I have spoken of the process I have been doing with my clients for the past 30 years called the Situation Analysis.

My mentor and teacher Tom McGranahan taught it to me in 1979 and I have been using it ever since.

 

Lately, I have been doing more of them.  It seems to ebb and flow with the body of work I do.

It is such an easy and effective exercise that the whole leader team can experience. 

I insist all new clients that have more than one owner or leader team take it.

 

The results are always the same.  It helps everyone involved see their Situation…in real time.

What is the Situation?  In other words, how do all of your decision makers meet on questions you have not thought of collectively?

Your answers will all be different on some level.

 

This is important to know.  Really know.  Because the whole idea is to bring you together as one voice…to ultimately have One Shared Vision.

 

During the process, obvious facts like history, cash flow, actual debt, marketing focus, are all discovered with multiple perspectives from those being interviewed.

And, in addition, the really important things loom underneath, like gaps in leadership, dysfunctions, who is really making the decisions, personnel development, long term vision, and sacred cows.

The elephant in the room usually starts to become more clear.

…And please trust me when I tell you, there is an elephant in every room.

 

I once had a client tell me that doing this process made it worse.

For which I promptly replied, “IT”?  What “IT”?  It was a nice aha moment for that entire team.

 

Once the Situation is analyzed by all members, determining the needs and wants are much clearer. 

Everyone writes their short and long term objectives down separate from one another.

Then we come together again and review.  Once everyone weighs in on which ones they want to pursue, it is agreed upon.

A Plan is written from that space.  A specific plan built on a shared vision.

…And that Plan will address the elephant.