Canyon Leaping White Paper - 2013

January

2013

Canyon Leaping

Canyon Leaping, © John Carroll, 2013 Page 1

Canyon Leaping Strategy Formulation from the Vision Side

Table of Contents

Introduction 2 History 3 Canyon Leaping Process 5 One Day Canyon Leaping Session 7 Glossary of Terms 8 Canyon Leaping Delphi Instrument 13


Canyon Leaping Strategy Formulation from the Vision Side

Introduction Canyon Leaping is a dramatic departure from conventional approaches to strategy formulation. Take a look at the Canyon Leaping picture. Where are the people and where are they pointing? Tradition would have them standing on a strong foundation of awareness of their existing position and peering across to their possible future, trying to figure out how to get there. Conventional strategic planning processes are only able to ask the planning team how to get to what is probably a pretty vague, uncertain vision. Canyon Leaping has the team standing firmly on the Vision Side of the canyon, looking back across the canyon, talking about how they got here. Canyon Leaping is a process for strategy formulation from the Vision side. Canyon Leaping assumes that planning from amidst where you are today, the Ending Side, is the least effective place from which leadership teams should plan for a new momentum. Your present position and momentum clouds your leadership team from seeing with clarity, much less wielding effectively, a shared vision. What you have become adept at doing to survive may prove to be barriers to future success, including how you collaborate and make strategic decisions. Canyon Leaping is a process that frees your leadership team to formulate strategies from a position of confidence and clarity – the position of looking back across the canyon from a successful future. Leadership teams, or “Canyon Leapers”, are given the process, skills, tools, and expert facilitation needed to confidently "leap" to the Vision side and vividly paint their Shared Vision of success for each of the most important stakeholders. This perspective is then used as the platform for planning how they got here, the BIG IDEAS, and what Baggage they left behind.


Canyon Leaping is made possible by the combination of experienced facilitation and the safe environment created with the Virtual WINs facilitation tools and the Canyon Leaping process. Delivered as rapidly as a one day face-to-face session where need and opportunity demands, or as an in-depth, multi-team, virtual process lasting weeks.

Changing Your Momentum – The Case for Canyon Leaping The grip of your existing momentum is overwhelming. Fabulous when you are riding on top in a defensible position in a growing and profitable market. Not so great when faced with the certainty that continuing on the present course will lead to disaster. Planning the creation of a new order of things is extraordinarily difficult. The massive debris at the bottom of the cliffs of failed businesses, failed initiatives, and failed projects attests. Therefore, the first question to answer is whether or not you need a new momentum? If the answer is “No”, then the focus is on getting the most out of the momentum you have, planning from within the midst of your momentum. ”Navigating the Whitewater” of the waves of change is the strategic planning process we facilitate for a leadership team to build and wield shared foresight, make strategic and tactical decisions, and align all of their efforts. If, however, the answer is “Yes”, that a new momentum is needed, I submit that planning from within the maelstrom you are in is the least effective, least efficient, most risky, and most costly place from which to plan. This is the crumbling, Ending Side of your canyon. Get the heck out of there! “Canyon Leaping” is the strategic planning process where planning is done from the Vision Side of the canyon where the new momentum is already successful. In Canyon Leaping, teams leap from the clutches of their existing momentum and vividly create their shared vision of success – and then plan how they succeeded. One of the first lessons learned by Canyon Leapers – usually recognized by an audible “I Get It” mid-way through as someone has a “BFB/BFO” (blinding flash of brilliance/blinding flash of the obvious) moment – “Even I have to change!” In Canyon Leaping, everything changes to create the new momentum, the new order of things. In times of significant, material changes such as most are now experiencing, “Yes” for changing your momentum is far more likely the correct answer to the question of whether you need a new momentum. Canyon Leaping provides the means to do so with confidence.

History of Canyon Leaping

This model for strategy formulation began in the 80’s when leading efforts to plan strategies for targeting the then emerging senior markets for innovations in housing, healthcare, and other services. Basically, middle-age and younger men in their 30's to 50's were planning for elderly women in their 70's, 80's, and beyond. Easy enough now to see why their assumptions might have been a little off (and generally still are, 25 years later).


From new concepts in retirement housing, to the first teaching nursing home, to adult day care, geriatric assessment programs, assisted living and home delivered services, we conducted the sophisticate market research from, not just about, the elderly women, and served as the strategists for the entrepreneurs, developers, and agencies who were charting new territory in serving the then emerging senior markets. As one Interior Designer stated, “this was the first time I was able to give my input on a project prior to the architect putting pencil to paper.” These efforts were described in "The Integrated Project Team Approach to Strategic Planning", in INSIGHTS, 1990, the journal published by the former National Association of Senior Living Industries. Canyon Leaping has evolved into a comprehensive approach for those who choose to be Strategically Opportunistic.

Canyon Leaping efforts were greatly eased by the adoption in the 90’s of group decision support technologies, what we now term “facilitation tools,” that enable teams to fearlessly leap their Canyons and set clear strategies and tactics from a shared vision of success.

Canyon Leaping Example: A global supply chain needed to design

a new business model. Eighteen highly competent subject matter experts were convened. Using the Canyon Leaping process, they first decided that if fourteen agreed, all would support a decision. Then, after identifying the key stakeholders, they were challenged to “Leap the Canyon” and paint their vision of success for each stakeholder. With significant debate and discussion, and by continuously applying their decision criteria, they utilized anonymity and simultaneous exchange to rapidly build consensus. They then wielded this Shared Vision to identify the “Big Ideas” that got them over their Canyon, the “Baggage” left behind, high level maps of both the “As Is” and “To Be” processes and a detailed Action Plan with assignments, dependencies, and timeframes.

Now, realistically, how long would such an effort take with traditional means? This effort took not 6 ½ months, nor 6 ½ weeks, not even 6 ½ days. It took 6 ½ hours! Now, this whole process can be done virtually, using Virtual WINs, though we certainly wouldn’t need to do everything in a single, sametime 6 ½ hour session.


Canyon Leaping Process Strategy Formulation from the Vision Side

Dual Team Approach

Knowledge Team – integration of both visiting and in-house top talent are charged with defining the planning process and assimilating the knowledge developed by the Canyon Leapers.

Multi-Team Approach In complex efforts, multiple teams attack key areas independently, with the Knowledge Team assimilating the findings.

Building Shared Foresight (Hindsight you will have from your Vision Side) Initial Internet Survey - Delphi Study Instrument – Multi-Iteration if needed Ignite & Tap Individual Creativity Identify Diversity of Misconceptions

Societal Changes & Trends Assessment Consumer Changes & Trends Market Positioning Assessment Competitive & Complementary Assessment Technology Innovation Awareness Creativity Forums with Thought Leaders & Critical Experts

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Visioning – Wielding Shared Foresight

Societal Vision Context Building Scenario Analysis Visual Visioning – Paint the Vision

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares This Side of the Canyon – Build Shared Awareness SWOT Analysis Spin Off Quick Hits - Remove Organizational Residue from Firefighting

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares


Vividly Paint the Vision – Team(s) Launched Supply the Vision Depth – Further Build Shared Foresight Society Consumers Industry Competitors Entity Alliances Individual Roles

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Gain Consensus on Further Shared Foresight Know what we know jointly Know what we know individually Create new knowledge Identify what we must assume

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Engage Your Extended Leadership Community Face-to-face sessions Large session “Igniter Summits” Web surveys

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Goal Formulation From the Vision Side – How did we get here? What did we accomplish? First cut as individuals and teams learn to use this perspective

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Quick Hits Capture ideas for accelerating short term growth Continuously build and wield Shared Foresight

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares Gap Analysis & Action Planning Identify key functional areas Identify BIG IDEAS Identify major ideas within each functional area Identify baggage left behind Identify major initiatives Action plan – assignments and timeframes for all actions

Knowledge Team Assimilates & Shares

Create an Innovation Environment Create a Canyon Leaping Collaboration Environment


Canyon Leaping – Accelerated Strategy Session

Face-to-Face Session

Time Activity 8:30 Ground Rules and Introductions 8:40 Overview of Canyon Leaping 8:45 “Perfect Meeting” Exercise Identify and discuss ideas Evaluate ideas Make assignments 8:55 Establish Canyon Leaping Decision Rules Make decisions about making decisions before making decisions. 9:00 Build Shared Foresight and Societal Vision Participants identify Waves of Change and begin building the context for their own

Shared Vision (4 to 5 areas are discussed – e.g., economic, technological, societal, demographic, environmental, spiritual, etc.). Summarize in sub-groups, present, and discuss.

10:00 Break 10:15 Stakeholder Identification 10:25 Prioritize Stakeholders – Identify most important stakeholders 10:30 Paint Shared Vision Participants share images of success on the Vision side for each stakeholder.

Assimilate and respond, summarize in sub-groups, present, and discuss. 11:30 BIG IDEAS from the Vision Side

Participants wield Shared Vision to identify the Big Ideas that got them over to the Vision side since you don’t cross canyons with little steps.

11:50 Evaluate BIG IDEAS 12:00 Lunch 12:45 Baggage Drop – Shared Awareness Participants exchange knowledge and assumptions about the existing environment

and what needs to be left behind on the Ending Side of the Canyon. Identify and clear out the Dead Moose, Sacred Cows, and false Diamonds in the Rough. Summarize in sub-groups, present, and discuss.

1:30 Action Planning – Brainstorm Implementation of BIG IDEAS From the Vision side, the participants are challenged to take the BIG IDEAS and turn

each into the Action Plans that enabled them to get to the Vision side. 2:30 Break 2:45 Action Planning Evaluation Criteria Participants are asked to identify the criteria to be used to evaluate the importance

of the Action Plan ideas. 3:00 Evaluate Criteria 3:15 Evaluate Action Plans Using Criteria 3:30 Detailed Action Planning For the top Action Plan ideas, participants are asked to identify who is responsible,

who will participate, how each action will be accomplished, dependencies, timeframes, resources and how success will be identified. Sub-group review, present, and discuss.

4:30 Next Steps & Session Evaluation 5:00 Adjourn


Canyon Leaping Glossary of Terms

Anonymity Anonymity is a powerful force for freeing the creative potential of individuals and teams. Use it wisely.

Anonymity provides safety. Anonymity provides leveraged creativity -- separating ideas from the personalities. Anonymity enables individuals to tell someone they really care about that their

ideas are wrong. Anonymity accelerates team formation and building of trust, thereby eliminating

many of the reasons for needing anonymity. Anonymity launches some of the most fruitful, enjoyable, engaging dialogues

(talking) you will ever experience! Baggage Drop You can’t get across a canyon bringing along all the baggage, organizational residue, and Dead Moose (the things everyone knows about but won’t discuss – stink worse than Elephants in the Living Room). Once the Vision has been painted, the teams are challenged to identify what they left on the other side. BIG IDEAS You don’t leap a canyon in small steps. The teams are challenged to identify the BIG IDEAS that got them over the canyon. Bias for Decision Making Don't assume a decision has been made. Make it, document it, and move on. Example – the leadership team decides that when they reach 70% agreement, this means 100% will support the decision going forward, unless one of the 30% is the Subject Matter Expert (SMEs), which requires a return to building context and understanding the criteria. SMEs are identified BEFORE beginning. BFOs & BFBs

Blinding Flashes of the Obvious, or Blinding Flashes of Brilliance

We don't care which they are, we are after both! It doesn't matter whether brilliance is new or already understood by some. The key is, it must be understood and WIELDED by all - that's core to delivery of undiluted, integrated, and targeted positioning Utilizing "Canyon Leaping" tools, methods, and facilitation approaches, we strive to fully tap the latent creative potential of a leadership team by providing environments for individual, small group, and large team creativity to just happen.


Brain Surges Occur either individually or in teams. When occurring in the "safe" environment created in the sessions using the Virtual WINs facilitation tools, with anonymous and simultaneous input, it resembles a group epiphany. A huge, creative force when unleashed in such settings. Breakthrough thinking is the result. And, its fun! Calm In The Face Of Uncertainty – Becoming Strategically Opportunistic Leveraged by the knowledge of a fully engaged leadership team, these characteristics define those who are "Strategically Opportunistic": Confident Competent Disciplined Creative Decisive Engaged Wise Making assumptions as part of teams, rather than as a collection of individuals, and tracking those assumptions. We know where we are going, we have access to the continuously improving "Shared Foresight" and therefore can make immediate course changes to capture opportunities, overcome potential obstacles, thwart competitive inroads, and attain our Vision. Canyon Leaping Where we exist today is distinct from where our Vision defines we will exist in the future. There is a virtual canyon between our present reality and our future Vision. Our objective is to plan how we arrived at the Vision Side of the Canyon. Canyon Leaping requires the participants to do the planning from the Vision Side. Canyon Leapers These are the individuals who are charged with painting the Shared Vision of success for each of the top stakeholders, then wielding this Vision, supported by their Shared Foresight – their Hindsight from the Vision Side - and their Shared Awareness to plan how they succeeded. Canyon Leaping Guides Teams are guided through the Canyon Leaping process by facilitators who employ a rich language to communicate with confidence.


Delphi Study Ignites individual creativity, and ferrets out the range of uncertainty, deficiencies in awareness, organization residue of continuous fire-fighting, and just plain old stupidity that may need to be addressed. Teams are made-up of individuals. Delphi Studies enable individuals to contemplate on their own key issues and possibilities. These are then consolidated and reported back to the participants in building a shared context. Fallacy of SMEs When creating a new order of things, as in Canyon Leaping, subject matter experts, by definition, are limited if non-existent, or else you aren’t really creating a new order of things. Grok A word from Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein …. At one level, the Canyon Leaping process views Canyon Leapers as exactly that – strangers in a strange land. The process enables the Canyon Leaping Team to fully understand, to Grok, the Vision Side and paint a vivid picture of that Vision. As pointed out in the book Inevitable Surprises, by Robert Schwartz, when providing foresight to Citi, recognized that nearly all of the insights were already known and understood by one or more of those on the leadership team. However, none had the whole story, and certainly the team didn’t have a shared view of any of the individual factors, much less the whole story. To become strategically opportunistic, a leadership team MUST continuously improve and wield the whole story. Canyon Leaping is the first step. Grok? Leadership Dilemma – Transitioning from Dysfunctional to Functional Those who have learned to obtain, maintain, and wield power in dysfunctional organizations, whether businesses, firms, institutions, or agencies, have been essential in driving our economy, particularly in the past couple of decades. Now that we are finally awakening to where we've allowed them to take us, it is time to transition to functional organizations. The dilemma is that those same leaders are not necessarily the best to lead the transition, much less to lead the transformed organizations. The dilemma is further exacerbated since the evaluators, lenders, risk assessors, and auditors of the strategies that were invested in are themselves suspect.

With Virtual WINs, people can identify the depth and breadth of dysfunctional thinking that permeates and clogs today's organizations - and provide the safe environment to plan and implement a transition to a functional organization with the minimum of disruption, cost, time, and risk to individuals and the businesses and organizations.


Leadership Paradox "If you really mean you will truly use the results of the Teams to formulate the course of action for the company, well, that means I'm working for a leadership team that doesn't know where it is going!" The paradox confronting all leaders today is simple. And, it must be confronted or this process won't work. This process requires leaders to admit to their people and advisors that, while they may have already arrived at a clear Vision, they don't know the plan for getting there. Many don’t really comprehend the meaning of this until midway through the process - and that is when the full power of "Shared Foresight" kicks in. Painting the Vision The participants are asked to "Leap the Canyon" and contemplate what it will be like when the Vision is fulfilled from the perspective of: Society The Industry or Sector The Company or Organization Our Roles Ourselves Individually Customers or Clients Our Partners or Suppliers Our Competitors Other Stakeholders Power of Teams When Confronting Uncertainty

We must make more decisions, more frequently with greater accuracy. We need information on which to base our decisions. Perfect information doesn't exist or isn't available. We still must make decisions. Therefore, we must make assumptions.

We are terrible at making assumptions! Tests of ability to make assumptions in areas of uncertainty continuously demonstrate a lack of individual assumption making capacity. However, the teams themselves are able to see that when they shared their perspectives, they find they can make assumptions with a far greater likelihood of having the correct answer within their range of answers. The problem is that the range of their assumptions needs to be narrowed by "Building Shared Foresight", rather than focusing on individual pursuits of the "correct answer". Pushing Down Walls The Teams are continuously asked to "push down the walls". What they find is that there weren't any "walls" when Canyon Leaping. Using the "24 hour" rule, Canyon Leapers are assured of a rapid response from the Knowledge Teams.


Shared Awareness Depth and Breadth of shared understanding throughout the entire leadership team of past and present, and the power of the existing momentum. Shared Awareness is gained in the process through activities focused on building a Situational Analysis via a multi-iteration, Canyon Leaping Delphi Study and team SWOT assessment. Shared Foresight Shared Foresight is the hindsight we wield from the Vision Side. It is the missing piece that connects a Shared Vision to this side of the Canyon. What we collectively foresee happening between the present and the Vision. This "Shared Foresight" is continuously improved, shared and wielded to make the decisions as we continuously refine our course of action. What comes between now and attaining the Vision? Shared Foresight provides the ideas, assumptions, and insights of the full Leadership Team, continuously enhanced and improved by access to outside thought leaders, critical experts and the breadth of the leadership community. Building and wielding Shared Foresight is how, from the Vision side, you can vividly see your successful strategies and tactics in the context in which they occurred. This is the key - it is from the Vision side that you can envision the complexities that indicate not just how you get to the Vision side - but everything else that occurred as well. Societal Context To build scenarios that effectively communicate identified potential futures, we need to do so within an overall societal context - which itself can be depicted as multiple potential futures.


Canyon Leaping Delphi Instrument Design

Introduction

Please review and discuss the draft questionnaire for the first iteration of our Canyon Leaping

Delphi Study. We are using the dual team approach for implementing our Canyon Leaping Process

– a knowledge team and the full team. John Carroll is serving as our Lead Canyon Leaping Guide.

Our Knowledge Team is charged with designing the process, using the “Canyon Leaping Process

Team Map” as the starting point, including this questionnaire. Additional responsibilities of the

Knowledge Team include facilitating the collaboration, decision making, and group writing

activities, coaching the participants in collaboration across the continuums – from large group same

time conference calls, to any time activities, to individuals SMEs needing help on the discipline of

regularly posting a blog and other media of import to the team.

Instructions for Delphi Study Participants

To prepare for the upcoming Canyon Leaping creativity forums and strategy session, we are

conducting a preliminary Delphi Study. The first step in this study involves collecting, analyzing,

and reporting results of this initial questionnaire. The second step is for the participants to review

the results and respond to a second iteration questionnaire based on the results of the first. A

subsequent report will be issued in preparation for the creativity forums and strategy session.

The primary purpose of this study is to ignite the individual creative capacity of our leadership

community as we work to build our Shared Awareness, Shared Foresight, and Shared Vision. A by-

product of the Delphi Study is to significantly accelerate the fulfillment of the Vision by clearing off

the table much of the anecdote swapping, choir preaching, and getting everyone up-to-speed that

occurs in traditional strategy retreats.

Ourselves – What have we done REALLY well

What was a marketing initiative that worked really well for us during the past 3 years? Identify the

initiative and describe the results and how they were achieved.

What was an operational initiative that worked REALLY well for us during the past 3 years?

Identify the initiative and describe the results and how they were achieved.

Our Clients

Perception of Our Clients - please evaluate how our clients perceive us using a scale of 1 to 10 with

“1” being “Low” and “10” being “High”

Industry knowledge

Flexibility

Reliability

Credibility

Experience

Quality of Service

Trust

Competitiveness


Social Responsibility

Agility

Value Delivered

Please comment on specific considerations that affected your responses to the prior question.

Who are our best clients? Identify specific clients or categories of clients, then briefly explain why

they are amongst our best clients?

Who are our worst clients? Identify specific clients or categories of clients, then briefly explain why

they are amongst our worst clients?

Are there any major changes in how our clients and prospects are making decisions?

Partners

Who are our best partners? Identify specific partners or categories of partners, then briefly explain

why they are amongst our best partners?

Who are our worst partners? Identify specific clients or categories of partners, then briefly explain

why they are amongst our worst partners?

Are there any major changes in how our partners or our potential partners are making decisions?

About Us

What is one thing about us you wish everyone understood?

What is one thing we do today we should stop doing?

Please provide an analogy or metaphor that describes us, either as we are now, or as you would like

us to be, or both. This can be utterly serious or knee-slapping funny (remember, it is your

colleagues who will decide if it is funny, though it is anonymous…)

About Our Competition

How would you characterize our competition as it exists today?

How would you characterize our competition in 3 to 5 years, if different from the competition we

confront today?

What characteristics best differentiate us from existing or potential competitors?

Quick Wins

What is an immediate and pressing marketing issue and your suggestion for overcoming the issue?

What is an immediate and pressing operational issue and your suggestion for overcoming the

issue?

Insights on Major Waves of Change

Our industry is considered by many to be transitioning from a product/service driving force to a

customer driving force.


Technology is continuously expanding into new areas. How will new technologies best be

leveraged? What should we do to minimize the possible negative impact new technologies may

have on us and our customers?

Increasing diversity, aging, educational attainment, globalization of markets for labor, capital,

resources, and consumers, are leasing to massive changes. What should we be doing to better

prepare?

What are up to three additional major waves of change, trends, or possible future situations we

should be considering? What should we be doing today to prepare?

How would you like our clients to describe us once we are what you would like us to be.

New Products, Services, or Markets To Serve

What are up to three products or services we should considering adding – even those you don’t

think we would ever consider, or those we have rejected in the past?

What are up to three emerging needs of our present and future clients that we will, or should, be in

the position to serve?

Making Decisions

What are the criteria our leaders and managers should use when making strategic level decisions?

What percentage of participants on a leadership team need to agree in order for everyone to

support the decision?

Who are our Subject Matter Experts?

What We Should Do

What are up to three major objectives we should focus on accomplishing during the next 6 months?

What are up to three major objectives for us to accomplish beyond 6 months?

If you had a magic wand and could change anything about us, what would you do?

Parking Lot

Additional Comments, Insights, Ideas, Questions, Blinding Flashes of Brilliance….

Business

Canyon Leaping White Paper - 2013