Most of my life I’ve tended towards believing in “doing your own thing” or “being unique and creative” – not following templates, not staying “inside the square” nor deferring to things like “ten point plans”. For the most part this has worked well for me. I am able to draw on my own experiences and initiative to guide me as I work through a task, or project. When I got deeper into providing business advisory services I found myself, again, resisting the “templated” path, feeling that it was important to take a “tailored and creative” approach to helping each business discover insights, ideas and strategies, But I discovered how valuable some of these frameworks really can be. Let’s take, for example, “The Business Model Canvas”.
The creator of the Business Model Canvas (Alex Osterwalder) would probably be horrified at the way I use the Canvas, but hey – sometimes its a case of “whatever works” isn’t it?
I hold advisory (or mentoring) sessions with many businesses, and from a wide range of industries. In order to deliver value, I need to get my head around the business quickly! A discussion with the business, using the Business Model Canvas as the “scratch pad”, helps me do both those things. It also helps the business to think strategically and uncover new insights or ideas. As we stop to discuss each segment of the canvas I never have trouble extracting thoughts and ideas from the business owner or CEO. The words and ideas just flow. We often go off on tangents, but the framework keeps us honest about building/ideating the full picture.
Another favourite “scratch pad” I use is the very simple “Now, Where, How” approach. I’ve made myself a one pager with these headings across the top to guide the conversation. Once completed, this sheet starts to look like a mini “business plan” because it already identifies: what’s going on for the business now; their vision – where they want to take the business over the next X months or years; and, by thinking about and jotting items in the How column, there’s an action plan! For some it might be that business’s first plan and I believe it’s a great way to develop an understanding of what the planning process is all about and what’s important.
So I guess to summarise the key point I’m really trying to make… if you are creative like me, and don’t like to be encumbered by boundaries, boxes or standard templates, give yourself permission to go off on tangents when using them. Coming back to the core keeps us on track to building a cohesive set of information for later reference (which can keep us creative types on track to actually getting stuff done!). And also – I’ve found the above two particular templates very helpful in business strategy world!
If you’d like a copy of my “Now-Where-How” template, err, sorry, “scratch pad”, do drop me a line! You’ll find many examples of the Business Model Canvas via internet search.
