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Scientific Intelligence
Every organization yearns to be distinctive and great. To achieve this, they typically conduct conventional research, from which is developed a strategy which leads to an implementation and change management program. The success rate of this sequence is shocking low. Seventy percent of new products fail. Pollsters frequently fail to identify outcomes. Mergers frequently come unglued. Dreams are often dashed.
The reason for these failures is that there are always “subjective” inputs in research— ego and “turf” interests, the “mood” being personally experienced by the survey subject, baggage and agendas—all of which will inevitably leach into and pollute the survey or research data.
A plan to change an organization, internally or externally, is only as good as the insights—and more importantly, the human passion—that informs it. Therefore, accurate and better research methodologies need to inform our most important strategies. A strategy that is fuelled by extraordinary passion will invariably succeed when there is sufficient human passion to “will” the success of a vision—we call this “permission space”. The successful implementation of any strategy depends on its full endorsement by all of those who will be affected.
By identifying this “permission space”—the hidden passion that is available to power an idea, philosophy, political campaign, product launch, organizational transformation or a new strategy, our clients are able to develop blueprints and co-construct solutions that will accomplish the organization’s goals. Where appropriate, this process also supports the Secretan Center’s acclaimed methodology of Higher Ground Leadership® and identifying the ONE Dream™.
The Scientific Intelligence (SI) research methodology is a breakthrough because it identifies the real passions of the constituent parties to a proposed decision or aspired strategy. It “flies below the radar” of people’s subjective opinions, reaching for something closer to “the truth” and therefore identifying their authentic desires.
The philosophy behind SI is that truly understanding “human motivators” is a key imperative in developing a meaningful and effective blueprint for change. Based on recent advances in the behavioural sciences and logic/mathematics, our formula for creating “certainty” is designed to uncover:
- A deep and certain understanding of a culture’s key motivators and aspirations
- A deep and certain understanding of an organization’s core essence
- What it will take to achieve a desired outcome, or dream
Scientific Intelligence strategists have extensive experience in many industries as well as, non-profit, government, healthcare, education and international communities and countries. Our team has deep knowledge in the areas of operational and employee attraction/retention to branding/marketing/ communications and building greatness in organizations, in both the United States and Canada.
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How We Understand Your Aspirations and Challenges
These key measures of success for any organization are the kind of challenges our methodologies are designed to address. In each metric it is imperative to ascertain the “permission space” around this activity or goal. What are the key motivators that will allow an initiative, program or strategy to gain maximum traction within the organization? How should it be introduced and communicated to take advantage of these paths of least resistance?
In Lance Secretan’s latest book, ONE: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership, he describes what he calls the Whitewater Rule:
Whitewater is a permanent condition for most of us. We can attempt the futile: trying to overwhelm the energy; or we can harness and ride it: flowing with the energy. Following the energy requires less effort and engages the powerful forces that are moving in the direction in which you wish to travel anyway.
The rule for life is to follow the energy—this enables us to become authentic….read the original, authentic source of power, recognize it, and ride it. |
Scientific Intelligence “reads” the energy of the whitewater and enables us to harness it and ride it—identifying what permission exists among the key stakeholders and uncovering the path that will inspire great passion.
Our Uniquely Powerful Tools
I. A deep and certain understanding of a culture’s key motivators:
In concert with world-renowned statistician Arthur Gillman, Scientific Intelligence employs a unique methodology, developed and tested over a 20-year period on topics as diverse as employee/HR issues, marketing/brand, corporate strategy, political campaigns, national country strategies and new product development. Scientific Intelligence represents a breakthrough that goes far beyond focus groups and polling when it comes to ascertaining the nature and structure of stakeholder will against any particular issue.
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Dr. Kenneth Arrow was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1972 for discovering what was later named “Arrow’s Paradox” – the mathematical proof that aggregating individual preference (i.e., traditional polling, surveys and focus groups) cannot lead to an accurate assessment of collective preference. |
In layman’s terms, Scientific Intelligence feels at first like a combined ideation session/focus group that uncovers information with the specificity of a poll or survey. But unlike focus groups, Scientific Intelligence’s most distinctive advantage is its ability to bypass the unconscious filters that often lead respondents to give false or skewed answers. Traditional research methodologies tap into the conscious mind. This accounts for the failure rate of more than 75% of the 30,000 new products introduced each year—despite heavy research; or why voters when asked for whom they will vote as they are entering the polling booth, often give a different answer when asked the same question when they exit.
Where traditional methodologies leave significant gaps of understanding, Scientific Intelligence is akin to taking an MRI scan of a culture; it uncovers the “hot spots” around a particular issue and outlines the paths of least resistance and the sources of sustainable advantage. This enables us to see the ‘entire picture’—not only the reasons behind problems related to culture and stakeholders, but the opportunities that will lead to success.
This methodology works on the principle that any culture operates on the basis of a specific but often invisible ‘belief structure’, composed of paths and key nodes, much like the neural structure of the brain. This belief structure accounts for why some ideas, strategies, brands and products experience unexpected success—and others fail to gain traction, despite immense HR, operational or marketing investments. Solutions for how to retain employees and achieve exceptional customer satisfaction stem directly from revealing and analyzing the belief structure—the “permission space”—that exists about your organization among key stakeholders and communities.
Though you may embark on a strategy—say a Lean/Six Sigma Initiative—and it may be designed and implemented by the best experts in the world—its success will be limited if it does not “read, recognize and ride” the whitewater of the “permission space”. (Of the fifty-four Fortune 100 companies who have adopted Six Sigma since 1990, the stocks of 91% of them have trailed the S&P 500.) It may also explain why, in a multiyear research effort into more than 200 well-established management practices that were deployed over a ten-year period by 160 companies, researchers found that “most of the management tools and techniques we studied had no direct causal relationship to superior business performance”1. This is because performance improvement “programs” are seldom successful on their own—but radical and inspiring changes in leadership approach and employee spirit, accompanied by state-of-the-art processes are.
Using advances from both Game Theory (the method that recently garnered two Nobel Prizes in Economics) and mathematical logic; Scientific Intelligence allows this belief structure to become visible and actionable.
The key steps to uncovering insights are as follows (Module 1 – Insight Development):
- Structural Mapping Exercises: Involving a group of 6-10 participants, a workshop session is held to define the “permission space” by producing a number of ‘mind maps’ of the stakeholder culture in question. We recommend developing two maps—macro for overall strategy and micro for tactical elements—for the organization’s immediate challenges and aspirations.
- Structural Mapping Report: Applying ‘abductive logic’ analysis—a branch of logic that closely parallels the workings of the human mind—the initial map is analyzed to generate a detailed report of findings.
- Client Workshop: A facilitated one-day workshop with participants where findings are presented, discussed and translated into strategic directions.
- Top-level Recommendations: Building on the insights and the ideas generated at the client workshop, a clear set of strategic recommendations is developed to take immediate advantage of the insights revealed.
II. A deep and certain understanding of an organization’s core essence:
The insights gained from Scientific Intelligence form the framework and key elements for strategy development. Scientific Intelligence’s proprietary methodology takes the place of traditional, mechanical analytics and strategic analysis. It is a comprehensive approach that incorporates leading-edge discoveries in neuro-science and social science in order to allow an organization to express its true “DNA” in the most effective and systematic way possible.
Scientific Intelligence ascertains the bedrock structure of an idea, culture, brand, or organization, including the “permission space” available for leaders to harness to the defined strategies, thus dramatically improving their chances of successful execution (following The Whitewater Rule).
Structural Blueprinting—co-developing the plans, from corporate strategy to downstream activity, that stem from the insights gained from Scientific Intelligence.- Co-Construction—working in partnership to implement and build. Scientific Intelligence develops strategies and tactics that are unified, meaningful and inspiring—resulting in true differentiation and sustainable success. This process incorporates and stimulates all of the key intelligences—rational, emotional, social and spiritual—in the application and infusion of strategy into an organization’s systems, structures and behaviors. Thus, we identify the original, authentic source of power (permission space), recognize it, and ride it.
If you would like to learn more or discuss this breakthrough research tool with us, please contact us at info@secretan.com
1 http://www.willer.ca/steve/articles/what-really-works/
