Imagine an empty bucket, which you have to fill with a number of stones. The stones are of various sizes and shapes ranging from large boulders, to tiny pebbles. The tendency is to start with the smaller stones. Yet it is only by starting with the larger stones, and putting these in first that all the others will fit around them.  

This is like putting together a strategic plan. Most groups of managers start with the small issues and get hung up on these. By identifying the bigger ‘stones,’ the really important issues which need to be addressed, the smaller ones will naturally follow.

Often when boards of directors get together there is a lack of common language in defining an organisation. Strategy sessions can get sidetracked and degenerate into small tactical issues. If we simply ask ‘how can we improve the business’ it often ends in focusing on the here and now, recriminations and blame. What problems came to light in the last week? Whose fault were they? What opportunities are in the pipeline for the next month? Who is responsible for those? 

blackswan have designed the Organisational Personality Index to help provide objectivity to board sessions and present the ‘big picture’ of the organisation and the way it behaves and interacts with stakeholders.

The Organisational Personality Index uses the Jungian dichotomies – introvert vs extravert, sensing vs intuition, thinking vs feeling and judging vs perceiving to highlight organisational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, based on hard data.

This creates a common language, a shared understanding and a single starting point for strategic discussions, making decisions and determining the path of the organisation.