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BUSINESS ASSESSMENT

Directions: Please number each of the following statements on a scale from 1 through 5. Using the column on the left.

1= Not a Problem 2= Rarely a Problem 3= Frequent Problem 4= Serious Problem 5= Critical, Must Fix!

BLIND SPOT #1: Not being in recruiting mode.

We usually only go into recruiting mode when there is a staffing emergency.*

The candidates that we hire from emergency staffing situations usually are not ideal employees.*

We don’t have an ongoing recruiting process and system.*

We are rarely on the lookout for A players to recruit and usually only find B and C players when we need to hire.*

BLIND SPOT #2: Not establishing a process for hiring.

We struggle with having a clear, quantifiable, documented hiring process.*

We have a hiring process, but it is rarely or less effectively followed in the company.*

We currently do not use hiring assessments and personality test to assess whether candidates are a good fit for the role they are applying for.*

Our hiring process does not weed out prospective employees and we struggle to filter and qualify the number of candidates that come through.*

BLIND SPOT #3: Not tying corporate goals to personal goals.

We under perform with tying corporate goals to personal goals.*

Our managers don't have a deep understanding of the personal aspirations of those who report to them.*

We under perform with having regularly scheduled meeting to review the personal goals.*

Our managers to don’t have the skill set to understand personal aspirations of those who report to them.*

BLIND SPOT #4: Not creating and sustaining a culture of accountability.

We struggle to create and sustain a culture of accountability.*

Our leaders don’t display vulnerability or acknowledge personal skill gaps, oversights or errors to their team members.*

Our leaders don't establish specific accountabilities to their subordinates of what they will do.*

In our culture when a leader missed their accountabilities there are usually a lot of excuses and rarely and authentic apology.*

BLIND SPOT #5: Creating learned helplessness.

Our company has created a culture of learned helplessness.*

Often we have dysfunctional communication patterns that undermine a sense of personal responsibility.*

We often find ourselves taking on tasks because no one else is capable of “doing it right” or doing it on time.*

Our leaders spend 95% of their time working in the business rather than spending most of our time effectively working on the business.*

BLIND SPOT #6: Not having a common organizational language and approach.

We don’t have a common organizational language and approach defined and documented.*

We have defined and documented a common organizational language and approach, but it is not used often or followed effectively.*

Sometimes our people and teams work at cross purposes, without common processes or a common vocabulary.*

Each employee has a little different way of doing some of our most important process.*

BLIND SPOT #7: Not capturing best practices.

We don’t document and capture best practices effectively.*

We don’t share regularly the best practices especially best practices from our top performers.*

We don’t build the best practices into our onboarding process and many of the new hires don’t learn them in the beginning.*

We don’t build best practices into the performances review process*

BLIND SPOT #8: Not creating a good onboarding experience.

We don’t create a good onboarding experience.*

We set new hires and then let them figure nearly everything out it out on their own. We sometimes make excuses for this by saying “we operate in a Self-Starter culture” or “we only hire seasoned veterans.”*

We have probably lost top talent by not having a good onboarding experience.*

We don’t have a formal onboarding process with what needs to be learned by when that ensures when to be to speed on each and every aspect of the job. We don’t have benchmark of what needs to be achieved by when either.*

BLIND SPOT #9: Not knowing how to coach.

We don’t know how to effectively coach our team members.*

We are ok at coaching but have regularly scheduled ongoing coaching sessions.*

We don’t have a culture of coaching employees in a one to one setting. Our version is just “telling them what to do” in a group and we rarely sit down with them individually.*

We don’t have a culture of every staff member is a coach to their peers and we miss out on a lot of great coaching because “only the manager can coach” culture.*

BLIND SPOT #10: Not training the management team.

We don’t currently train our management and leadership.*

We don’t effectively train our management team. When we do its random and not a formal management program. It is usually a book with a few quotes that are shared so there is not much traction or execution with what we learn.*

When we promote managers it’s because they achieved a certain level of success in a non-management related position and we somehow expect them to achieve the same level of success as a manager.*

We don’t have ongoing reinforcement training with every person that has management or leadership responsibility. This affects the culture of our leadership team working together and working towards the companies’ vision.*

BLIND SPOT #11: Not focusing on lead generation.

We don’t do a very good job of focusing on lead generation.*

The leads we do get are random and not from a formalized lead generation process that can be replicated. We have no process for consistently improving it and doing more of what works and less of what is not working.*

Our sales team over relies on marketing to generate leads and they don’t know how to consistently generate their own leads.*

We usually have constant business development problems that express themselves in poor projections or missed revenue quotas that are from poor lead generation.*

BLIND SPOT #12: No methodologies and systems.

We don’t have official methodologies and systems.*

Most things in our business are improvised and inconsistent, especially depending on who was in charge that day.*

If we had without warning, key people leave or become ill, in a week we would have major immediate problems.*

We have a tribal philosophy and improvised systems of how we do things and a lot of it is not documented.*

BLIND SPOT #13: Not effectively planning for organizational change initiatives.

We don’t effectively plan for organizational change initiatives.*

We don’t prepare the team for changes that would affect them -- such as a change in compensation, a change in benefits, or a change in the way we do business.*

With most change initiatives, we don’t get buy in or talk to user groups or key internal allies. We just announce the change and thank everyone in advance for their cooperation.*

When a change happens, we take too long to process and execute the change and don’t have a reinforcement plan set up to ensure its success.*

BLIND SPOT #14: Not sharing the vision with those tasked with implementing it.

BLIND SPOT #14: Not sharing the vision with those tasked with implementing it. We don’t share the vision with those tasked with implementing and executing it.*

We don’t have a culture of other team members sharing and evangelizing how we can hit the companies’ vision.*

Our executive team members don’t have personal visions for themselves.*

We do not constantly reinforce and communicate the vision easily, regularly and with Passion to other members of the Team.*

Top 3 Challenges and Priorities related to these Blind Spots and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing me around $__________________ in personal income per year.*

THE FIRST P - PLANNING

I don’t have an up-to-date personal vision.*

We don’t have a clear vision for our organization that is regularly reviewed to determine if it still reflects what you want the organization to become someday.*

Our organizational vision is not clearly understood by every employee?*

Most of our employees cannot explain our organizational vision without assistance.*

Most employees do not understand how organizational vision relates to their job.*

Our organizational vision is not very measurable so we cannot tell when it is achieved.*

We do not have a mission for our organization*

Our mission is not clearly understood by every employee.*

Most of our employees cannot explain our organization’s mission without assistance.*

Our organization has not clearly defined values and beliefs that are accurate and up-to-date.*

Our values and beliefs are not officially in writing so all employees regularly see them.*

Our values and beliefs are not consistently demonstrated by most in the organization.*

We have struggled in establishing a clearly defined strategic plan that covers a three- or five-year period and is updated at least once each year.*

We do not typically do a formal semi-annual review where we analyze each market segment to determine key factors like competition, government regulations, changes in technology, demographics, industry trends, etc.*

We do not typically do a semi-annual review where we analyze our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in each market segment.*

We do not know the strengths and weaknesses of each major competitor and how they compare to our company.*

We do not feel confident that we know who our major competitors will be three years from now.*

We typically do not evaluate our market segments based on ideal attributes so each segment can be scored and ranked.*

We are not gaining market share in each market segment.*

We typically do not conduct a semi-annual review and evaluate our customers based on ideal attributes so each customer can be scored and ranked.*

At least annually, do you evaluate your customers based on ideal attributes so each customer can be scored and ranked?*

We typically do not conduct a semi-annual review where we dig deep enough to identify whether or not you have a true core competency.*

We typically do not conduct a semi-annual review where we take a fresh look at identifying no more than three key issues that need to be addressed, regardless of whether those issues are short term/operational or longer-term/strategic.*

We do not regularly set quantitative, time-phased expectations/outcomes for each key issue that will enable you to determine when that issue has been successfully addressed.*

We struggle to create action items to address each key issue, assign specific people to each action item, and establish firm due dates for their completion.*

When we make plans we usually do not allocate and define the resources necessary to implement the plan.*

We struggle to hold regularly scheduled meetings to review action items and due dates and hold people responsible for attending all of those meetings and reporting progress on each item assigned to them.*

Top 3 Challenges and Priorities related to Personal Vision and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing me around $_________________ in personal income per year.*

The Second P—POSITIONS Required to Achieve the Plan

We do not have an up-to-date organizational chart.*

Our organizational chart is probably not aligned in a manner that enables our strategy to be implemented.*

The reporting lines on our organizational chart is not clear to everyone.*

We do not have a succession plan for every position in the company, including my position.*

There are not fully up-to-date job descriptions for every position in our organization.*

We do not know specifically what skill sets are needed in each position on our organizational chart.*

We don’t have job classifications that show the relative ranking for every position in the organization.*

There are not defined compensation ranges established for every job classification.*

We are not following the best practice that “at least 30% of our typical salesperson’s compensation is based on performance incentives.”*

There is not an incentive component for compensation in every position, not just sales.*

Top 3 Challenges and Priorities related to Positions and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing me around $___________________ in personal income per year.*

The Third P — PEOPLE to Retain and Recruit

We typically do not objectively evaluate the degree to which each person meets the required skill sets of each position.*

Many of our leaders are unwilling to hire others who have greater skill sets than themselves to achieve our organization’s vision.*

Our organization does not have an independent outside board that does not include friends, family, company accountants, company attorneys, company bankers, or others for whose advice the organization already pays.*

The skill sets of our current board/advisory members do not adequately match the skill sets we need to help implement the strategic plan.*

We do not replace board/advisory members periodically so that our board/advisors possess the skill sets needed as the strategic plan evolves.*

Our managers are not very willing to listen to and act on suggestions from outside advisors who have expertise in areas they don’t.*

Our top leaders in our organization do not truly possess the skill sets necessary to effectively lead the organization for the next 3 to 5 years.*

Many managers reporting to leadership do not have the skill sets necessary to take the organization where it needs to go over the next year.*

Many people at every level in the current organization do not have the skill sets required to perform their current job fully.*

There is not an established budget specifically designated for the development of your employees?*

As a company, we do not proactively develop all employees to their full potential.*

We do not have a documented and effective process for recruiting the talent the organization needs to achieve the strategic plan.*

We do not utilize any pre-employment testing or assessment tools to help predict how well a prospective employee will fit our culture.*

We fail to hire slowly and are rushing to find people to fill vacant positions.*

Many of our strong employees have not remained with the company over the past year or have brought up leaving the company.*

We do not have a consistent process for handling employees whose skill sets are limited and need to be re-assigned or separated from the organization.*

We have failed to deliberately and proactively create personal development plans so all employees know exactly what they need to do to stay qualified for their current position.*

We struggle to make a positive and proactive approach to managing our culture.*

We do not have an up-to-date employee manual.*

Our employee manual was not written in a positive tone.*

We have failed to consistently and quickly dismiss employees who are poor performers or don’t fit the organization’s culture, even if they are related to other executives.*

In most cases, we do not make a positive and respectful approach when weeding out employees who don’t fit.*

Top 2 Challenges and Priorities related to the People and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing us around $___________ in company income per year.*

The Fourth P — PROCESSES to Ensure Consistency

Our processes are not aligned with our strategic plan.*

Our processes are well-documented.*

Our processes are not very clear.*

Our processes are not repeatable.*

Our processes are not strictly followed.*

Our processes are not linked to job descriptions.*

There aren't effective incentive compensation plans linked to our processes.*

Our current training and development initiatives are not built around our processes.*

Our processes are not continuously re-evaluated for relevance.*

There is not a dedicated person or team in our organization responsible for maintaining and improving processes.*

The quality of our product or service is not at least on par with our strongest competitor, as measured by customer feedback (often a reflection on how well your processes are working)?*

The technology of our product or service is not at least on par with our strongest competitor, as measured by customer feedback (often a reflection on how well your processes are working)*

We miss the mark at delivering our products or services at least as quickly as our strongest competitor (often a reflection on how well your processes are working)*

Top 3 Challenges and Priorities related to Processes and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing me around $________________ in personal income per year.*

The Fifth P — PERFORMETRICS for Targets and Effectiveness

We do not set individual performance metrics for each employee at the beginning of each quarter*

We currently do not conduct performance appraisals with each employee at least annually.*

We typically do not survey employees at least every two years to monitor our culture and the level of satisfaction among our employees.*

We do not usually report the results of our employee survey to those who participated.*

Even when we do employee surveys we usually don’t take actions stemming from information obtained through the surveys.*

Budgets and forecasts are not tied to, and in alignment with, our strategic plan.*

We could not, with 15% accuracy, forecast the amount of cash we will have on hand 60 days from now.*

We cannot accurately assess our financial performance by product, service, market, and customer.*

We do not manage the business by a few key metrics which we review at least weekly.*

We do not have key metrics that provide us with an indication of what our business will look like at least 90 days from now, rather than being focused only on what happened in the past.*

Our sales per full time employee are not inline with our industry (If you divide your total annual sales by the number of full-time equivalent employees, does the resulting number exceed the average for your industry?*

Our sales per full time employee is not improving each year (an indication that you are becoming more and more efficient).*

Can you say with certainty that all incentive compensation plans/bonuses are based on formulas, not discretion?*

Top 3 Challenges and Priorities related to Performetrics and are within your control that you would like to overcome, resolve or get better at:*

All of these issues are probably costing me around $_______________ in personal income per year.*