We help organizational leaders make decisions that are critical to their “business.” We don’t use gratuitously complicated proprietary formulas for this work, nor will you hear us present “profound” graphic illustrations of perpetual spin cycles with helpful arrows identifying the clockwise direction and the never-ending nature of consulting fees.
We do use a fundamentally simple method:
Define the problem.
This is, in our view, the most important step. We listen to you, and your key staff, describe the problem as you see it and we probe to ensure we get all the information available to find the relationship of the problem to the goals of the organization. Odds are good there won’t be complete agreement on this, and that is part of the problem.
Develop a discovery plan.
After a thorough brain dump, and the sharing of all the formal and informal anecdotal research, we then go to the marketplace and do the desk research to give our body of knowledge some objective perspective. With our clients we can then create a list of things we don’t yet know, but must know and make a list of the people we need to connect with to get educated. Together, we develop the ways we can go digging for this understanding, depending on what contact information exists, and once we agree on all that, we get the approved fieldwork underway. Timing, scope and budget are all hammered out before any expense is undertaken.
Articulate the Opportunity.
The fieldwork—the research—will always net several possible obstacles to success and together we decide which are the most pressing and perhaps, the most addressable and we make recommendations that may include brand platforms, value propositions, market positioning, message strategies, and often bonus items. We won’t get it exactly right until you help us shape it. We revise it to get to one set of solutions and recommendations that we can agree to act on.
Deliver the Solution.
Based on our agreed-upon direction we will develop 2- 3 creative executions that demonstrate the way forward, you select one, we refine it. And we are done.
This process can take 30 days, it can take 6 months, it all depends on the need for inclusivity and the breadth of the important constituencies. It also depends on what your needs are from a timing and budget perspective.
It’s no secret, and there is no other way to do this work; we know, we’ve worked with firms that do the spin cycles and the arrows and the dramatic eureka presentations. Good work has nothing to do with that, and the more transparent we are in the beginning, the more sustainable the solution will be and the more satisfied you’ll be at the conclusion.