the lowest level, digital automation, only single activities are digitalized, while at the second level, digital process transformation, sequences of internally oriented activities are changed. At the third level, digital experience transformation, customer-facing activities are also digitalized, while at the fourth level, digital business transformation, the entire business model will be converted.
• Digitalization can create different types of value. Every step up the digitalization staircase gives more potential for competitive value creation, going from improving cost, speed, and accuracy (level 1), to enhancing convenience, control, and quality (level 2), to increasing personalization, frictionless flow and fun (level 3) and building business model distinctiveness, segment focus and a winner-takes-all market position (level 4).
• Digitalization can require different levels of change. Yet, every step up requires more change, going from a simple activity transition to full organizational transformation.

Key Definitions

Leadership is the art of seduction. It is the ability to get people to move in a certain direction – touching their hearts and minds in such a way that they willingly go along on the journey. To have such influence, it is essential to have some type of connection with the people you are trying to sway. In other words, leadership always takes place within the context of relationships.

As Covey (1989) remarked, leaders often have a wide circle of concern (issues/people they worry about), but a more restricted circle of influence (issues/people they can impact). Their potential influence is limited to the people with whom they have some sort of relationship.

Conceptual Model

The Leadership Circle Map is a tool for charting which people are within a leader’s circle of influence. In 360-degree fashion, a distinction is made between four different directions of connections (i.e., up, down, across and out), while a distinction is also made between three different levels of connection (i.e., inner circle, outer circle, and periphery). The map can be used to plot people’s current position and to plan for future investments in relationships.

Key Elements

The three levels of connection are the following:

1. Reputation: Knows of You. The weakest type of connection is where people are aware of your existence and have heard certain things about you, leading them to have a picture of who you are. This reputation is also referred to as your leadership brand (see Meyer’s Management Model #18), as it is the image that you have projected, triggering expectations about your identity and probable actions. Your ability to influence people in this ring is limited to using mass media (e.g., presentations and publications) and exhibiting certain behaviors in public (e.g., leading by example and giving people recognition).
2. Relation: Knows You. Once people actually get to know you directly, they move from your periphery to your outer circle – the connection shifts to the level of being a relation. Your potential to influence people in this ring is much higher, as you can interact directly with them, via dialogue and/or joint efforts, using a variety of leadership styles. Your sway will also be increased by building trust and credibility, as you deal with each other over a prolonged period of time (see Meyer’s Management Model #6). The relationship can be professional and transactional but can grow to become more personal and structural.
3. Rapport: Close to You. As relationships grow tighter, stronger, more affective, and more lasting, they move from the outer to the inner circle – you develop rapport with your connection. This is a sense of mutual understanding, trust, and sympathy, leading to a warmer and easier interaction. Your potential to influence people in this ring is the largest, as there is a stronger emotional bond, level of commitment and feeling of safety, leading to a high willingness to listen to the other and accept their inputs. Such a relationship is often characterized as friendship and/or a feeling of being family.

Key Insights

• A leadership circle is about your circle of influence. Leaders are surrounded by a multitude of people, inside and outside the organization, but only have some sort of connection with a limited group. This is called their leadership circle – the collection of individuals with whom they have some type of relationship and therefore the people they can potentially influence.
• The Leadership Circle Map is about mapping your circle of influence. As leaders often need to consider the broader circumstances in the organization, the market and even society, their circle of concern will generally be wider than their circle of influence. To focus their resources, energy, and attention wisely, they need to limit their leadership agenda to concerns they can potentially influence. The Leadership Circle Map is a simple tool for plotting all of a leader’s relationships to estimate this possible influence.
• The Leadership Circle Map has four directions. Using the idea of looking 360 degrees around each person, this mapping tool distinguishes between people at different levels within the organizational hierarchy – individuals at higher levels, peers and at lower levels. There is also a broad category of people outside the organization. In using the tool, these general categories need to be interpreted to fit the user’s specific situation.
• The Leadership Circle Map has three levels. In all four directions, three levels of connection are distinguished – only knowing someone by reputation (periphery), knowing someone personally (outer circle) and knowing someone very closely (inner circle). In practice these three levels are more of a continuum and therefore the user can make a more fine-grained distinction within each level.
• The Leadership Circle Map is about investing in your circle of influence. Leaders can focus on issues they can already influence, or they can decide they need to strengthen their connections to have more influence on selected issues – called developing your leadership circle. This mapping tool can be used to identify which individuals require extra attention to shift them to a higher level of connection.

Key Definitions

A mission is the assignment that people embrace that propels them in a certain direction (from the Latin mittere – to send). It is a set of fundamental principles driving the organization forward – not a goal or a project to be accomplished, but a philosophy to live by. A mission doesn’t tell you where the voyage is headed, but why and how the voyage should be undertaken.

A mission will be inspiring if it touches people’s hearts and minds, giving them a sense of mission – a deeply held conviction that what they are doing is meaningful, valuable, and right, and therefore should be pursued, justifying the time, effort and resources being invested.

Conceptual Model

The MOVING Mission Framework outlines the four key elements that need to be defined to have a complete mission for an organization. At the heart is the organizational purpose (“why do we exist?”), surrounded by three fundamental types of guiding conditions (“how do we exist?”). Underneath are the six criteria that need to be met for a mission to be truly MOVING and to create a strong sense of mission among all organizational members.

Key Elements

The four building blocks of an inspiring organizational mission are the following:

1. Organizational Purpose. While an organization’s vision should give an answer to the question “where are we going?”, the organization’s purpose should answer “why are we going?”. What function do we serve – who stands to gain from our existence and what would happen if the organization folded? What is the impact we seek to have?
2. Business Definition. Besides the reason for being, there are also conditions of being, the first of which is to determine which types of activities fall within the embraced assignment and which are out of scope. What do we see as tasks belonging to who we are? And when do we regard something to be “not our business”, hence not worth further consideration?
3. Organizational Values. The next set of conditions of being are the fundamental values that the organization wants to live by. Which attitudes and behaviors do we hold in high regard and consider to be more important than others? If we rank a variety of principles or characteristics, which do we literally value above all alternatives?
4. Organizational Beliefs. The final set of conditions of being are the strongly held beliefs shared by all organizational members. While values are about what is important, beliefs are about what is true – what is our worldview? Which assumptions do we have about people and organizations, and how they can develop and be effective?

These four elements need to be determined while meeting the following six criteria:

1. To inspire, a mission needs to instill a sense of relevance and significance – that what the organization is doing is worthwhile and that the effort that people put in is useful.
2. A mission also needs to convey a hopeful message for people to buy in to, giving them a promising perspective that their efforts will lead to a positive outcome.
3. A mission should also make clear to internal and external stakeholders that the organization’s existence is justified, giving it a moral license to operate.
4. Identity. A mission should also paint a picture of the organization’s personality, so that people can identify with its unique characteristics and feel emotionally connected.
5. Norms. A mission also needs to set tangible behavioral rules for all organizational members, clarifying what type of conduct is expected and what is not acceptable.
6. Guidance. Finally, a mission should also steer decision-making in a particular direction, by offering guidelines as to what are the aspirations and priorities of the organization.

Key Insights

• A mission is the ongoing assignment you live by. Ban the term mission accomplished from your vocabulary. A mission is never finished, as it is the ongoing assignment driving an organization forward every day. A mission is not a project, but a philosophy. It doesn’t explain where to go, but why and how to go.
• A mission needs to set the reason for being. At the heart of a mission is the organization’s raison d’être – it’s reason for being, it’s purpose. It needs to be clear why the organization exists, and which functions it will strive to perform.
• A mission needs to set the conditions of being. Around the core of “why to exist” are three factors setting “how to exist” – what is our business definition (which activities are in scope for us?), what are our organizational values (which attitudes and behaviors are important to us?) and what are our organizational beliefs (which worldview do we have?).
• A mission needs to be MOVING to be inspiring. To constantly drive joint organizational action, a mission needs to provide meaning (our work is relevant and significant), optimism (our impact will be positive), validation (our existence is justified), identity (we are unique), norms (we live by certain rules) and guidance (we want to achieve certain things).
• A mission needs to trigger a sense of mission. Mission statements make great posters but are only useful if they touch hearts and minds, building a commitment among all organizational members exert themselves to constantly realize the shared assignment.

Key Definitions

A vision is a picture of what you would like to become. You envision a future self or organization that you would like to strive for – it’s not what you see with your naked eye, but with your mind’s eye. It’s not how you look at things (your view), but how you dream to shape things.

A vision will be inspiring if it sketches an attractive long-term goal that is neither too easy nor out of reach. If it is too easy, it will simply be an objective. If it is unattainable, it will be a fantasy that people can’t take seriously. It needs to be an ambitious dream, not a pie-in-the-sky.

Conceptual Model

The BOLD Vision Framework outlines the four key elements that need to be defined to have a complete vision for an organization. At the heart is the organizational ambition (“how high do we want to set our sights?”), surrounded by the three fundamental strategic questions already discussed in the Strategic Alignment Model (Meyer’s Management Models #32). Underneath are the four BOLD conditions that need to be met for a vision to be inspiring, which are the opposite of SMART conditions (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-bound).

Key Elements

The four building blocks of any organizational vision are the following:

1. Organizational Ambition. While an organization’s mission should give an answer to the question “why?” (the raison d’etre), the organization’s ambition should answer “how high?”. What is the performance level the organization wants to strive for – how big, well-known, impactful, profitable, international and/or sustainable? What does future success look like?
2. Market Position. The world outside the organization is huge, so a crucial part of the vision is to define “where to play?” – where in the market does the organization want to compete and achieve success? Which customers does it want to serve and with which other parties is it willing to deal, such as competitors, distributors, suppliers, and governments.
3. Business Model. The next question is “how to play?” – how does the organization want to create superior customer value in future, thereby fending off competition, while at the same time dealing with all other parties in the chosen market? What are the intended value propositions, which activity system will be developed, and which resources needed?
4. Organizational Model. The final question is “who should play?” – what does the team look like that is capable of running the business model? What type of people need to be on the team, how should it be structured, coordinated, and controlled, which culture is needed and what type of leadership is required to get the optimal result?

These four elements need to be determined while meeting the following four criteria:

1. While SMART goals need to be specific, a vision needs to be broad. It should sketch a big picture overview of how all elements fit together into a consistent whole, using rough brushstrokes to highlight the crucial lines, while leaving out all the specific details.
2. While SMART goals need to be realistic, a vision needs to be optimistic. It should sketch a bright, hopeful picture of what can potentially be achieved if people in the organization is willing to work hard and luck is on their side.
3. Long-term. While SMART goals need to be measurable and time-bound, a vision needs to be long-term. It is the guiding light further out into the future, giving direction beyond the period for which the organization measures and plans.
4. Daring. While SMART goals need to be immediately actionable, a vision needs to be daring. It should challenge people to come out of their comfort zone, think big, innovate, and stretch themselves – to do things they never realized they could achieve.

Key Insights

• A vision is what you see when you close your eyes. A vision is not a goal that you can actually see on the horizon, but a roughly defined long-term goal that you picture in your mind. A vision needs to be envisioned, individually or with a group of people.
• A vision needs to be BOLD to be inspiring. Pragmatic short-term aims need to be SMART, but to inspire, a vision needs to be the opposite, namely BOLD – Broad, not specific; Optimistic, not realistic; Long-term, not measurable and time-bound; and Daring, not directly actionable. A BOLD vision doesn’t give all the answers but sets the general direction and generates the desire to try to achieve it.
• A vision needs to have ambition at its heart. At the core of a vision is the aspiration to become more than you are today. You need to determine how high you want to set your sights and that becomes the engine driving people to perform in order to reach it.
• A vision needs to answer where, how and who should play. While ambition is the driver, a vision also needs to outline three key choices to bring the picture into enough focus. An outline is needed of the market position where the organization wants to play, of the business model with which it wants to play, and of the organizational model shaping the team with which it wants to play. All three are needed to have an effective vision.
• A vision needs to be shared to be inspiring. Vision statements make great posters but are only useful if they are shared and internalized by the people in the organization.

Key Definitions

In common parlance, feedback is any type of information given back to a person – evaluations, opinions, frustrations, complaints, or suggestions. Feedback is anything the giver wants to communicate. But this is a confusing misuse of the term that originally comes from cybernetics (control theory), where it refers to the signal looped back to a controlled system with the intention of steering it in a certain direction.

So, feedback is not what the giver wants to communicate, but what the receiver needs to hear in order to change behavior to achieve an intended result. Feedback is a signal targeted to influence the receiver and trigger particular behavior. Feedback is a steering mechanism.

Conceptual Model

The Duty of Care Feedback Model illustrates how feedback works and specifies how both the giver and receiver should behave to achieve an effective outcome. Key to the model is the understanding that giving feedback should NOT be about the giver wanting to communicate information to the receiver (“how do I package my criticism?”), but about the giver wanting to influence the receiver (“how do I get the behavior I want?”). Normally a person will be given an assignment as input (also called feedforward), leading to a certain behavior as output, which in the operating context will result in a particular outcome (the dark blue arrows). Information about the behavior and results needs to flow to the feedback giver (gray arrows), who should then avoid communicating a judgment, triggering a defense, but rather needs to think about effective signals to steer the receiver (light blue arrows). The feedback can be confirmative/ corrective (intended to only adjust behavior) or adaptive (also adjusting the assignment).

Both the feedback giver and receiver have a duty of care – they have a responsibility to be attentive to what is needed to achieve a beneficial outcome. For both parties the required mindset and behaviors are summarized with the abbreviation CARE.

Key Elements

As feedback is about influencing, not judging, for feedback givers it is key to get receivers to want to accept the feedback. This can be achieved by sticking to the following four guidelines:

1. Feedback should never feel like a complaint or reprimand the giver needs to vent, but rather as a well-intended attempt to assist the receiver.
2. Feedback should never leave the receiver wondering what to do but rather suggest tangible behaviors that can directly be put into practice.
3. Relevant. Feedback should never consist of general reflections, but rather of pertinent suggestions to the receiver on how the shared goal can be achieved more effectively.
4. Empathetic. Feedback should never exude arrogance or contempt towards the receiver but rather understanding, well-willingness and appreciation.

At the same time, if the feedback giver is seeking to help with care, the feedback receiver needs to open up to being helped. This can be achieved by sticking to the following guidelines:

1. Feedback shouldn’t be approached defensively, but requires the receiver to exhibit a growth mindset, with a high level of open-mindedness to potentially useful inputs.
2. Feedback shouldn’t be seen as inflicted by the giver but requires the receiver to be openly grateful for the time and energy the giver is willing spend helping.
3. Feedback shouldn’t be superficially listened to and then meekly accepted but requires receivers to show the courage to critically examine their own behavior.
4. Explorative. Feedback shouldn’t be seen as orders to be blindly implemented but requires the receiver to take ownership of the process of searching for and trying out new behaviors.

Key Insights

• Feedback is about steering people’s behavior. Feedback is the signal given to someone with the intention of redirecting them in a preferred direction. The feedback giver will use information about someone’s current behavior (output) and results (outcome) to determine what type of influence is required to keep them on, or get them back on, track.
• Feedback is NOT about judging people’s behavior. To most people, “giving feedback” is about expressing their opinion about someone else. It is about judging others and telling them what they are doing wrong. But that is assessment, not feedback. Feedback is not about what the observer thinks and feels, but what the person in question needs to change – it is not about sharing critical judgment but sharing help and suggestions.
• There are three types of feedback. When the feedback giver senses the receiver is on track, confirmative feedback can be given (“keep up the good work”), while corrective feedback will be needed when off track (“do a bit more of that”). Where the initial assignment was unclear or unrealistic adaptive feedback will be needed (“change goals”).
• Effective feedback requires the giver’s care. Instead of being self-involved and judging, feedback givers need to be empathetic towards receivers and constructively suggest improvement or sustaining actions that are immediately relevant and applicable.
• Effective feedback requires the receiver’s care. Instead of being closed and defensive, feedback receivers need to appreciate the constructive help, curiously listening to and reflecting on the suggestions, while showing a willingness to explore new behaviors.

Key Definitions

In organizations, a practice is a way of doing something – a method or technique to achieve a specific result. By extension, a best practice is a currently accepted superior means of getting something done. It can be the best in an organization, an industry or even the world.

Best practice sharing is the process of communicating a superior method from one person, unit, or organization to another. It requires the identification of the best practice (knowledge capture), some mode of handover (knowledge transfer) and acceptance by the best practice receiver (knowledge acquisition). For more, see the Knowledge Sharing Bridges (model #23).

Conceptual Model

The Best Practice Sharing Modes framework outlines twelve commonly used ways to transfer best practices, grouped into three main categories. For each of these twelve best practice sharing modes, two examples are given of tangible ways of sharing – you could say these are 24 best practices of best practice sharing. All examples can be used separately or in parallel to achieve effective sharing, depending on the setting and type of practice being shared.

Key Elements

The three general categories and twelve specific best practice sharing modes are the following:

1. Supply-Driven Transfer. If someone has knowledge of a best practice, they can seek to spread it to others by proactively communicating their message using:
   1. Presenting. They can broadcast using the spoken word, by giving a presentation to a management team, performing at a conference, or even sharing a taped video.
   2. Publishing. They can also broadcast via the written word, articulating the best practice in an article, book, company manual, magazine interview or online newsletter.
   3. Teaching. They can also transfer by acting as an instructor, packaging the knowledge into a training, workshop, simulation, game, or online course.
   4. Advising. They can also directly suggest what the receiver should do, playing the role of expert and/or consultant, or just championing a particular best practice.
2. Interaction-Driven Transfer. Best practice supply and demand can also be brought together by organizing settings that encourage interaction, such as:
   1. Meetings. People can be connected by staging events in which best practices can be showcased, such as an annual forum, knowledge exchange and award ceremony.
   2. Brokering. People can also be connected via matchmaking, using a commercial broker, internal knowledge catalyst or an online platform to match supply and demand.
   3. Mentoring. People can also be connected more structurally via dedicated learning relationships, such as using a master-apprenticeship system or internships.
   4. Communities. People can also be connected to learn via dedicated exchange groups, such as expert networks, interest groups and professional associations.
3. Demand-Driven Transfer. A third approach is to actively assist individuals and/or organizations to search for best practices themselves, using one of the following modes:
   1. Asking. They can be helped by making it easier to ask a directed search question, by having a helpdesk, digital query system (“who knows…”), search engine or chatbot.
   2. Researching. They can also be helped by making it easier to investigate which best practices exist, by offering a taskforce with research capacity or a consultant.
   3. Linking Up. It also helps if they can be brought into contact with a best practice supplier, using a company directory, who’s who overview or someone’s personal network.
   4. Looking Up. Alternatively, it can help to quickly find the best practice itself from an overview, using a best practice database or an index on the company intranet.

Key Insights

• Best practices are actually better practices. A method or technique is a best practice if it is a superior way of doing things than is currently used by others. It doesn’t have to be literally “the best”, but just better than what is commonly used and therefore worth adopting.
• Best practices can be shared. People can try to slowly reinvent the wheel themselves (learning by doing) or can copy practices that seem to be working elsewhere (learning by sharing). To share, best practice “suppliers” and “receivers” need to work together, to identify what the best practice is (knowledge capture), hand it over from supplier to receiver (knowledge transfer) and let it land with the receiver (knowledge acquisition).
• Best practices can be pushed, pulled, or exchanged. Sharing can be pushed by people who think they have valuable knowledge (supply-driven transfer) or be pulled by people looking for best practices (demand-driven transfer) or exchanged by people brought into connection with one another (interaction-driven transfer).
• Best practices can be shared using twelves modes. Within each of these three general categories (supply-, demand- and interaction-driven), there are four best practice sharing modes – these are the mechanisms used to facilitate the knowledge transfer. Each mode is still generic (“teaching”) and needs to be mobilized in a tangible way (“training course”).
• Best practice sharing modes are complementary. The Best Practice Sharing Modes framework offers a checklist of potential ways to facilitate sharing. Each mode can be used separately, but as they are complementary, can be combined into a sharing strategy.