Key cyclical tools for Corporate Direction

A4002.IdentifyCustomerNeeds

This tool allows for detecting the needs of clients, partners, and suppliers, their challenges and difficulties, proposing targeted solutions.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Identifying client needs and stimulating new ones	Difficulties distinguishing between the problem, the needs, and the solutions
Demonstrating to clients the ability to solve their problems	Some clients struggle to understand which solution can help them
Empathizing with clients and partners	Clients poorly informed about the problems that can be solved
Encouraging collaborators to proactively meet needs	Proposed solutions are described from the supplier’s perspective rather than the client’s
Assisting clients in recognizing new opportunities	Confusing or superficial presentation of solutions
Inspiring clients to promote solutions
Aligning the narrative of your marketing campaigns

S100.A4000.EnterpriseGlobalAssessment

Global self-assessment of business management maturity.

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To bring to life a concrete evolutionary plan for your organization, it is crucial to document existing value and have a long-term development plan to which the 80+ A4ManagementTools integrate.

This tool allows you to assess the management maturity level of your organization and define the next steps (from over 250 proposed actions) within a three-year path with annual reviews.

The results of this service:

Obtain an overall assessment of your organization.
Define a three-year development plan with annual reviews.
Consolidate existing organizational assets.
Align executives with the highest level of newly identified knowledge.
Integrate the needs of shareholders, the Board of Directors, and management.
Track and appreciate subsequent progress supported by evidence.
Document sound management practices and legal compliance.
Access all necessary elements to conduct internal audits.
Monitor annual progress through documented reviews.

A4022.EnterpriseStrategy

This tool allows for outlining the overall strategy of the organization or significant projects, channeling resources and efforts, and bringing one's credo to life.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Realigning vision, mission, key results, and strategy convincingly	Difficulty in conveying the company vision at all levels
Guiding collaborators towards vision and mission	Heterogeneous perception of the company’s identity
Clearly articulating the company strategy	Misalignment of objectives
Formalizing key results and disseminating them at all levels	Repeated need to reaffirm project and activity directions
Conveying the company’s beliefs to clients	Weak sense of belonging to the organization
Mobilizing collaborators towards action	Constant lack of resources and inefficiency
Attracting talent, clients, and strategic partners	Obstacles in inspiring team members and attracting new talent

A4061.BusinessPlanStressTest

This tool enables the consolidation of the business plan, highlighting and integrating critical aspects with multiple high-value elements.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Significantly enhancing the business plan	Excessive orientation towards favorable aspects (lack of self-criticism)
Drawing inspiration from over 50 best practices of excellence	Presence of unresolved issues
Verifying that an activity is correctly dimensioned	Need to consolidate decisions and integrate specific knowledge
Accelerating project development	Difficulty in capturing the interest of decision-makers and investors
Convincingly communicating key project content	Poor orientation towards self-entrepreneurship
Supporting projects through durable indicators
Mobilizing executives and attracting investors
Facing extraordinary events with solid decision-making bases

A4010.CertificationReadinessAssessment

This tool enables the organization to prepare for an increasing number of certifications by proving compliance with minimum requirements.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Obtain an assessment of one’s readiness for certification	Poor monitoring of certification progress
Ensure regulatory compliance through continuous self-training	Insufficient independent preparation for certifications
Orient to a three-year evolutionary development plan	Difficulty getting staff to prepare for internal audits
Support the quality director, owners, and process managers	Lack of internal self-assessment
Nonconformities systematically managed and resolved	Difficulty relating activities to procedures (requirement for certification)
Appreciate progress supported by evidence	Difficulty in transferring know-how to the organization
Document proper management practice and legal evidence
Have adequate preparation to handle audits and certifications

A4016.CoreBusinessFocus

This tool facilitates the conduct of a 4-hour session to identify expendable activities to focus on core business, making it one of the most effective and swift A4ManagementTools available.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Focusing on core business and ceasing peripheral activities	Tendency to consider everything critical
Defining strategic activities through targeted meetings	Tendency to centralize activities and delegate marginal tasks
Halting superfluous activities	Engaging in tasks far from the core business
Distinguishing unsustainable initiatives	Willingness to manage every aspect
Reinvesting freed resources in higher-yield activities	Tendency to fill every available moment
Guiding executives and managers towards strategic tasks	More operational than strategic approach
Proactively filtering new initiatives	Difficulty in eliminating non-essential activities
Increasing revenue per employee

A4038.MasterPlan

This strategic tool gathers the key phases of individual or group activities and provides a comprehensive overview that guides each action over the long term.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Articulating the overall strategic plan and priorities	Lack of a written overview of one’s professional or personal activity (at most, a mental vision)
Logically organizing your macro goals, both professional and personal	Tendency to harbor uncertainties about the path to follow
Determining the actions that will lead to the achievement of your goals	Tendency to delay what is intimidating (often crucial)
Identifying what currently hinders progress	Tendency to ruminate (difficulty calming the mind)
Stopping investing time in unproductive activities	Wasting energy on activities without added value
Strengthening confidence in your choices
Dispelling fears through the central role of your contribution

A4044.OrganizationEvolutionBreakdown

This tool enables the definition and monitoring of the evolutionary path to organizational maturity as well as the integration of new opportunities.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Consolidating existing capabilities and responsibilities	Lack of clarity on current functions
Clearly establishing authority, roles, and responsibilities	Ineffective allocation of tasks and responsibilities
Harmonizing activities by eliminating overlaps	Unsatisfactory interactions
Integrating over 10,000 decisions into a single tool	Inadequate document management
Tracking your ten-year evolutionary roadmap and main chapters	Organizational vision limited to the current year
Increasing the accountability of executives and managers	Concentration of responsibilities at the top of the company
Planning reorganizations, successions, mergers, or acquisitions

A4018.KeyServicesPortfolio

This tool enables a clear description of the services offered to customers, maximizing perceived value and encouraging the discovery of new opportunities.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Re(defining your offerings and communicating them effectively to clients	Tendency to present one’s offers from an internal perspective rather than from the client’s point of view
Making offering descriptions irresistible and memorable to clients	Client expectations not met
Communicating clearly and professionally	Limited client understanding of offers
Supporting collaborators in clearly illustrating offerings	Client requests beyond the scope of the company’s offer
Helping clients understand which problems are being solved	Focus on oneself rather than on clients
Promoting the sale of complementary and enhanced services (cross-selling and upselling)
Shortening the cash-to-cash cycle

A4019.RiskAndWeaknessAssessment

This tool allows to detect risks and establish effective treatment. It enables the identification of new opportunities as well as accepting only sustainable residual risks.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Identifying and managing risks and vulnerabilities	Lack of a methodological approach to managing risks and opportunities
Avoiding preventable risks	Limiting to identifying risks without taking action
Addressing risks in the right order, reducing them to the maximum sustainable level	Absence of warning thresholds
Avoiding excessive caution that limits the ability to seize opportunities	Tendency to manage risks only when they arise
Ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, norms, and good management practices	Neglecting the analysis of operational continuity
Monitoring risks and setting alert thresholds	Unawareness of risky processes (absence of process risk assessment)
Verifying proper application through internal audits

A4069.BusinessContinuityStressTest

This tool makes it possible to analyze business continuity, define preventive, containment and recovery measures as well as set the correct priorities.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Ensuring operational continuity	Inadequate assessment of operational continuity
Integrating preventive measures into routines	Vulnerability to unmitigated risks
Limiting vulnerability to interruptions	Insufficient use of alert systems
Ensuring service delivery under any circumstance	Poor planned redundancy policies
Preventing blackouts and reduced availability	Ineffectiveness in monitoring strategies
Defining alarm and monitoring thresholds	Underestimating low-frequency, high-impact risks
Documenting your risk-balancing strategy
Complying with binding laws and good management practices

A4072.BalancedScoreCard

This tool allows the selection of key performance indicators (KPIs), identification of deviations, and definition of corrective actions to achieve goals.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Setting strategic goals and related metrics	Absence of concrete metrics, trends, and reliable forecasts
Aligning the organization and persuading investors	Unfocused performance
Identifying crucial Key Performance Indicators	Key performance indicators primarily tied to financial metrics
Establishing alert thresholds and acting in advance	Fragmented vision not integrated with the business strategy
Keeping the situation under control with key information on trends and prospects 24/7	Insufficient automation of indicators
Identifying achievable performances and stimulating goal achievement	Decisions based on intuition rather than data
Identifying value-generating activities and letting the rest go	Poor integration of OKRs into the BSC
Formulating new strategies and persuading financial partners

A4031.EnterpriseProcessOverview

This tool facilitates the visual representation of process architecture at a macro level, allowing for holistic and integrated management.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Structuring an overall view of macro business processes	Lack of an overall vision of business processes
Having an overall graphic representation of processes at a strategic level	Presence of overlaps and inefficiencies
Identifying process owners and managers	Ineffectiveness in interdepartmental coordination
Facilitating interaction between different units/departments	Lack of interaction between departments
Preventing overlaps and inefficiencies	Difficulty in valuing individual contributions
Using this tool to illustrate the organization to collaborators and partners
Framing individual contributions within the broader context
Reengineering business activities

A4050.WorkflowsAndInterfaces

This tool allows mapping the organization's operational processes, making activities and responsibilities explicit, facilitating continuous development integration, and preserving the knowledge heritage.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Documenting workflows ensuring functional interfaces	Procedures subject to frequent changes
Making work procedures accessible	Inability to capitalize on best practices
Migrating know-how so it becomes company assets	Uncoordinated initiatives
Decreasing reliance on “indispensable” collaborators	Difficulty in the autonomous learning of newcomers
Avoiding isolated or compartmentalized operations	Ongoing inefficiencies, redundancies, and waste
Accelerating the onboarding of new collaborators	Erosion of profit margins
Identifying and reducing waste to decrease environmental impact and costs	Uncoordinated spread of information
Conducting regular audits

A4008.ObjectivesAndKeyResults

This tool encourages the drafting of precise goals and outcomes, translating them to all hierarchical levels and fostering a harmonious execution of tasks.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Formulating persuasive goals and pursuing tangible results	Inconsistent results despite available objectives
Translating goals and results into an action plan	Fluctuating motivation among some collaborators
Guiding collaborators towards meaningful actions	Difficulty in clarifying the objective when required by the recipient
Making collaborators aware of the importance of their contribution	Need to frequently repeat instructions
Encouraging collaborators to exceed their current limits	Absence of significant results
Reducing interference
Easily recalling the agreements made

A4007.Delegation

This tool facilitates the effective delegation of activities, tasks and responsibilities, enabling the performer to take care of them independently and accurately.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Delegating tasks and responsibilities effectively	Tendency to centralize (fear of negative outcomes of delegation)
Formalizing the project charter	Too much time needed to delegate
Providing the executor with the necessary tools for autonomous work	Insufficient use of the available delegation parameters (over 30 available)
Delegating while avoiding creative interpretations	Frequent interruptions for clarifications
Quickly identifying what is needed or missing	Expectations of the principal forgotten
Agreeing on binding results	The executor’s frustration in the face of repeated changes of direction
Creating a positive work environment and encouraging collaborators to overcome challenges	Waiting for the minimum requirements necessary for execution
Keeping track of what has been delegated and monitoring its progress	Excessive use of resources in carrying out activities

A4075.VisualActionPlan

This tool allows the graphical visualization of one's action plan and to communicate it clearly.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Visualizing your action plan graphically	Difficulty in establishing the time needed to complete activities
Establishing a visual sequence of execution	Challenges in managing work peaks
Balancing resource utilization	Failure to identify critical paths and workload peaks
Incorporating Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) into an overall vision	Late planning
Coordinating activities and defining interdependencies	Absence of an overall vision
Calculating the resources required at each stage	Difficulty in monitoring work progress at a glance
Detecting inconsistencies early on

A4092.EnterpriseCommunicationStrategy

This essential tool for every organization balances the three levels of communication, formalizes its communication strategy, and coordinates the involved parties with a clear action plan.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Defining a high-level corporate communication strategy	Fragmented and repetitive communication
Identifying 10-15 impactful communication actions	Spread of rumors
Focusing on a few key messages	Confusion between formal and informal communication channels
Balancing the three dimensions of corporate communication	Untapped communication potential
Enhancing the positive perception of executives and the trust of collaborators	Fluctuating motivation and demotivation among collaborators
Communicating within cognitive saturation limits	Poor transmission of enthusiasm and solemnity to collaborators

A4020.BusinessContinuityActions

This tool catalogs preventive and corrective, mild and acute measures with the aim of ensuring business continuity based on events and alert levels.

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Key Results	Solved Problems
Establishing response protocols to maintain operational continuity	Disorganized individual actions
Preparing an emergency intervention plan	Late and limited disruption indicators
Designing layered responses based on alert levels (predictive rather than reactive)	Absence of self-analysis on disruptive factors (endogenous and exogenous)
Compiling a responsibility assignment matrix	Uncertainties about roles and recovery procedures
Verifying alternative plans	Delays in reacting to events
Exploring and verifying mitigation measures	Lack of action plans for scenarios
Establishing and testing recovery procedures (disaster recovery)
Guiding the organization towards planned redundancy and flexibility (resilient approach)