LEAD MAGAZINE | 2019
answer the following questions:
Why? - W
hy us? Why now? Why
will it be worth it?
Why? - W
hat opportunities or possibilities
does the world have in store for us?
Why? - A
statement of direction is enough for
the beginning.
Work with two versions:
1) The short version sums up the essence of
your project on one page. This is the story that
everyone from your leadership team should tell
in the same or almost the same way and which
will subsequently make the rounds in your
company or department.
Opportunity-Cloud – the tool:
In practice, working with the Opportunitiy-
Cloud has proven its worth in such cases.
Like a real cloud, this cloud consists of
a core and the cloud around this core.
The core is formed by the minimum
requirements for the target or the result or a
successful solution. So define with your team
what you want to achieve together in any case.
Write it on cards, Post- its or also on a flipchart
or whiteboard. Draw a circle around it and leave
room.
Then write down the additional opportunities
around the core of the cloud. The concept is
not limited to business opportunities alone.
If, for example, it’s about a range of services,
this could be additional features or benefits.
When it comes to a business model, different
or additional variants and characteristics are
conceivable. And so on and so forth.
What I have observed in practice is that in
leadership teams this results in a significantly
higher commitment and a significantly
increased willingness to set off in the direction
of an opportunity on the horizon, even with
incomplete information.
With the first version of the story, including an
integrated opportunity cloud, you have the
best prerequisites for expanding the circle of
participants. It is advisable not only to tell the
story, but also to write it on in a wider circle and
to link it with activities to realize opportunities.
2 The long version is your meta-story and delivers
the substance of the short version in prose. That
can be two to ten pages. These contents are told
for the purpose of in-depth study, justification
and answering questions. Here it makes sense
that you also have answers to questions that will
certainly come: the HOW questions.
It has proven to be useful to focus on two
important HOW question complexes: namely,
what are
a. the major areas of action that will bring us
success and
b. what will be the approach and the process
with which we will follow our path, gradually
working out the answers to the remaining
questions.
What has proved its
worth in practice:
Write the first version of your story in the
leadership team and integrate the idea of an
opportunity cloud: If goals cannot be clearly
defined, it is sometimes better to describe an
opportunity on the horizon that unites several
possible goals and thus establish a directional
corridor for action. The advantage of focusing
on an opportunity is also that an orientation to
the outside, to the market, to the competition,
etc. is created, while goals and plans tend to tilt
inwards into the organization. As time goes by,
the focus becomes more and more on the inside
and suddenly everyone is more concerned with
processes, KPI´s etc. instead with the customers
or the market.
In order to be able to use such opportunities,
it needs genuine commitment in the team to
the start. But: Many people can handle vague
data and incomplete information badly, they
want a concrete goal. And they also have a
hard time exploring and experimenting. They
ask: “What now? How exactly?” Many managers
and executives give in to this desire and then
formulate a fixed goal. On the other hand,
they don’t want to restrict themselves by overly
concrete targets and miss out on possible
opportunities. That is why they retain the
necessary leeway by increasing abstraction in
the target description. The result: one pretends
to have a fixed goal, which, however, remains
unspecific. And the energy needed to set out is
again not generated.
Rainer Petek, inspirational speaker, sparring
partner, extreme climber and author climbed
already as a 19-year old the north face of
Grandes Jorasses, one of the most difficult
mountaineering challenges of the Alps. As a
professional mountain-guide he led numerous
clients through extremely difficult climbing-
routes in the Eastern and Western Alps.
In his keynotes Rainer Petek takes your
employees and customers up the “business
north face“. He creates mental images
for the management of challenges and
inspires people to start right away. Rainer
Petek encourages you to let go of mental
ballast and one of his key messages is:
recognize possibilities and chances – even
above 4.000 m height. Impressive pictures
and powerful stories guarantee a strong and
emotional experience.
Rainer Petek holds a Master degree (MSc.) in
Organizational Development. Since 1998 he
supports national and international companies
in mastering difficult change processes along
with leadership development for success in
demanding environments. He is author and
co-author of several books and publications.
Rainer´s best selling book „Das Nordwand-
Prinzip – wie Sie das Ungewisse managen“ is
about how to deal with complexity, uncertainty
and unexpected events and brought the
similarities between leadership challenges in
business and in extreme mountaineering to a
broader awareness. Since 2007 Rainer Petek is
Lecturer for Leadership in the Executive MBA
Program of the Danube University Krems.
www.rainerpetek.com
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