Organizational Architecture

I thought that this idea may be applicable to others so I will share it here.

Simply put it starts with the potential client, the consumer of whatever it is you are creating, offering, manufacturing - it really doesn't matter.  The point is that you are trying to reach someone out there. In this way of thinking they are the center of everything.  The reason you are doing whatever it is you are doing. Above all things you need to know what they need.  But you can't just ask them.  They don't know they have a need.  That is the point.  They will choose the best they can from the options available - businesses quantify this as market share.  But they forget that the market is only defined by what is made available in it.  It could be that there is a need for a new market.  I hope you get the idea.

Ok so let's agree that you have figured out what the consumer needs, Q: What do you do next?  A: Innovate a solution or product to exceed the need.  And after you have that or an idea of that you need to talk to them about it.  This is where The Room comes in. 

The Room can be a meetup, a Chamber of Commerce meeting, a ballroom you rented, or any other place where you tell your story.  There is a lot out there about getting your story together, perfect pitch - which still makes me think about choir practice - styles, attention span, flow.  This is not about that.  What I encourage you to do is to stand on that stage in your minds eye and imagine what is happening.  What are you saying, doing, showing your audience.  There is not an play in existence that happened by the seat of their pants.  There is not a produced single movie that did not have lots and lots of practice and takes.  Why then do so many devote such a small amount of time to preparing to tell the most important story, your business story.

See that Room and everything that will happen in it.  After you do remind yourself that no matter how well you plan there will be surprises. The better rehearsed you are the more grace you will bring in handling the unexpected.

Now we will move to thinking about how we get to The Room.  No I don't mean walking through the door, or do I? This about things like logistics.  What type of room do you choose?  Will any Room do or do you need a room with light and sound?  Is open air a Room that works for your consumer?

It is still all about them.  They are your guest and you want to make them as comfortable as possible, or maybe you need to shake them out of a deep sleep and do something radical.  Always with safety in mind, of course.  Scheduling the date, comparison of the costs, are there bonuses?  I like the one where you invite a group to a club where the club gets to be shown to new prospective members and you get a room for the afternoon.  Many are very stylish places and may even serve refreshments.  Thee are things to negotiate - if you have planned it out in advance.

Are you marketing the event?  if so what channels are you using, what are the lead times for them to occur?  Do you need to prepare materials - signs, adverts, flyers, or a script for a interview so it will all come off looking professional and appealing to your target audience.

And lastly lets think about what happens after The Room. What happens next?  What do you want to have happen?  Many will forget what you said within about two days of you saying it.  This is the nature of our busy brains.  You need to ask permission to contact them.  You need to enable them to do that and then you need to know what you are going to say, how you are going to say it and when you are going to say it to build that relationship.  This all takes more planing and preparation.  If you miss this part you loose out on the opportunity you worked so hard to create.  Doesn't that make it worth doing?

Ok so let's pull this altogether.  We have the Client in the center, the Room above, the Before to the left and the After to the right. 

In every business there is a need to have a client acquisition system.  A seminar - live or virtual - is a great way to reach the people who your story is written for.  How you stage those events will have as much impact on the success of the activity as what you actually say.  Do yourself  a favor and think it through.  Then go out there and build your business to all it can be.  

Good Products and Services practiced in excellent ways in many places create sustainable businesses that add jobs to our economy.  Do your part and create some jobs today.

Here is to your success.  Please feel free to contact me if you would like ideas to make that happen.

I recall when the book "The World is Flat" emerged on the scene. I was reading it at the same time I was reading "Creative Destruction" both foretold (or attempted to) the change that was taking place in the global economy and the impact it would have.  I really don't think enough people heard them.  It could be that things had already progressed to the point where there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it anyway. And 2009 happened.

For me 2009 was the culmination of events that took three years to manifest. I had been used to create a process - not surprising since I am a process engineer.  But this time it allowed the work I had been doing to be easily portable, and it was sent to India.  I and about 4999 other professionals were group three or four in what became a mass redistribution of resource in the company called IBM.  The "I" became India for many of the disaffected former employees.  You can imagine that there was a sudden personal realization that what I needed was a job.  I joined the ranks of the "Too young to retire and too old to hire" community.  I am a card carrying member.  But don't read this the wrong way, I am perfectly fine with what happened.  It was not personal, it was business. You may have heard this one before, but seriously this is the truth.  Remember that tidal wave of change had started long before I ever learned how to streamline proposal production or create super accurate cost models.

So let's fast forward - it is now 2012 - Three and a half years later and we now have numbers.  There is a global desire to have a job. A better job, in some cases any job.  I suggest that this is a cry for a new economy.  A global desire to have a renewed sense of security that our needs can be met through the buying and selling of goods and services.  In the western hemisphere there has not been a condition of this much uncertainty since my father was a small boy.  In other geographies a condition of comfort and security has really never existed.  It no longer matters where we live, what matters is that we share a common need.

I agree with the introduction to the The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton, it is not about finding jobs it is about creating jobs.  As I said in 2009 I myself was confronted by this very challenge.  My response was to create a company - Strategy and Design Solutions, LLC. - It has been a place to house a career of knowledge and experience.  It has been a place to collect assets. The real work has been in the clients.  Much of that is unseen, because it is private for each of them.  But SDS has always been a place to park my mind on new thoughts, process, methods or techniques.  This has been very true this summer. Through pumpkins and people who can not even use their real names, pitching anything, making - marketing - and launching, awakening and dreaming there are a few things that have been repeated throughout.  

First - If what you do does not meet the need of the consumer, even if they aren't aware that they need it, then it will be forever a product in search of a customer.

Second - If what you do does not have meaning then you are wasting your time.  Adding to this that finding meaning takes time and patience.  But you will know it when you find it.  It is unlike all the other things that have consumed your time and attention.

Third - There is a giant difference between creating a business and producing a product.  Both are important but they are not the same thing.

And last - or at least in my observation list for now - Only creating a business creates jobs.

And there you are the point of all of this is that what we all need is not a job.  What we need to be doing is making it more understood how to create remarkable ( sustainable / sensible / innovative ) growing businesses that will in turn contribute to all the jobs we need to create.

I am planning to read Jim's book - it is currently #3 on my reading list - but only because I already started the other two.  I am interested to learn more about the creation of business without the focus on manufacturing.  I think he is saying let those in the part of the world who are masters of repetition manufacture, but I am still not sure how often that will be applicable.

Stay tuned I will post what I learn.

Today is the first day of the

Organizational Architecture Blog!  

I have spent a lot of time this summer (2012) on all sorts of topics related to one thing - how to establish or grow a remarkable business.  And the gurus abound!  I learned about Pumpkin Farming and Dreaming, The way a brain works and then about what happens when it is broken.  So I thought to myself, "self,  it is time to share."