Strategic planning and decision-making are difficult, but when personalities, politics, and biases are involved, it becomes even more complicated. It takes courage to confront conventional thinking. Someone has to ask those awkward questions that people think about … but never have the guts to ask them. Sometimes there is a strong temptation to be quiet, do not challenge the process and just finish it at once.
Well, I’m going to ask the tough questions. As my grandmother used to say, “the only way to change is to do things differently.” If you want to stimulate some real, measurable and relevant change, be brave, step up, be a man and ask. Every process must be challenged from time to time. Start kicking scared cows with questions like these.
15 rude questions to answer
- Why are we doing this? Do we have compelling reasons?
- If we started over, would we do things this way?
- If there were no company policies, rivalries, or biases involved, how would you change this project or decision?
- Who are the people who conceive, drive and do the work and who only watch?
- Why do we need people who are just watching?
- What are the three important things we can do with our clients that would have the greatest positive impact on their business and ours?
- Are our products and services really different and do they offer real, measurable value?
- Whose solution are they using while they wait for our solution?
- Are we easy to do business and are we easy to buy?
- Is our unique value proposition really unique and valuable?
- What is our company doing to steal business from the competition?
- Is our department developing strategies to grow the business or simply to protect our budget?
- Is our marketing attracting the business we want or just the business that loves us?
- Are the customers we have today the ones we want and need 3-5 years from now?
- How do we change our business model to get the clients we want and need?
Why do you have to ask
Nobody sets out to make a bad decision. In reality, every bad decision begins as someone’s attempt to make a good decision. Most problems arise from not having a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how to make it happen. Then the big corporate tap dance begins, the process getting longer and longer until all the best options fade away. Remember, the last available option is never the best decision.
Every change begins with questions and answers. If you never ask the tough questions, nothing positive happens. So be brave, ask, challenge, and grow the business in 2010.