“What we don’t know can hurt us. And there are some things we will never know unless we ask. And we won’t ask unless we plan to ask. And we won’t plan to ask unless we have a plan.“
ANDY STANLEY
Once you’ve lived somewhere for any length of time, little things that once bothered you or screamed for attention slowly get pushed to the background under the daily pressures of life. “I’ve been meaning to do that,” “I’ll get to that later” or even “I totally forgot about that!” become our excuses. The same is true in the business world.
Time in erodes awareness of.
Small things can grow into major concerns if not regularly inspected.
Here are 7 Diagnostic Questions that can be used as a health check with your teams, programs, and products.
1. WHAT ARE WE DOING RIGHT?
If we stopped doing something, what would you miss the most? Let’s optimize these things.
2. WHAT’S WRONG?
Where do we need to course-correct? Are we seeing cultural drift? Where do we see a stoppage in movement? What systems are broken? Missing? Let’s change these things.
3. WHAT’S CONFUSING
Let’s clarify these things.
4. WHAT’S MISSING?
Let’s talk about adding these things.
5. WHAT ARE THE THREATS?
What’s most challenging right now? How would you change it?
6. WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES?
If they align with our vision let’s exploit these things.
5. WHAT COULD WE ELIMINATE THAT NO ONE WOULD MISS?
If no one would miss these things, our resources would be better spent elsewhere. Commit to cutting these things.