Part 1- Systems and Constraints Analysis of an Organization-Develop robust systems diagrams that capture the system behaviors and outcomes for your client’s organization. Include a 5-Whys “effect-caus
Assessment Preparation Guide
Bringing It All Together—The Consulting-Based Written Plan and Summary Documents
The SP006: Organizational Improvement Planning Competency has been designed to help you integrate your thinking and exercise your systems and performance management skills, which you’ve already completed in Competencies SP004 and SP005. The primary objectives of this Competency are to see how well you can utilize your performance improvement analysis skills and integrate them into three distinct communications platforms—each of which is targeted toward senior leadership: (1) a persuasive consulting-based recommendations plan; (2) a persuasive written executive summary of the plan; and, (3) a persuasive PowerPoint recommendations summary.
You will be asked to review and select one of the comprehensive case studies provided in your Assessment documents. You will be writing your plan and summary documents for the senior leaders of your chosen organization, and they are your target audience. The case studies available for you to choose from offer a wide range of analysis situation. Pick a case that looks fun and interesting to you, and that will help you integrate and practice your systems thinking and performance and constraint management skills.
You Are the Consultant
Think of yourself as a paid consultant. Perform a thoughtful systems analysis, then develop and write an effective action plan, based on your analyses, that clearly explains what the organization ought to do, how they should do it, and (most importantly) present a cogent argument for why you believe your recommendations will improve the performance of the organization.
Remember, your opinion doesn’t matter! Good systems analysis and diagnosis matters, backed by evidence and effect-cause-effect reasoning and diagramming. It is important that you put together a cogent, clear, and concise systems and constraints analysis that can help you explain the root causes of the problems, and then write a reasonable and feasible action plan and recommendations that can help solve the organizational problems.
To prepare for this Competency, please go back and review the resources and work you did in Competencies SP004 and SP005, which are prerequisites. Review any feedback you received while completing those Competencies, and be prepared to put your systems thinking and constraint analysis skills back to work.
This is your time to show that you can integrate your technical Competencies within an effective consulting-style set of deliverables.
Developing Your Plan
To develop your plan, first perform a comprehensive systems analysis, using the 5-whys and the causal loop logic to develop the most robust systems diagram that you can (use archetype identities, delays and +/- impact designators). These diagrams should include specific details relevant to the organization/case that you chose. The diagrams and your plan (based on the diagrams) should explain and diagnose the central issues/problems the case describes. Of course, you should also offer reasoned, evidence-backed solutions to the problems in the body of the plan!
Being “Analytic” in Your Plan
If you've reviewed the Assessment Rubric (and you should have by now), you will note that nearly all of the major focus is on how you put together your “core argument” within the plan—and then, how convincing that argument is. The core "argument" is critical to being both analytical and persuasive.
However, the word “argument” may be confusing, and unfortunately it can have a negative meaning. Unfortunately, it is the term used in logic to ask for a chain of reasoning that can convince others of your point, so let's use "convince." You should focus all of your writing in the Assessment to integrate your analysis story so that it is convincing to your senior leadership audience.
Describing the "what," "where," "how much," etc., is "descriptive writing" and is not convincing in and of itself. For this Assessment, your writing and editing must be all about “convincing” your reader about your story (why senior leaders should follow your recommendations and action plan, and how it will work, etc.).
Convincing writing means you are trying to tie everything together to tell an integrated story (core argument) that will convince others of the "how and why" logic. That is an "analytic" perspective.
If you turn in your Assessment Plan with few or no “convincing/analytic” elements, then you will not pass the Assessment—as the writing (for the plan, the executive summary, and the presentation) should be about helping the reader understand “how” and “why” your story/plan/action plan sticks together.
SP006: Organizational Improvement Planning
Assessment Guideline Resource
Writing Your Executive Summary of the Plan
Once you have written your organizational performance improvement plan (with supporting systems thinking diagrams and analyses), it is time to write a powerful and polished executive summary.
Typically an executive summary is the first thing your audience will read, and if they like what they read, they may read your actual plan! Therefore, it is essential to be able to write a concise, powerful summary. Your executive summary must focus like a laser beam on your core set of major improvement recommendations, and discuss the "why" of your argument—through cost/benefit and/or risk/rewards of your recommendations.
You must not take time early in the summary to “set up” the problem. Start with strong recommendations then support them with the “big picture” analysis. The body of your analytic plan is where you will then talk about the "how/when/where," and provide much more detail.
Your summary should leave no major insight unsaid. Assume that senior leadership won’t read your plan—so you must capture the essence and urgency in the summary (then they will read your plan!)
Writing a good, analytically focused executive summary is some of the most difficult writing you can master, so be sure to write and edit through at least three drafts.
Preparing an Effective “Executive Summary Style” PowerPoint Pitch
There are a couple of ways to think about the PowerPoint (PPT) version of your summary. You could use the PPT to help you write your full executive summary (in which the PPT helps you start your thinking), or you could “extract and polish” your written summary into a PPT format.
In either case, the logic of your persuasive argument should be the same, and the target audience remains the same.
Think of it this way—if you started a meeting with your PPT presentation, it should hook the audience to read the full executive summary, which should hook the audience to read your entire recommendation plan.
Here are some “format” suggestions that can enhance the look and power of your presentation:
Do:
Use powerful, active verbs and thought-ideas (backed by images if you can).
Use fonts and colors that are easy to read.
Consider the presentation as the “teaser” to get folks to read your document. Make it professional and interesting.
Have fun with it!
Don’t:
Use simple black and white text with no graphics.
Use block-text/paragraphs or lots of words.
Use many levels of nested bullet-points.
Use cursive or other difficult to read fonts with colors that make it hard to read.
Assume your listener cares—make them care!
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