Asking the question was the best way of showing intelligence in yesteryears. But today, answering those questions is also seen to be the best way to show intelligence.
The new word coined by Dr. Glibkowski is Answer Intelligence (AQ)™
We can always ask questions out of curiosity. But the answer we give should be influencing. That’s why they say, “Questions are for Curiosity, and Answers are for Influence.”
AQ is a must nowadays for every entrepreneur and professional. If you want to become an influencer, your answers should be of the following types: story, metaphor, theory, concept, procedure, and action.
A question can be constant all the time. But the answer can always be learned and improved.
Growth is not about how much you earn or how much you spend. It is a multi-faced question to be answered.
Some of the few questions are: – Are you cutting the salary check without any delay year after year? – Are you able to pay all the bills before the net period? – Are you able to sustain the revenue if not growth? – Are you able to increase the headcount? – Are you able to provide a salary hike every year? – Are you able to achieve all the above even during a bad revenue year?
If the answer is “yes” to all the above, then you are running the company with a very well calculative strategy.
But can we grow just with the above? No. We cannot. What do we need then?
We need innovative ideas.
But if your innovative idea is going to pull you down on any of the above, then that idea is a liability rather than an asset.
Ideas are split into two.
– Idea potential – Idea achievement
Idea potential is the ability to propose novel and creative innovations. But, Idea achievement is the ability to implement those ideas. Idea potential can become daydreams. There is nothing to lose out of it. But, idea achievement is a risk-taking measure. It may alter all your current operations together. Idea achievement can be achieved, only with sustainable revenue growth.
As per Forbes information, a company fails to take off to the next level is due to the wrong association of Idea potential and Idea achievement to be present in the same mind.
So an idea achiever must take only calculative risk. It will not just end up with the failure of the idea achiever alone. It may end up shaking the very base of the existence of the company itself.
Idea potential comes from the most creative people. Idea achievement comes from the most operational people.
Be at any level of the organization, never accept back-to-back calls or meetings. Calls and meetings are not rituals. They are steps with follow-ups. So after every call or meeting, take a break of 15 minutes to recollect whatever we discussed and script an action plan on those.
The same way, before every call or meeting, take a 15 minutes prep time. This will help us to ask more focused and productive questions.
So eventually there should be 30 minutes gap between two calls or meetings.
The biggest reason for many failures is keeping things on the to-do list for a longer time. We fail to understand that others are fighting at the back to fill the gap in your “longer-period.”
Others make longer periods into shorter periods for the clients, and so the client goes with them.
Success requires constant review to make sure that we connect all dots without missing even one.
The best question in the current entrepreneurial world is, “Do we need a Strategist?”
We can conclude with an answer only if we analyze this situation in-depth. Let us break this into two major divisions of an IT Company. The Sales team and the Development team.
Let us take the Sales Team into our analysis first. If we bring a Strategist into the team, then they will say the following:
I want independence
I will form the strategy
If that strategy gets implemented correctly, we can generate revenue.
Now on the Development team:
I want independence
I want to implement what I have learned in my previous companies
If that strategy gets implemented correctly, we can develop projects seamlessly
The above sentences will always give very high confidence in our growth. But the situation will change if the following happens:
Sales side:
I will train someone to implement my strategy
So that person is responsible for the result and revenue and not me.
If that person fails, then we need to change that person and bring in a new one.
And this change happens on every failure.
Development side:
I will train someone to implement my strategy
He should handle the projects
He is responsible for the utilization and realization
I am not here to handle escalations and failures.
It is better not to have such a Strategist incurring the amount of expenditure and time. What is the use of their strategy if they do not know to implement it or do not want to implement it?
In a Small and Medium Company, a strategist who doesn’t know to implement or doesn’t want to implement the strategy is a burden. On the other side, if the company is funded or loaned, then they don’t need to account for this expenditure loss because it is not their money going to get wasted. If a company runs on its revenue, this loss due to the expenditure is the loss of profit.
If a Strategist is not aware of implementing the strategy or not considering it as their responsibility, then it is always better to hire executives/developers to run the team.
This situation makes much sense during the current situation in the industry. The ultimate goal is to generate revenue with or without a Strategist.
The company was formed and running successfully with an already existing strategy. If we bring in a New Strategist to implement a new strategy, then that change must bring in new revenue. Else that change is a waste of time and money.
Unless the current strategy is not generating any revenue, the new change should not overturn the existing strategy.
AnubKumar Dharmabalan 