When to use a Close the Gap pattern

When to use a Close the Gap pattern

by | - Finance, - Patterns, - Project Management, - Technology, 2 - Develop your storyline

Today’s thought emerges from the group coaching session we held just before Christmas.

The key takeaway for those present related to the difference between the technically ‘right’ answer and the one that addressed the people issues that needed to be addressed.

Playing with patterns enabled us to tease out the real issue that involved more senior leaders taking on responsibility for a non-financial loss.  Here’s how it played out.

  1. At first, the story seemed superficially simple, but it included a twist
  2. Playing with patterns enabled us to tease out the real issue and identify the best story
  3. Merging two patterns together was the best way to address both the practical and political issues


1 – The story was superficially simple, but included a twist

We were preparing a request for Brooke who needed to gain agreement from stakeholders about who would absorb the hit to their P&L if a particular change was implemented.

The plot twist here was that implementing the change was in line with the objectives of the broader streamlining initiative, but Brooke didn’t want her team to ‘take the hit’.

2 – Playing with patterns enabled us to tease out the real issue

So, we played with some storyline versions and ended up comparing two after discounting Houston: Close the Gap and another story which merged Opportunity Knocks and Watch out.

Houston didn’t work because the statement was actually known to the audience. It looked a bit like this

  • Fraud will occur when there is an opportunity to transfer funds outside the bank [known, not news so doesn’t belong below the so what]
  • However, there is good commercial reason for transferring funds outside the bank
  • Therefore, consider enabling the capability of allowing OFI transfers within term deposit widget

Close the Gap was promising and looked a bit like this

  • Successfully streamlining customer experience requires us to enable customers to transfer early maturity funds outside the bank [list of reasons aligned with the criteria including allow maximum use of digital channels]
  • However, we currently don’t allow them to transfer early maturity funds outside the bank through the online portal
  • Therefore, allow them to do those transfers online

The merged Opportunity Knocks and Watch Out was even more promising and looked a bit like this

  • There is an opportunity to improve customer experience by enabling customers to transfer early maturity term deposit funds outside the bank in line with brand Z  [the statement from the ‘Opportunity Knocks’ pattern]
  • However, enabling this new digital feature will expose the bank to greater non-lending losses [the comment from the ‘Watch Out’ pattern]
  • Therefore, decide whether to accept greater non-lending losses [the recommendation that naturally follows from the statement and comment]


3 – Merging two patterns together balanced the personal and political issues best

Once we could see all of the potential patterns laid out in front of us, it was pretty easy to decide which way to go.

The merged story targeted the real reason why Brooke was raising the issue. It went further than just saying ‘we should do this because it will support customers better’.

It focused on getting agreement for who will take on the risk that needed to be accepted to allow customers to transfer funds outside the bank through the digital portal.

The leaders were of course then free to decide whether they supported this new capability being included in the program or not.

You can watch the session recording below.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

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How to pitch for more team members

How to pitch for more team members

by | - Patterns

A number of my Australian clients are currently thinking through their workforce planning activities for next financial year, which begins on 1 July. This has been particularly important in environments with hiring caps, which feeds talent competition between teams.

Some useful insights emerged from this week’s conversation with a finance team that I wanted to share with you.

A combined Houston-To B or Not To B pattern can build a burning platform around the workforce shortage and your recommended solution. Let me explain how we structured the supporting points and then share an example:

  1. The Houston statement allows you to explain why you do not have sufficient staff to meet current and future demand.
  2. The To B or Not To B comment allows you put forward your recommendation. The supporting points address, and likely rebut, other solutions to the capacity problem that your leadership are likely to raise.
  3. The recommendation flows naturally from the two, enabling you to explain how you will continue to do what you can to improve efficiency, while also seeking the new hires.

I have outlined it further in the diagram below (also available for download) which you may find useful for future reference. 

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

 

PS – I am hosting a Thinking Skills workshop this coming week. It's a great, light-touch way to introduce storylining to your colleagues. Here's the link to learn more.

Download PPTX

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Houston, we have a problem …

Houston, we have a problem …

by | - Patterns, 2 - Develop your storyline, SO WHAT STRATEGY THEORY

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ALERT – Those of you who are new may like to save this one for later. I am going deep on deductive storylines today.

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The ‘Houston, we have a problem …' storyline pattern was a favourite during this week's coaching sessions.

These sessions, did however highlight a problem with the way my clients were trying to use the pattern that you may also be facing.

The challenge comes in getting the comment (the second of the three elements) right so the story is engaging and not duplicative.

Let me give you the high level of the story (using a Close the Gap pattern!) and then dive into the detail.

So I suggest adapting a Houston pattern using first principles if it isn't fit for purpose, supporting a compelling story for your situation.

  • An engaging Houston storyline always convinces the audience that the recommendation is right in the first two sections of the story.
  • However, these clients were struggling to force their story into the classic Houston pattern when it wasn't fit for purpose
  • Therefore, I suggest adapting the storyline structure by using first principles rather than trying to force your story into it.

Let me unpack that in a bit more detail for you now.

An engaging Houston storyline always convinces the audience that the recommendation is right in the first two sections of the story.

The key here is to introduce ideas that are new to the audience, which convey the sense of the problem they want to engage the audience in.

Each of the ideas listed below the statement will be reasons supporting the idea in the top line box. You might say, for example:

[Statement] Our first fleet driver data report positions 70 of our 88 drivers as high risk, highlighting systemically dangerous driving as well breaches to our vehicle policy.

  • There were a concerning number of incidents where drivers were demonstrating high risk behaviour
  • 70 fleet drivers were recorded as speeding frequently and excessively
  • 18 of those drivers were given the lowest possible rating
  • 17 drivers overall demonstrated moderate behaviours and only 1 consistently demonstrated low risk driving behaviours

In this example, each of the points below the statement provide evidence to support why we should believe we have a problem.

So far, so good.

However, these clients were struggling to force their story into the classic Houston pattern when it wasn't fit for purpose.

Here is what was happening: they were duplicating the content in either the statement or the therefore rather than truly explaining why their recommendation was the right one.

They were duplicating the information in the statement as they were trying to describe the causes of the problem, when this isn't what was needed for their particular story. Let me illustrate.

[Poor comment] We know two factors are the primary reason for our performance rating.

  1. Excessive speeding over the Q1 period where employees were travelling over 120km/h
  2. Repeatedly driving at excessive speeds of more than 20km/h over the limit

The problem here is that these points are actually evidence of the problem itself.

They overlap with the points in the statement and do not describe what has caused the poor driving. They also do not lead naturally to the recommended set of actions, as in this case they don't know the causes and may not be able to address them even if they did.

The other problem was highlighted through a different story, but I will illustrate using the high-risk driving example for the sake of consistency.

[Poor comment] We need to address the causes of our poor performance rating.

  1. Investigate to confirm the data is correct, so it will stand in a court of law if needed
  2. Create awareness of the problem by distributing the monthly driver behaviour reports
  3. Set expectations to reinforce our policy
  4. Performance manage where needed

This example justifies why each of their actions are the right ones, however they are so obvious it doesn't work. They are not insightful or useful in persuading the audience that their approach is the right approach.

I have seen far worse examples where just a list of actions is provided, but struggled to execute on this example given it's pretty simple. I hope it's a useful illustration all the same.

Therefore, I suggest adapting the storyline structure by using first principles rather than trying to force your story into it. There are three strategies I suggest you employ:

Follow the ‘classic' Houston pattern where you use the comment to define the causes of the problem, which are not self evident or known to the audience.

Merge a ‘classic' Houston statement with either a To B or Not To B or Pitch ‘comment' if you want to use the comment to explain the best way to solve the problem articulated in the statement. Go to this past session to learn more about ‘pattern flipping, where you merge and adapt patterns while meeting the principles of deductive storylining.

Adapt the pattern to explain in the comment why your recommended course of action is the right course of action as below:

[Better comment] We suggest a phased approach to cut the most risky behaviour of speeding excessively and repetitively over the coming three months.

  1. We expect that providing each driver with their driving score will shock most people into improving their driving behaviours
  2. We expect there will be little need to take further steps, but may need to understand the issue better to resolve fully (eg understand the causes, clarify standards and explore penalties)
  3. We believe a phased approach will reduce the effort leaders need to take in improving our driving behaviour while being highly effective.

Download the full example here to keep for reference.

I hope that helps and wish you a wonderful week. I'll be taking Boxing Day (26th December) off from emailing you all but be back again in the new year.

Wishing you a very happy holiday season and looking forward to being back on deck with you all again in January.

 

Kind regards,
Davina

 

PS – If you have not yet received a copy of Bill's book, Building a Winning Career, and registered for our joint workshops in January please do!

These aren't listed as special sessions in the portal, but rather as working sessions. The relevant ones are the 8am AEDT on 18 January and both 8am and 5pm AEDT on 1 Feb.

Deciding how far to go when helping your colleagues improve their communication

by | - Leadership skills, - Patterns, - Q&A Recording, - Stakeholder Management, 1 - Design your strategy, 2 - Develop your storyline

 

We recently had a fantastic session with some of our seasoned Clarity First members about how to help your colleagues with their communication.

The session raised some really interesting questions:

From your perspective – How expedient should we be to protect our own workloads when helping others vs ‘going the extra mile’ to demonstrate to them the value they COULD add as well as the traps you see them falling into because they have some gaps or other inadequacies in their communication.

From the audience's perspective – What would you value from a colleague? A few quick tips or some strategically game changing advice?

From the business’s perspective – what is the greatest value you can add … by investing more in your own priorities or helping your colleague with theirs?

 Listen in to the great conversation for some practical tips and download the session notes below.

 

Download Notes

Keywords: Design your strategy, Develop your storyline, Patterns, Stakeholder management, Leadership

Need help getting started with the Program?

 

I had a terrific conversation with one of our new members today who was bemoaning her lack of progress in the program so far. Like many of you, she has a busy job and hasn't yet found her ‘groove'.

Here are three ideas that she thought would work for her, that might help you also:

 

  1. Listen to some of the interviews stored in the library during your commute. There are a number, all tagged ‘interview' on topics such as board papers, hypothesis driven problem solving and how to get the information you need from busy stakeholders to prepare a piece of communication.
  2. Lock a time into your diary near the start of your day to complete a module or two. Instead of leaving your learning to the end of the day where it may be ‘run over', locking away 15 minutes will see you finish a module, giving you something useful to try that day.
  3. Set up a time for a 10 minute chat with Sheena to learn to navigate the portal. If you aren't sure how to find what you need, Sheena is very happy to Zoom with you to demonstrate.