Let’s now turn our attention to the negatives drawn out in your focus groups.

Step Four: Dealing with the Negatives

You have identified 3-5 prioritised areas that focus group members disliked.

Consider each and decide if the issue:

a) Can be rectified or removed (e.g. poor processes which could be re-worked)

b) Must remain (e.g. physical or logistical restraints) but impact to staff can be minimised, or

c) Must remain (e.g. compliance requirements), but the criticality to the business can be better communicated to drive more awareness and acceptance.

Step Five: Action Planning for Bringing Secret Sauce to Life

The team is now in a position to develop an action plan, broken into two areas: 1. Bringing to life the Secret Sauce and 2. Dealing with the Negatives

The action plan should be as specific as possible, including actions, those responsible and timeframes. In all likelihood, actions will need to be prioritised and phased, possibly over several years. Remember to include an action that addresses how to communicate this work back to the focus group participants and wider organisation.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our series on finding your own Secret Sauce. If you’d like any assistance in this area, please give us a call – we have a range of tools available to help, and love talking about this important topic!