{"id":992186,"date":"2021-06-07T13:17:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/customerthink.com\/?p=992186"},"modified":"2021-06-07T13:17:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T20:17:04","slug":"how-frameworks-help-close-the-experience-gap-and-sustain-business-continuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/how-frameworks-help-close-the-experience-gap-and-sustain-business-continuity\/","title":{"rendered":"How Frameworks Help Close the Experience Gap and Sustain Business Continuity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laura Patterson and Anand Thaker<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Companies who have experienced cyberattacks, data breaches, unplanned IT outages, interruption of utility supplies, adverse weather, or global economy shutdowns understand the importance of business continuity. Proactively planning to avoid and mitigate risks associated with a disruption of operations is the essence of business continuity. <\/p>\r\n

People and what they know are essential to business continuity. It was Tom Stewart in his 1994 Fortune<\/em> magazine article who warned companies to focus less on what they own and more on what they know: their intellectual capital.<\/sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n

The trend in the loss of intellectual capital is disconcerting. According to research by Oxford Economics<\/a>, an estimated two million workers have left the workforce to retire since the start of the pandemic. This number is more than double that of people who left the labor force to retire in 2019. While participation among workers aged 55 and over fell less during the initial stages of the pandemic, it continues on a downtrend since last summer, and it is currently lower than at the worst of the crisis. Drucker believed that knowledge is the basis of competition.<\/sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n

Here is the critical question: if your business were to lose critical members of your team would it be able to continue to function with as little disruption as possible?<\/p>\r\n

The loss of this intellectual capital certainly has implications for sustainable performance and your organization’s ability to maintain normal operations. It’s difficult to quickly replace this degree of organizational capital and the institutional knowledge and codified experiences it represents.<\/p>\r\n

Experience gathered over a long career is far more valuable than intelligence.<\/sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a> Bringing on smart talent is smart business, but it’s the ability to learn that allows us to turn experience into an advantage. This learning takes place progressively over time. Skill in learning makes it possible to master discipline after discipline easier and faster. The more a person masters, the greater their ability to see the big picture, avoid pitfalls, and create successful plans and processes.<\/p>\r\n

Frameworks Help Close the Experience Gap<\/h2>\r\n

With decades of experience working with young, smart, energetic people just entering the workforce, it is easy for us to see how the gap in experience impacts day-to-day work and the ripples it can have on customer experience.<\/p>\r\n

Something as simple as implementing a QA step to test email formats or website changes illustrates this concept. What appears to be small and minor errors can leave a lasting impression on prospects and customers regarding your attention to detail. Once a person understands the merits of a QA step in terms of rework, recalls, and customer issues, they begin to implement the step naturally into all their work processes.<\/p>\r\n

What can an organization do to offset the loss of experienced talent that represents critical intellectual capital? Leverage frameworks to support knowledge management. A business framework captures a process and provides the fundamental guide to operate that process.<\/sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a> You are probably familiar with business frameworks such as Michael Porter’s Five Forces and Igor Ansoff’s Opportunity Matrix. Good frameworks are enduring.<\/p>\r\n

Here are three established frameworks to ensure business operations remain customer-centric.<\/p>\r\n

Michael Porter’s Five Forces<\/h3>\r\n

Taking an older example, the forty-year-old Porter<\/a>’<\/a>s<\/a> Five Forces<\/a> has been a staple and, more recently, more of a foundational concept for competitive strategy. The dynamics of company growth have evolved into a customer and community focus. Porter’s framework has been more impactful for those directly involved in later-stage opportunities, retention, and product strategy. Also, the framework becomes more relevant the greater the size and complexity of the opportunity and more regulated the industry. Sometimes it is not about the age of a framework so much as its applied relevance.<\/p>\r\n

VisionEdge Marketing’s Circle of Traction<\/h3>\r\n

Created in 1999 by Laura Patterson, the framework<\/a> represented by a wheel and axle places the focus on successful growth on companies being customer-centric. It identifies the evolution and momentum for growing a business. The axle contains the core ingredients for the structure of the business. The wheel contains the revolving and interdependent elements of engagement and growth. A benefit of this framework is that executives have the opportunity to distribute and concurrently plan business strategies similar to the hemispheres of the brain. Once the initial framework has been planned out, there is a built-in structure to revisit priorities and adapt to changing circumstances.<\/p>\r\n

Business Model Canvas<\/h3>\r\n

On the newer and more agile side, Alex Osterwalder’s framework proposed in 2005 has a more product\/market fit focus that has been adopted readily by startups and high-growth teams. Key areas focus on early-stage development to validation. While other frameworks are necessary, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to start and do so with the right matters in mind.<\/sup>[5]<\/sup><\/a> The BMC framework has been used to teach emerging entrepreneurs and small business owners to ensure they focus on the things that matter most. As the business grows and expands, other frameworks tend to be better suited for the ever-evolving changes. Regardless, companies will return to this framework, especially those using agile,<\/sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a> for new lines of revenue and spin-off opportunities.<\/p>\r\n

These are three battle-tested frameworks. Others support knowledge management efforts. “Knowledge is the only unlimited resource, the one asset that grows with use.”<\/sup>[7]<\/sup><\/a> Frameworks are extremely valuable for bridging the knowledge gap between young, smart talent and lack of senior talent with deep experience. If you don’t have a library of frameworks, now is a good time to start developing one and putting frameworks into practice so they become a natural part of the way work gets done. <\/p>\r\n

How to Select and Implement a Framework<\/h2>\r\n

Here are three key questions to consider when it comes to selecting business frameworks:<\/p>\r\n

Q1. What makes a good framework?<\/h3>\r\n

Keep in mind that a business framework serves as a roadmap for operating your organization. Keep these six attributes in mind when evaluating a framework. A good framework:<\/p>\r\n