Why and How Our Diagnostics Work – Technical Note

Hopefully you have read the Testimonials in the About Us section that affirm that our diagnostics work and offer huge value for you. We know the following is a little long, but we think you will find it very informative. After all, you want your medical doctor to perform the best diagnostics on you and we offer the same level of professionalism and accuracy.

But why and how do our diagnostics work?

1. The questions in each survey have taken years to get to simple questions. The surveys are comprehensive but they motivate the participants to feel they are working on something informative, authoritative and at peeked interest. The surveys are comprehensive but not laborious at the same time. Many participants say they are “fun” to work on, while getting at root cause issues.

 

2. We use Survey Monkey to administer the surveys. The surveys are absolutely confidential and all feedback is anonymous to preserve the anonymity. We ask the participants to work alone and give us their true candid opinions. This is the only way to have a baseline measure that is honest, accurate and from which your firm can set out improvement efforts if required. Recall sometimes we simply confirm you have a great firm that is poised for new rounds of profitable growth.

 

3. Some could be critical of our approach as being “self-referencing” – that is respondents self-report their assessments. While we will request some current data like financial reports, prior strategic plans, etc., the survey work has you and your team supplying data on five and seven point scales and a variety of open-ended questions. We have never seen a firm’s Growth Leadership Team, as we like to call the group selected, to not be candid and honest. Think about this: if a team were to score a Driver at 5 instead of 3 where it should be the team has created a headache for itself. This team will be charged with improving the Driver. Let’s say the improvement target is 6 for that Driver. It will more difficult to move from 3 to 6 than from 5 to 6. With this being the case, the reports and roadmaps remove uncertainty and doubt as to what the ‘baseline situation is” so that everyone can discuss and come to consensus about the findings and what to do quickly. Our approach helps to get everyone on the same page quickly.

 

4. We give the participants a three week period of time to work on each survey. The surveys take from one hour to two and a half hours to complete during the three week time period and the participants can pause their work and come back to it later before the due date. We provide a “hot line” of personal communications to answer any questions the participants have during the three-week time period.

 

Thus the participants do not feel rushed and can spend quality time when they want to during the three week period. In addition to the Findings Reports is an initial Business Performance Improvement Roadmap. For those firms who are leading from strength already, the deliverable is called your Innovation and Growth Roadmap.

 

5. After the due date and all surveys have been submitted we really go to work. The scores on the five point and seven point scales are averaged and then the composite scores are compared to ideal scores that represent the laws of strategy, competitive dynamics and value creation and what is considered best practice. The derivation of these laws has taken 20 years to articulate, test in the field and have proof they are accurate. We also fold into the analyses the richness that comes from the Open Ended questions. We use a qualitative statistical technique called Content Analysis for the Open Ended questions. And lastly after the quantitative analyses, we step back and apply the seasoned judgment that comes from practicing for thirty years in the field.

 

So to sum up, our diagnostics work because they are comprehensive but not laborious, get at the root issues that Enhance or Detract from the growth of the market value of your firm, respect the laws of strategy, competitive dynamics and value creation and best practice and the findings are delivered fresh in no more than five weeks from the time the surveys are submitted.

We would be honored if you would Contact Us to discuss how we can help you and your firm.