Value Management: What It Involves

Value Management is all about the Things That Matter, enabling them to be:

• Surfaced rapidly and comprehensively… because diagnostics scale, supported by AI in analysis.
• Analysed and understood… because whilst value is subjective and idiosyncratic, it has knowable properties, structure and dynamics.
• Made measurable… because Things That Matter can be re-expressed as Value Codes.
• Progressed, maintained and resolved as appropriate, to realise value… because Value Codes guide action and attract high-quality input from passionate, competent individuals.

There are lots of possible starting points, but the most common one is a three step process to begin orienting around what matters most:

1. Scoping and Surfacing the Things That Matter.
2. Capturing and Refining the Things That Matter.
3. Measuring and Progressing the Things That Matter.

This three step process of engagement, motivation and change is primarily supported by two complementary diagnostics:

• The 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”.
• The Value Vectors, which focus on “values” to pursue and their associated outcomes, both of which relate to Things That Matter – loosely “towards the positive”.

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.

However, the two diagnostics complement each other: 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, the two diagnostics cover the full spectrum.

(We have also developed the Sustainability Benefits Evaluation – whilst this is focused on a specific domain, focused on a specific subset of potential Things That Matter, it can sometimes be used as part of this three step process.)

Where Value Management Leads Next

However the three step process is run, though, there are several options – or “journeys” – that customers can pursue during or following the three step process, depending on the situation and what has been 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, e.g.:

• Developing a complement to the contract (given that contracts can’t cover most Things That Matter). 
• Using the results to lobby for, secure and justify resources for a wider change programme.
• 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.