The path towards the achievement of your goals might be full of obstacles… but having a MAP will help you get there!

Thursday: Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: We’re through with seven tenets in the Return Driven Strategy (RDS) framework as discussed by Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo in their book, “Driven.” I hope you’re learning a lot so far! I myself am also learning a lot from their insights in the book, even though I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years now. Truly, learning is a continuous process and it doesn’t matter how young or old you are. In today’s article, we’ll be focusing on a new Supporting Tenet in the RDS framework and I’ll share with you a few things on why this is an integral part of your business processes as an independent professional. Keep reading below and together, let’s “map and redesign” our path towards achieving our goals as independent professionals. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

The path towards the achievement of your goals might be full of obstacles… but having a MAP will help you get there! “Map and Redesign Processes.” This is the eighth tenet and one of the five “Supporting Tenets” of a return driven organization. The main point of this tenet? To redesign any process is to understand its purpose and change or develop processes to achieve that focus. Here are some key points to remember under this tenet: As an independent professional, you must determine what processes are necessary to support the achievement of all the higher tenets of your business strategy. Go beyond internal processes and pay attention to important external processes. Map those processes, focus on your business’ inputs and outputs, and take note of exchanges that occur from resources you use to fulfill a certain need. Keep the context in mind whenever you map and redesign processes. Be careful not to overly focus on a specific content of an activity. Why is the mapping and redesigning process important in a return driven organization? It’s because of this reason: Mapping precedes navigation. The mapping process has a lot of benefits; one of which is the ability to not be short-sighted (only focusing on the content of a specific activity) and instead focus on the context of why different business activities are performed. In the book, “Driven,” Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo said, “Great mapping is the beginning of great navigation, and a precursor to great strategy.” Let’s first focus on WHEN to map… Oftentimes, part of the value provided by management consultants is helping management teams realize the essence of a specific activity. Once problems arise, it can be easy to focus on fixing the wrong things. However, if critical changes are needed, then mapping existing activities should be the first order of the day to determine the extent of the changes. Throughout your career as an independent professional, it’s important that you regularly assess your business processes and operations and ask yourself a few questions like: “What is it that my customers or clients really value?” “What are the critical bottlenecks in my firm’s processes?” “What can I do to stay on track towards fulfilling my customers’ or clients’ needs and fulfilling my goals?” Clearly, you don’t need consultants to ask yourself these questions necessary to map your processes. However, having an outsider or even someone from a different area of your business can help facilitate an open discourse. In other words… Physical mapping helps everyone in your firm keep their feet on the ground and raise issues before strategic initiatives begin. Remember: Part of mapping is identifying and framing business problems accurately. In fact, proper framing is helpful in figuring out a solution for a business problem. Afterwards, that’s when you redesign business processes to ensure better outcomes for your brand. As someone who’s been in the business of supporting independent professionals for many years now, my advice for you is to always be aware of the current state of your firm or organization. Don’t wait for a problem to arise before you start adequately mapping your business processes. Mapping ahead of time changes your entire platform so you can improve your brand. There are HUGE benefits from a conscious and deliberate examination of dependencies and motivations of the important constituents of your business. When you do that, you might just be one step closer towards achieving your goals. Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy! Whether it’s digital or printed, a map will always help you reach your destination. Learn more about what and why aspects of map and redesign processes on next week’s Return Driven Strategy!