Value Alignment Workshops

Is everyone on the same page? Beware misalignment that could be derailing your data, analytics or AI projects. One of the first causes of misalignment happens in the project ideation phase. It's not uncommon for projects to begin with enthusiasm but suffer from vague goals, that not everyone understands or agrees on. It's easy for people to just decide they need an analytics platform like #PowerBI without any thought as to how they will use it. Then there's the matter of stakeholders. Too often, crucial players who need to be involved from the start are overlooked or identified too late in the process. This oversight leads to missed requirements and unexpected resistance later on, which can drop a bomb into an otherwise healthy project. Another misstep I think is the lack of alignment process. Without effective early alignment meetings that clearly outline the project’s drivers, impact, scope, benefits and timeline, stakeholders might not fully commit to the direction or outcomes of the project. It's easy to fall into the trap of "we need this Copilot" with no consideration of why it's important and what value it has. Finally, handling objections is a common stumbling block. Misalignment caused by the above issues leads to objections that aren't addressed effectively, causing further delays and, in some cases, jeopardizing the project's success. I think we could all do better in data and AI at anticipating and managing business stakeholder objections proactively. Some tips I've learned and observed over the years for effective project alignment in Data and AI projects: 💡 Size doesn't matter. Even small projects like a simple report can be undermined or suffer blowout due to a misalignment issue. Don't underestimate the potential impact of skipping this step. 💡 Identify your stakeholders. This could be as simple as a list of key people or as complex as a comprehensive stakeholder map that includes individuals at all levels of the organization. In Data and AI projects these are often IT, the end users, source system admins, managers and executives driving the initiative to name a few. 💡 Set up alignment workshops early on that focus on detailed discussions about project drivers like the challenges faced by the org and their impact, the scope or objectives and the new capabilities the org will receive. 💡 Use visual tools like diagrams, whiteboards, kanban and timelines to help stakeholders understand and agree on the project attributes. 💡 Proactively identify potential stakeholder objections, put yourself in their shoes and prepare clear, well thought out responses. Common objections to Data and AI projects are around cost, data privacy and security, resistance to using new tools (e.g. Excel vs Power BI), unclear benefits and doubts about data accuracy and quality to name a few. What do you think are the first steps we should take in a Data or AI project and what challenges can we expect? #Data #AI #ProjectManagement

Why do so many strategies fail in execution? 🤔 Brutal truth: Because leadership teams never fully agree on what they’re actually optimising for or how they create real value for the customer. Today, on the Strand in central London 🇬🇧, I’m in the room with 26 leaders from a large medtech organisation, doing the work that too often gets skipped. The focus has been clear: ➡️ Getting alignment on what customer value truly means for the brand in 26 ➡️ Making deliberate choices about who we serve (and who we don’t) ➡️ Working through what the offering is to the customer and why it matters to them ➡️ Pressure-testing value propositions against real customer pressures ➡️ Moving from broad ambition to clear, differentiated commercial focus ➡️ Turning strategy into decisions leaders can confidently stand behind This is exactly why brand thinking and leadership alignment matter. Not as a communications exercise but as a strategic tool to drive focus, confidence and execution. Alignment doesn’t come from better slides and more noise. It comes from focus, shared language, honest challenge, and the courage to choose. Important work. High energy. Real decisions. When was the last time you did this with your team? #leadership #strategy #alignment #brandthinking #valueproposition #medtech

Alignment is expensive. Misalignment will bankrupt you. Trust me, if you could take one piece of advice from me as a business owner, take this. Ever wonder why some brands rocket to success while others never take off? It often comes down to one overlooked yet critical factor... Alignment. In a recent workshop, we confronted this reality with a tech company tangled in internal chaos. Despite a visionary leader at the helm, the company's departments were pulling in different directions, and their brand messages were more confusing than clarifying. We dedicated a day to strip everything back to the basics. The tough questions were asked—those that people often shy away from. Each team member was challenged to realign with the Purpose and core values of the company. It wasn't just about finding common ground; it was about creating a unified force capable of propelling the brand forward. Hours passed, and transformation unfolded. The once disjointed team began to find their rhythm. We didn't need to enforce a new strategy; we needed to remind them of the story they were all part of. By encouraging open communication and showing how each role was crucial to the narrative, the barriers began to dissolve. As the day closed, the shift was insane. A company that had once felt scattered was now moving with a purposeful stride. When everyone in a company is aligned, not just in their tasks but in their belief in the brand’s vision, the company doesn't just operate efficiently... it thrives. Investing in alignment through a positioning workshop might seem costly at first, but compared to the expenses of misalignment, it’s small change in your pocket. #BrandAlignment #BusinessStrategy #Leadership #Teamwork #BrandSuccess #CorporateCulture #InternalCommunication #VisionaryLeadership #BrandBuilding #Positioning #OrganizationalHealth #StrategicAlignment #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessGrowth #ChangeManagement

This week, I facilitated my first-ever two-day workshop to build a value architecture for a company—a model connecting day-to-day actions with value. Here's how the process went: BEFORE THE WORKSHOP 1. After a discovery session, the company provided me a bunch of strategy artifacts; OKRs, previous launches, roadmaps, business model info, dashboard screenshots, strategy decks, competitive landscape, etc.. 2. We fed the business context into our business modeling AI to create three potential value architectures for the company: - A Business KPI tree that decomposed their primary revenue metric into its logical components. - A growth loop model focusing on the network effects in their business. - A North Star map that focused on cultivating their most loyal user profiles. THE WORKSHOP - DAY 1 - We discussed the concepts of how you can use value architecture to shift from an output-driven ("feature factory") way of working to an outcomes-driven orientation. - We reviewed value architectures from other companies, looking at diversity of examples from different industries and different types of models. - We reviewed the three models I generated prior to the meeting and discussed the merits and drawbacks of each one. - After the discussion, we decided that a business KPI tree model was the right place to start, given its explanatory power and alignment with the metrics they were already using. - We spent the rest of the day refining the model. The model I generated before hand was 70% on point, but there were a few structural elements and nuances that required iteration. THE WORKSHOP - DAY 2 - To test the value architecture we created on day 1, we added their previous OKRs and product bets to the canvas with their value architecture. We pressure tested the value architecture by using it to explain the rationale behind their previous bets. - The value architecture held up well, but it became increasingly complex as we added more influencer metrics to the canvas. For a moment I worried we were about to fall off a complexity cliff that would undercut the utility of what we had created. - So we simplified our value architecture to be the bare minimum model needed to contextualize their 2025 corporate objectives. - Instead of mapping individual bets and OKRs to the model, we took a step back and mapped their teams to the model. - The process revealed that 2 of their 3 corporate objectives required collaboration b/w multiple teams. - So we created nested value architectures for each goal. This allowed the top-level value architecture to stay simple, while allowing the teams to create more granular value architectures with inputs laddering up to each goal. - At the end, we had a multi-level value architecture with appropriate views for the executive- and team-levels of the company. Overall this was really fun and I'm excited to do more in-depth session like this in the future.

We went Enterprise 1.5 years ago Selling to financial institutions with more than 400 employees exclusively In our first market, we already won 19 out of 47 potential customers That is 40% of the market in 1.5 years How did we do that? We implemented a step in the sales process that was a real game-changer The "Value Workshop" Most deals stall after the demo The prospects usually say something like: "We need to see internally if that makes sense to us and get back to you. We need to understand what use cases fit right now for us. That takes time" The salesperson: 😬 🤷🏼♂️ Most salespeople do not know what to do They are lost Their sales leaders say: Our "sales cycles are too long" Because prospects are lost as well It takes them at least 3 months to get organized and discuss this internally What can salespeople do about it? Proactively suggest the workshop: Me: "Dear prospect, probably you would like to discuss the use cases from today internally and select a few. We can help you with this. Usually, as a next step, we do a workshop with potential users and team leaders to find 3 use cases that are bringing real value and define the impact of those use cases. Would that work for you as well?" Most prospects love you for the guidance And accept the suggestion (actually more than 85%) The workshop is structured in the following way: 1️⃣ Introduction participants 2️⃣ Why, How, and What of the solution you discussed 3️⃣ Participants write down all use cases that come to mind 4️⃣ Participants prioritize the use cases and select the top 3 5️⃣ Define the impact of solving the top 3 6️⃣ Feedback session & next steps For online meetings, you can either use Figma or Miro The result? ✅ Defined ROI ✅ Fans for the rollout ✅ Enough information to make an offer And all this in 3-4 hours Usually, that takes months Prospects love it Salespeople love it Customer Success loves it

Your management team says they’re aligned. Think again. You launch a change initiative. But instead of driving it forward, your managers are clashing. Suddenly, valuable energy is consumed. The organization goes in different directions. And failure becomes almost certain. Why does this happen? Because the change process was launched before securing full buy-in and alignment from the management team. Here’s the reality: 🔴 If managers aren’t aligned, nothing will change. So, what do you do? 🔵 Go back to step one of the change process: Fine-tune the Change Strategy Organize a workshop with the management team to: ➨ Clarify the vision, objectives, and strategy ➨ Learn how to communicate the strategy ➨ Build commitment to the change effort I once ran a workshop with a top team to create their change strategy. I budgeted six hours to align on the change objectives. The VP told me, “We’re already aligned, a 15-minute review will be enough.” Six hours later, they reached real alignment. Getting alignment is a long and challenging process. The most common cause of misalignment: top leaders overestimate alignment of their team. But here’s a critical point: this workshop shouldn’t be led by the top leader. Otherwise, you risk creating a false sense of agreement, with managers nodding in the room while holding back their real concerns. And you’ll end up back where you began back to where you were before the workshop. False alignment is the silent killer of change initiatives. To succeed, every disagreement needs to surface and be debated until genuine agreement is reached. This is best done with an external expert. I have seen management teams argue over a single word for two hours. That is what real alignment looks like. Plan to take between six hours and a long day to get there. Because only when managers are fully aligned and committed can the transformation succeed. Any other strategy will fail. How much time did you spend creating your change strategy? _____________   🔔 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Jacques Fischer for strategies to  ��� Manage change  ↳ Evolve the culture  ↳ Improve leadership  ↳ Develop high-performance organizations 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝑺𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 #humanresources #culturechange #changemanagement