Designing for superior business performance
A guide for technology, creative and startup leaders
"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to
recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
Arnold H. Glasow
Choice 2: Where we play - Assessment
Identify opportunities, obligations and threats from the environment assessment.
In this chapter
Make an overall evaluation of the forces, opportunities and threats in the external environment.
Assess the feasibility of opportunities for your business.
Assess the threat level of threats to your business.
Putting together a picture of your where to play environment
At the start of this section, it was proposed an external assessment would enable you to answer forward-looking questions including
What is going on in the external environment?
What are the most significant challenges or unmet needs [that could be] arising?
For those we serve
For those we could serve but have not yet
For those who supply us
For those we partner with
For our business
For our team
What solutions are there for these challenges / unmet needs?
How good are these solutions? Do they have gaps? Are there opportunities or threats in those gaps?
Are those opportunities for / or threats relevant to your business?
Now it is time to find out how you went.
External assessment
Capture, investigate and sustain (journal style) the relevant external trends, events and obligations and their implications ( opportunity / threat) for your value proposition or delivery system.
| Observations |
Summary of your observations in here Summary of what are you seeing? |
| Beliefs |
Summary of what do you believe. What are you believing? |
| Expectations (1 yr) |
What are your expectations from this / these beliefs for 1 year from now. What are you expecting to happen 1 year from now? |
| Expectations (3 yrs) |
What are your expectations from this / these beliefs for 3 years from now. What are you expecting to happen 3 years from now? |
| Expectations (+3 yrs) |
What are your expectations from this / these beliefs beyond 3 years from now. What are you expecting to happen beyond 3 years from now? |
Opportunity assessment
Record the following to capture and commence the assessment of the opportunity
|
Title |
A title for this candidate opportunity |
|---|---|
|
Description |
A description of the opportunity |
|
What is going on? |
A specific description of the situation that creates the circumstances for this opportunity |
|
Opportunity assessment canvas in StrategyCAD™ |
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What is impacted? |
Who is impacted by the circumstances, market / customer segments demographic, psycho-graphic groups |
|
Challenges |
What challenge, problems or need does the impact create? |
|
Solution gaps (deficiencies)? |
What solutions are available to those impacted? |
|
Solutions available? |
What are the gaps in these solutions. Why are existing solutions insufficient? |
|
Opportunity statement? |
We believe [opportunity title in here] Could provide [business opportunity/ benefits here] Measured by [prospective measures in here] |
|
Opportunity assessment canvas in StrategyCAD™ |
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Is it feasible and desirable? |
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|
Revenue impact ? |
High | Medium | Low |
|
Profitability impact ? |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Aspirational alignment |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Delivery capability and resources |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Stakeholder expectations (matches) |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Team expectations (matches) |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Other criteria if any |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Total feasibility / desirability |
Very High | High | Medium | Low |
|
Feasibility enablers - what is necessary to achieve this opportunity |
|
|
Skill |
A skill or skills that is/are differential enabler(s) e.g. design, communication, planning, scheduling, go-to-market, direct sales etc. |
|
People |
A person / team / group that is a differential enabler |
|
Technology |
A technology that is a differential enabler |
|
Culture |
An aspect of the business culture that is a differential enabler. |
|
Resources |
A resource or resources (physical / other) possessed by the business that enhances feasibility or creates advantage for this business relative to this opportunity. |
|
Other |
Anything else the business has to enable this opportunity. |
|
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|
Opportunity impact assessment component from the opportunity canvas in StrategyCAD™ |
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In StrategyCAD™ you can customise these criteria to your specific situation e.g. include Risk level as opposed to another category or other.
Continue your assessment
Continue on to the Next section to start with an assessment of what opportunities and threats you can identify from your assessment. You can do this for each of your where to play arena(s), or return the Guide home to choose a different option.
Advance your strategy productivity
Define, refine and implement your strategy faster, easier and better
Collaborate and conduct your external assessments as heat maps in StrategyCAD™
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