Focusing on the Things That Matter

Authentic Value is all about getting to the Things That Matter , where the balance between those Things That Matter of values, issues and goals will vary greatly with circumstance and lifecycle stage.

For example, in a negotiation or planning stage, values and goals are more likely in focus; later, it is likely issues that will come to dominate.

Two Complementary Things That Matter Diagnostics

We duly approach Things That Matter with two complementary diagnostics:

• Symptoms of What’s Not Working, which focuses on when Things That Matter aren’t working (including misalignment on what the Things That Matter are) – loosely “away from the negative”.
• Value Vectors, which focus on “values” to pursue and their associated outcomes, both of which relate to Things That Matter – loosely “towards the positive”.

They complement each other in several ways:

• Symptoms can indicate where there are issues with underlying values and goals.
• Value Vectors can indicate where symptoms are likely to develop.
• By covering both away-from-the-negative and towards-the-positive, they cover the full spectrum.

Symptoms: the Usual Starting Point

Most of the time, clients start with the Symptoms of What’s Not Working diagnostic – usually as there are known issues to resolve; sometimes to look at what might go wrong; sometimes to check everything really is as OK as it seems.

Usually, both parties of the relationship are engaged from the outset, but sometimes:

• A key individual or individuals might run the diagnostic first to test the waters and/or customise the content to suit.
• The other party doesn’t want to engage, and the initiating party proceeds to gain its own insights, to demonstrate the value to the other party, or both.
• The initiating party wants to hold off engaging the other party, to get its own house in order first with respect to the relationship.

Where an Authentic Value Change Programme Leads Next

However it’s run, though, there are several options – or “journeys” – that customers can pursue after the Symptoms of What’s Not Working diagnostic, depending on the situation and what the diagnostic has uncovered.  

These “journeys” can either be loosely planned and costed upfront (e.g. to help with budgeting) or things can evolve as they need to; journeys can also overlap as they’re not mutually exclusive.

A particularly powerful journey is to analyse the results further and factor out the Things That Matter associated with the issues found, such that they can then be expressed, documented and shared.  

This often leads to a complement to the contract (given that contracts can’t cover most Things That Matter) and the start of making the Things That Matter measurable: an entirely new way of managing a relationship. 

Other options include:

• Using the results to lobby for, secure and justify resources for a wider change programme.
• Exploring issues further by looking at underlying values (where there may be clashes and gaps).
• Repeating the diagnostic to judge the impact of action subsequently taken against the new benchmark.
• Identifying capability gaps to be addressed and synergies with other tools and approaches in use.
• Spreading and scaling to other strategic relationships, which can in turn facilitate portfolio management.

Get Started

Although price could go up or down a bit during the quick scoping we would do with you beforehand, a typical Symptoms of What’s Not Working diagnostic is £5,000 + VAT and involves the following:

• A focus on uncovering existing issues in a strategic relationship that needs to be more effective.
• A 2-4 week period for respondents to complete the diagnostic.
• Use of the standard version of the diagnostic (i.e. without customisation of content).
• Up to 10 respondents from each of the 2 parties in the relationship.
• Upload of respondent details, automated invitations, reminders and updates.
• Handling of any email bounces or replies.
• PDF response report for each team member.
• Aggregated and anonymised PDF report including:
  • Analysis of overall trends and specific areas.
  • Highlighted perception gaps.
  • Recommended next steps.
• A review session with the Authentic Value team to discuss findings.

All you need is a relationship you want to improve, a list of people that matter in that relationship, and the ambition and vision to embark on a new way of approaching things…