The Symptoms of What’s Not Working Diagnostic

The Symptoms of What’s Not Working Diagnostic is presented in a fully secure online environment, where no technical knowledge is required, and where all information and data is held securely (and not shared with any third party).

(Learn more about what a diagnostic is.)

Respondents are asked to consider up to 42 known and recurring problems – or symptoms – derived from a combination of our experience, client feedback and research:

In other words, every symptom reflects Things That Matter not working – perhaps the wrong approach is being taken; perhaps the parties aren’t aligned on the Things That Matter; perhaps the Things That Matter haven’t even been surfaced and considered.

Using the Diagnostic

Sometimes, an individual might want to trial the diagnostic first, prior to wider deployment – potentially customising the content to suit.

In a relationship, both parties of the relationship are usually engaged from the outset, but:

  • If the other party doesn’t want to engage, the initiating party might proceed to gain its own insights, to demonstrate the value to the other party, or both.
  • The initiating party may want to hold off engaging the other party, to get its own house in order first with respect to the relationship.

In all cases, though, the diagnostic works in the same way.

Organised into four sections that help clarify each situation’s unique “profile” of symptoms – Results, Methods, People and Purpose – respondents will evaluate how problematic each symptom seems to them:

Upon submitting their response, each respondent receives a report that presents back and highlights aspects of what they have said. 

When all respondents have submitted responses, a more detailed report is generated that synthesises and analyses across all the data to identify:

  • Overall trends.
  • Specific areas that seem agreed to be problematic.
  • Areas with a diverse spread of opinion, suggesting division or perception gaps to resolve – within the parties, between the parties, or both.
  • Patterns amongst the issues that have been found.
  • Frequent terms used, which can be the beginnings of a shared language.
  • Recommended next steps.

The Benefits That Follow

The Symptoms of What’s Not Working diagnostic can bring many benefits.

In all cases, it will clarify where your thinking is really at – including how aligned (or otherwise) you all are – and establish a benchmark which you can return to later, to track change and evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken.

If you uncover that everything is plain sailing for now, you will have thoroughly substantiated this…

…but more likely is that you will uncover areas of difficulty, where you will have:

  • Provided a constructive outlet for clearing the air, surfacing any feelings of powerlessness, voicelessness and frustration, and preparing to reorient around solutions.
  • Developed a new way of thinking about the current situation – not just as a vague or general sense of difficulty, but as a specific subset of a known range of challenges, for which specific solutions can be found.
  • Engaged a set of people with the real problems you are facing – some possibly for the first time, granting you new insights and expertise to access.
  • Seen if there are individuals that seem to want to take a lead in understanding and addressing these problems.
  • Clarified where to focus, which may include discussing and resolving different perspectives, as well as a specific subset of symptoms to prioritise.

You will also have a substantial, compelling and clear base of evidence and material for a business case, “demanding” that change happen and advocating that resources be allocated to do so:

  • Where there is a change initiative in mind, this will be more grist to the mill.
  • Where there isn’t, you now have a foundation for one.

Most of all, you will have opened up many options for where to go next.

Getting 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.