I fielded a question the other day about the 27 Challenges and the facilitation of this report during an X-Ray. The question specifically was: What do we take away from the percentages listed along with the 27 Challenges report?
This Report shows a horizontal graph with longer bars at the top and shorter bars at the bottom. Starting at the top of the report are the statements where participants Strongly Agreed with a statement which become their Challenges. Their degree of Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree decreases as you move down the chart, with the shorter bars becoming their Strengths.
Here is an example of the top challenges by percentage from a 27 Challenges Report:
(82.5%) Business/Profit Design: I believe there is a need for an improved profit
design to sustain our profitability.
(82.5%) Staff Buy In: I believe we need better staff buy in on key strategies
and initiatives.
(80.0%) New Staff Orientation: I believe we have poor orientation for new
staff.
(77.5%) Chaotic Periods: I see that chaotic periods destabilize the company.
(77.5%) Hiring Quality Staff: I find that we have difficulty hiring quality staff.
Conversely, their strengths showed up with the lower percentages:
(57.5%) Expanding Sales: I believe there is a lack of confidence in our ability as
a company to expand sales.
(55.0%) Customer Migration: I feel our customers are migrating away from our
products/services.
(52.5%) Slow Getting Product To Market: I feel that we are too slow getting
new products/services to market.
(50.0%) Weak Market Differentiation: I believe we have weak product/service
development and differentiation in the market place.
(42.5%) Market Changes Quickly: I believe that we are one step behind the
marketplace and our customers change too quickly.
Key points to facilitating this aspect of the X-Ray:
- When reading the report, the clarity of the team completing this assessment will determine the spread between the top challenges and the top strengths. In other words, when a team is very clear on what their challenges are, the spread between Challenges and Strengths will be significant. When that clarity is clouded by uncertainty, the spread between Challenges and Strengths will be less significant.
- You must utilize the 27 Challenges and 27 Strengths handouts when you review this report. Those can be found under the Resources Tab; Under the 7 SOG Tab; Under Sub-Heading Handouts: 27 Challenges Exercise and 27 Strengths Exercise. Without these it will be very difficult to help people understand how to read the full challenge and how the strengths are worded.
- Always start with the top 5 strengths. Explain that the results are what came out of the assessments they completed. Show the Strengths on a Flip Chart in order or priority and check in to see if they all agree. Discuss the value of knowing their strengths and where those strengths could be capitalized upon.
- Show them the top 5 challenges they selected. Have them listed on a flip chart in priority. Have them look at the Report and validate that these resonate with them as their top challenges. If challenge #5 and challenges #6 are a tie, there may be a discussion about ‘is #6 more important than #5?’
- Because the 27 Challenges show a 50,000 foot view of obstacles to growth, I don’t try to solve at this level. By going through the Builder/Protector and the Non-Negotiable Rules assessments, the process will uncover the root cause of what is creating those challenges. It’s with the B/P and the NNRs where all of your initiatives will come from.
- When you are completing the Growth Curve Navigator, you’ll help them identify which challenge or challenges each initiative will solve. This is how we track the solutions they came up with to those top five challenges.
Those are the key discussion points to consider when you are facilitating this portion of your X-Ray.
Holler if you have other questions! I’m here to help!
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
