Webinar - Strategic Differentiation: How it drives performance

If your organisation's differentiator sounds like one of these….

• We are committed to stakeholder success 
• We are here for our community 
• We are a different kind of business 
• ….it might be time for a refresh.

A clear and compelling differentiator is more than a statement - it’s a strategic asset. It aligns organisational strategy, sharpens board and executive decision-making, and drives performance that delivers measurable impact. 

In this interactive session we’ll explore how a well-defined strategic differentiator becomes the foundation for strategic clarity, confident leadership, and high-performing boards.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

So, welcome everybody. Welcome to our webinar today titled Strategic Differentiation, How It Drives Performance. I'm joined today by Rochelle Mancier and Michael Leonard from Hawkeye Strategies and Stephen Bowman, of course, from Conscious Governance, who you should all know very well by now. My name is Sean McDonald, and I will be your moderator in the background for the next 40 odd minutes. Firstly, thank you so much for attending today. We always appreciate the effort you make to be here for our live webinar events. During the session, if you have any questions, as usual, please try and use the QA button on your toolbar. We'll be answering as many of these questions as we have time for as we go through the actual session. And if you stay through till the end, which of course we really hope you will do, we have a really short one-minute survey at the end of the webinar for you to consider. Your feedback really helps us bring relevant content to you week after week, and it enables us to position the wealth of expert presenters for you. So please take a minute to complete the survey as you leave the webinar today. Now, for those not too familiar with Board Pro, we are a board software provider, sometimes called a board portal, and we serve about 35,000 users around the world across about 4,000 boards and about 8,500 committees these days. And we enable organizations to prepare for and run their board meetings more efficiently and effectively with less time and deliver more impact and value for the organization. And as much as we are a board software provider, part of our wider mission here at BroadPro is to make the fundamentals of governance free and easy to implement for all organizations, especially though those organizations with resource constraints. And one of the many ways we do this is by providing free access to hundreds of business templates, guides, and resources, which you'll find, funnily enough, in the resources section of our website. And these webinars that we host every week are also a great way of accessing great governance knowledge without the time, commitment, and costs associated with in-person events. So for the next 45 odd minutes, just sit back and relax and add to the discussion by asking as many questions as you would like. A full recording of the webinar along with the slide deck and transcript will be sent to you 24 hours after our session today. So let me have our team introduce themselves, starting with uh Rochelle, you first.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Hello, everyone. So my name is Rochelle Mats here. I'm a senior consultant with Hawkeye Strategies, and we are a governance consulting firm. So we work on strategic planning. We also support boards in a number of different fashions, including board evaluation, uh CEO evaluation, CEO compensation, um, and the like. So that's the pleasure of what I have to do. And when I'm not busy there, I'm enjoying just being a mom and doing all the other good things that come with life and being there. So I'm gonna pass things along to Mike.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Thanks, Rochelle. And I'm Mike Leonard. I work with Rochelle at Hawkeye Strategies. Uh before Hawkeye Strategies, I spent 35 years working in the credit union and cooperative sector in uh Canada. Uh, the last 10 is the CEO of uh a couple of organizations owned by credit unions. And now I do a lot of strategic planning and governance work with cooperatives across Canada and uh in uh North America.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

I'm Steve Bowen from Conscious Governance. Hi, everyone. I've been working in the sector for a long time, come across many of you over the years, and look forward to having this conversation with Rochelle and Michael. Rochelle.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Thanks, gentlemen. So one thing I find really interesting at Hawkeye when we're working with clients, one of the first things we we like to hear about, and you can always read about visions and missions, but love to ask the question: who do you serve? Who are you in business for? And what makes you different? And we usually get some really interesting answers, but a lot of them are what you see on the screen. We hear some pretty generic things like, well, we're different because we're committed to helping others succeed, or we're different because we're here for a community, or we're we're a different kind of business. And that's always an interesting piece where you need to dig a little deeper and say, what does that actually mean? And is there anything that's specific to you? Um, and that usually creates an ensuing conversation about really understanding what is your strategic differentiator, what makes you different in the in the organizations that you you work with. And realistically, the strategic differentiator, the fancy definition is it's the value that your organization delivers that's going to be better or different than the competition. And here's the kicker that value needs to matter to those that you serve. So when we talk about what a strategic differentiator is, it needs to be over and above the table stakes. And it needs to be something that matters to the folks that you are serving. And ultimately, it's the reason that someone chooses your organization. So at the straight gut of it, that's pretty much what it is. It's why does somebody choose to do business or or choose a service from your organization versus going uh to someone else? And I think this is a really interesting piece because how you choose your strategic differentiator and how you pressure test it and how you measure it becomes very strategic. And we're gonna talk through some of those pieces we move. But first, would love to hear from Mike and Steve when when you think about an organization, you talk about a strategic differentiator. How are you pressure testing? What do you recommend for them to pressure test to see if what they think makes them different actually matters to those that they're serving?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Kick off Mike. All right, I'll uh I'll start and then turn it over to Steve. And uh a couple of things that I've seen that have worked really well is first of all, market research. So so go out in the community and ask the the uh the segment that you're trying to serve what matters to them in the products or the services that you're offering, and ask specifically if the different, if your if what you think your value proposition is actually matters. And I think the the challenge is if you think it matters and it turns out it doesn't, you end up your customer ends up making a choice potentially just on what's the lowest price. And that's very different, difficult if you're a small organization, always to compete on price. And so trying to come up with something um uh that that matters, that's gonna drive someone to to to you. Uh, I think market research can help define that. The second one I would say is customer focus groups. And I've seen credit unions in in our communities that have taken some of their existing members and done annual focus groups with them to talk about not just about how is our service and how is our pricing and but also we prompt this is what our commitment is. Did it matter to you in selecting us? And if not, why did you choose us? If it did matter, did we deliver on it? And I think that's those are really important questions to ask. And then the last one is exit interviews. So when you lose a customer, find out why you why they left, but also ask them, we made this commitment to you. This is why we why we're here in our community. Did you see that in us? Did we deliver? And is that part of the reason why you left? So I those are three things I think that have worked uh for credit unions in in my part of the world. Steven, over to you.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Yeah, look, the the notion of strategic differentiator, I think I'm gonna change the language just just for the moment and say, well, look, this this actually is very similar to your vision or your purpose statement. And the biggest issue that most organizations have with their vision or their purpose statement is they don't use the darn thing. It's just a piece of words that that that go together. Um, and the real value that a vision or a purpose statement has is not the words that it says, it's the evidence that you're actually living and breathing and using it in everything. And what then differentiates you strategically from anyone else is how you go about doing it. And so, particularly in the in the not-for-profit sector, you'll often find many organizations have very similar visions, but the ones that really provide the the difference that the communities need are those that live and breathe it and show it in everything that they do. So, from a perspective of uh strategic differentiator, I like to look at it from a board's perspective, saying, well, our vision, can we use it? If we can't use it, then it's not a good vision. If we can use it, then we should be using it in everything to help us determine what we put resources into to help us determine how we're going to measure things, to help us determine whether we're making a difference in these communities that we work with. So too often I find, particularly in boards, they they don't even look at the vision statement. I mean, at the very least, put it on the agenda to remind us why we're meeting. And then if that's front of mind, then you'll find that the strategic differentiation becomes more about how we go about doing things and making a difference rather than just a set of words. Rochelle.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah, and it helps to articulate too and paint a picture as well. So it's not just words. Tell me a story. What does it look like? What are the attributes you're looking for? And I think that becomes so powerful is when you can align your actions, actions in. And differentiation and being really clear about what makes you different also makes you understand as well what some of your decisions should be and what trade-offs you might be willing to make in order to bring that differentiator to life as well. So I think about one of those, if you are in an area where you say, My differentiation is I really want to focus in on a seamless only channel experience that will help align board and executive decision making on what decisions are made, but it also helps you understand what your prioritization and what some of those trade-offs are going to be as well. And I think that's the filter is to really think about if you have a really strong differentiator and it's well understood, it's going to help you guide your prioritization and understand what you should do and what you shouldn't be doing. And that's usually one of the pieces, is how hard it is to stop doing things. We like to add new things into the prioritization quite often. The other piece that becomes part of this, and we'll talk a little bit later on, is how you use your differentiator to really understand and drive measurable outcomes. So, for example, if your differentiator is all about speed and efficiency, how do you actually measure and know that that's taking place and driving the outcomes that your organization wants? And a big piece of understanding what your differentiator is, particularly I would say between your board and your leadership team, is being able to build real clear confidence between the two on what uh the differentiator is, what it looks like in practice, and what those outcomes are that you're looking, looking to achieve and really creating alignment as well. And that's where going beyond the the four or five words on the wall and painting that pictured beneath and on what truly is different about you is so powerful uh between boards and their their executive teams. Sticking about that's a good question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:38

I think the um I think the unsung hero in all of this is that third one, driving measurable outcomes. Um just a reminder, there's a in New Zealand, there's a there's a fabulous trust over there that uh are looking at intergenerational change. And so they're grappling with, well, how do we measure the outcomes around intergenerational change? Yet they have some people on their board that are only ever used to the two or three year cycle of measuring outcomes. So they tend to measure activities rather than outcomes. And this is a really powerful message that if you if you really get your vision, your purpose, your strategic uh um differentiator, and you start measuring towards it, it changes the nature of measurement. So it's rather it's less about activities and more about the impact that it's creating that's in line with the uh with the strategic differentiation. Rochelle.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Yeah, and I can't agree more. And it often we we like to linger to measuring the outputs, not the outcomes. So we like to measure the action and the activity, but not necessarily getting to the next playing field. What is the actual outcome that you're trying to drive and deliver?

SPEAKER_02 12:50

And Rochelle, I think the other thing to Steven's point is if you're benchmarking yourself against yourself, you never know if you're really differentiating from your competitors. So you have to understand. So to use your example, if your differentiator is speed, your ability to transact quickly, if you don't understand how quickly your your competitors are transacting, then all you can do is benchmark against yourself. And so you might find out that you're no different at all.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And I think that goes back to that earlier point you brought up too, Mike, is understanding from the data and ask yourself, how do we know? And that becomes so important as how do you know? And using focus groups and market research to even benchmark against the competition becomes very powerful, especially if you have a clearly defined set of competitors.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

There's a good question here from Paul, which which says, What if the entity is the only one in the field, if it's member focused or or is a regulator? Um, is differentiator if is differentiation not as applicable here? So there are no competitors essentially.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

I'm not I'm not sure any regulator I ever dealt with was that concerned about being uh about a differentiator. They were the regulator, and so you just you just did what they said.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So the strategic differentiator and where it really sits and when it becomes so powerful is when it really propels and is the the starting point to strategy because your differentiator is your competitive advantage. It's what makes you different, it's why people choose to do business with your organization. Once you understand and that's a clear definition, you can then start to inform forward. So it's going to inform the choices that you make, which is your strategy. So if you want a differentiator that is built around, for example, speed and efficiency, the fastest solutions, you're going to pick make strategic choices to support that. The choices you make then guides into your day-to-day behaviors, which really influences the whole tone and the culture of the organization. And that's where your differentiator starts to really live. Right. So if you are really working towards making a great impact with uh your customer base, you're trying to create a difference for them. The whole organization needs to understand it has to be embedded in your culture. And that ultimately then informs your actions, which is the allocation of your resources and your efforts. And those will, um, as you move forward, really dovetail in to the performance, which are some of your measurable outcomes. And this isn't the perfect world as well. So I would love to ask the question of Mike and Steve, because we know the world is not uh not perfect. Where do you most commonly see the breakdown in that chain from developing strategy to actually executing and having your day-to-day behaviors and the actions and outcomes that you want?

SPEAKER_04 15:54

Let me keep you go ahead, Stephen. Okay, so uh the the biggest breakdown in my view is is at the uh strategy level. Um all organizations do strategic planning, but they tend to get, I've seen too many examples where there's, you know, we've got eight strategies to go forward, and they're actually just act activities. Um, and they're not tied back to, well, here's the outcome that we're after, not tied back to the vision or the strategic differentiator or the purpose, whatever it might be. Um, and so one of the one of the big things I see is that there's a disconnect between the board and living and breathing, the difference that we want to make, which is articulated through the vision, purpose, or strategic differentiator. And I see that at all sorts of levels. So board reports going up to the board typically will be about an activity, but they're not tied back into the strategy or the key outcome that we're wanting to achieve from that. But it's a it's a report on the activity of how this project is going rather than here are some of the emerging risks that will have an impact on how we can actually create this this um this outcome that we're after. So probably the biggest disconnect for me is between strategy and everything else, because too often I see that it's measurement and discussions around activity rather than measurement and discussions around what difference is this making and do we need to choose differently. Mike?

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Yeah, so I I I think that's that's mostly what I was gonna say as well, Stephen. I I think that's the you go to your strategic planning session, you do some great work, you create what you think is a strategy, and then you get to your strategic planning session again next year and you dust it off and you realize that your business plan really didn't have any connection. So I think being thoughtful about taking your strategic plan and being able to, if your management being able to go back to your board and say, this was the outcome of our strategic planning session, here's how all of the activities that we're going to do this year connect back to that. But if you think also about um the strategic differentiator, it is a lens through which you can view strategy. So everything, so as an example, if AI, right? So if you're thinking about how how are we going to integrate AI into our strategy, if your differentiator is speed, is speed, and I'll just use Rochelle's example, then uh how is AI going to help us transact faster? And so you can you can use um your strategic differentiator as a lens for every initiative that you undertake. Is it accentuating or better defining that strategic differentiator or our value or our purpose? And if it is, then you're on the right track. If it's not, or if you can't answer if it is, then maybe you need to ask yourself it's if it's the right place to be investing in the business. So that would be that would be the first one. And the second one I think that I see that falls apart all the time is just metrics. So I and I love Steven's example that often you're measuring projects, but you're not measuring the value that they create. So you can say, I got to, uh I I got to uh uh I got this project done, it was on time, it was on budget, and uh, and you know, yay for us. But at the end of the day, you stop, you know, you never even try to measure if it delivered the value. And if you think about how do you define the value of that specific initiative, you should be thinking about that is does this initiative accentuate or better define our strategic differentiator? And if it does, then that's a good thing. And if it doesn't, you should be asking yourself, is this really what we should have been doing?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah, and key is guiding those strategic choices, is uh is a hundred percent. And uh Donna sent a note into an agree as well. So she had wrote that if you're the only entity, the differentiator might be a value in conversations with stakeholders, uh, your providers and potential partners. And I would say your strategic differentiator when put into practice is also gold to your brand strategy. So when we talk about how it starts at the beginning and you move through strategy, there's different levels of strategy in the organization and how it filters through uh would definitely be a value as well. So then identifying your strategic differentiator, it is important to think about as well when you're you're talking about it's like, okay, so I think this is what makes us different in market. There's a couple of questions you need to ask yourself to say, is it actually relevant? So it's the first question that we'll often ask a client when we're working through an understanding. So what makes you different? Why do people choose to do business with you? Need to make sure that it's relevant. So whoever you're serving, is it relevant to them? Um, and are you measuring that? And can you actually stand behind and say it's making a difference? Is your differentiator actionable? So that's another critical one as well, because you might have this really high-level differentiator, and one is, you know, we're here for our community. What does it mean? Is it relevant? Is it actually actionable? Can you action that um as an organization? And is it distinct? So is it different than the competition, or can you execute it better than the competition? And I think that's always a critical component in some areas. It's difficult to differentiate and come up with a whole new idea of something that's different. But you do have to be credible. So where you choose to differentiate, at times it's just being able to execute better than the competition. So, question for uh for Mike and Steve on this one, because I think it's always an a good question in a litmus test is once you identify your differentiator, is it relevant? Is it actionable? Is it distinct? But sometimes you get a little bit of tension where you have an expectation from either your your customers or you have a limitation with internal capabilities. So it's always a bit of attention when you identify the

SPEAKER_02 22:00

differentiator that you want to want to work with and you think this one has some legs but how do you balance all those customer expectations with your internal capabilities like um yeah so I I think the the the first thing is to really understand what your customer when they when your customer hears what your differentiator is what does that mean to them what are the expectations that they have make sure that you don't that you're not overly ambitious so uh often um organizations put out big bold statements about what they're gonna do and then you find out that you can't execute or you can't meet that uh commitment in the community so don't make promises uh you can't keep um I would say uh understand how your differentiator translates into actual experiences and uh so and uh I think a great example of that is uh Rochelle and I are working with a small insurance company right now and their differentiator is that they're committed to serving rural communities and being present in rural communities and that means that the main way that they deliver service is by meeting farmers in their homes and meeting them at their kitchen tables. And in today's environment that's that's not um it's not easy to commit to that it's not easy to be cost competitive when you have that as your service delivery model. But as they're they they're maintaining that level of service but at the same time now that their customers also want that online access that digital digital delivery and so I think you know they've they've got many years of this tremendous and reducing because now people delivery so how does the how does that digital last thing I just say is make sure you stay in touch with your customers. So survey them regularly so you understand uh uh on uh on uh how you're doing uh whether you're meeting that uh that promise and where you're falling short and how to fix it.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah and I think we touched on too uh hand it over to you in a second here Steven really is understanding some of the trade-offs so if your differentiator is going to be a high touch service where you are literally at the kitchen tables of farmers doing advising that does come with a higher cost model. And I I do believe like those are the important conversations to be having at the governance level is what's your differentiator and what are the associated trade-offs that you're willing to make because that will and we'll chat here a little bit about outcomes and performance measures it will show up so one of the simplest things that we can do and I I just don't see too many organizations doing it is if you take for example your vision statement or your purpose statement or your mission, whichever one you call it, that that that big picture one that says here's the difference that we want to make, you'll see in there that there will be two or three key elements of that.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

There might be something about community there might be something about everyone has the has a right of some sort whatever it is there'll be two at the very most three key elements in there. And then you can map that against your key programs. You can actually say in this particular program how are we doing that? How are we doing the second element? How are we doing the third element? Now the next thing that you can do is also have another column there that says what else could we be doing that we hadn't thought of that would in this project actually deliver against this first element of our vision, our second element, our third element. Then the next column would be who else could we do this with? We don't have to do it all ourselves so is there someone else that we could do it with so and then from there you can then say now where might the revenue sources be from this so you've already what you've done is taken your vision, your purpose, your mission, whichever one you use, you've looked at what the two or three key elements in that are and you've mapped that against one of your already successful programs to start innovating. If we were to do this with different people, if we were to do it in a different way, what would that look like but using the three elements of your strategic differentiator to actually start to drive those conversations. And every organization that's done this and they typically will do it on an annual basis have come up with innovative ways of just to take something that's already successful, tweak a little bit, but have it so much more value driven than than uh that it might have been otherwise. Rochelle.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah and I see a question came in as well it was a great question that just popped up and said so what's the difference between a differentiator and your organizational values? And that's a really good question. Organizational values are those core beliefs and principles that explain how we act. So so what those norms are in your organization and guides day-to-day behaviors. The differentiator is what you're doing different to set yourself apart from the competition. So your differentiator will be guided by your values uh your organizational values are critical and and once those are set the differentiator will will have to for sure be in line with those pieces. So good question on that one.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I just wanted to pick up on Steven's comment about finding others that you can work with that that have alignment and the the working with credit unions for a long time there was a lot of interest in collaboration.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

And so if you're a small organization and you're competing against trillion dollar companies and and and credit unions certainly are in in that in that boat there's lots of opportunities to find organizations that have I think we've I think we've lost Michael I think we may have uh locked up the Canadian internet it's a thing gentlemen it's a thing so it's a thing okay so activating your differentiator and this is the important piece so once you've identified your differentiator and you've built it up and you said yes this is what we need to be be striving towards it's so important to activate it. First tip on that one is embedding it right into your strategic plan. So this goes um you would have your vision and your mission your values but then paint a picture of what your differentiator and what you're striving to to to move towards and that's critical to have that well aligned between the board and your leadership teams number two start to use it as that decision filter. So as Mike had mentioned when you're working on initiatives or projects is this in line with helping that differentiator come to life? If so how and if it's not supporting your differentiator you have to ask yourself do we need to still be doing this? You need a decision filter and most organizations have a hard time saying no to things we tend to add to the prioritize list. This is another good filter to just how do we get really clear and really focused on what we're what we're doing. Critical to link to the performance metrics and we're going to talk here in a minute about measuring what matters um but number four on this one is model the way and leadership really does need to model the way and think about if this is our differentiator, how do we enable that in the organization right from the top all the way to the bottom. So you remember back on that original piece we talked about it goes from your differentiator which should inform your strategy the choices you make which inform those day-to-day actions you want to be taking in the organization it's really important as leaders to be modeling the way and supporting that differentiator coming to life.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

One of the uh uh really good exam sorry go ahead Stephen one of the really good uh examples of that and I've seen this and I've done it in my own organizations and I was a CEO of is is to take your your vision, your mission, your differentiator and sit down with with each of your staff or the the middle management at the very least um and actually ask them what can they do in their job to actually help support this differentiator. And I still remember to this day where I sat down with the receptionist of um uh when I was the the head of the Institute of Banking and Finance and I said to her so here's our here's our vision here's our values what is it that you can do that I can support you in doing that would help drive that and she came up with three things that I would never have thought of and because she'd never been asked before and they drove our membership retention from something like 89% up to about 94% purely and simply by asking what can you do in your existing job that would help support this in a way that we haven't thought of. Fabulous conversation to have with staff.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Rochelle Yeah and I love that because you think about if you can paint a really clear picture and everybody's bought into what your differentiator is, people can take that and bring it to life in the roles that they're in all the way through the organization.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

So back to Mike's example if you're out doing a call and you're sitting at somebody's kitchen table, you understand the experience and the difference you're you're attempting to bring Mike and yeah I just wanted to add I really like the this the second item there use it as a decision filter. And so if you've if you're if you're a small organization and you're competing against larger competitors and you've ever had a conversation with your team where somebody says well Royal Bank just did this we have to do that. Right and I got I was in a lot of those conversations where somebody said well oh my God we have to how could we not do that the first question to ask yourself is if we do that will that support our differentiator or is it going to make us just like Royal Bank because if you're just like Royal Bank and they're a trillion dollars and you're not it's gonna be pretty tough to compete. So you can use it as a decision filter uh that helps you stay away from just chasing your competition.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

And I think that decision filter becomes super important. And when we talk about as well we we've kept coming back to outcomes and measurements and how do you measure it it's all about measuring what matters and using your balance scorecard. And as a board that becomes particularly important as well. So you won't be seeing all the member surveys and all the details in the background but it is important to have the measure what matters and having it showing up on your balance scorecard. So organizations that use a balanced scorecard it basically the whole purpose is to translate your strategy into a set of performance measures across multiple perspectives that are important to your business. So consider it to be that 360 degree view of your organization and how you're performing and how you measure strategy. What we have here is just a snapshot or an example of what a a balanced scorecard can look like this is such a powerful tool to make sure that you're measuring what matters and what's driving your strategy. I know this is a pretty important piece and I know Steven you're pretty passionate about scorecards as well. Anything you want to bring on this one?

SPEAKER_04 33:37

I see hundreds and hundreds of board packs each year and I would say probably two out of those 200 use a balanced scorecard way of looking at things. So I think it's an unsung hero again of something that we probably should look at because it gives great clarity. It also makes it a much more obvious if we're just measuring activity rather than the the longer term outcomes that we're actually say that we're hopeful of achieving. So I would encourage everyone to look at um developing up your version of what a balanced scorecard looks like that works for your organization, that helps keep the board focused on the big picture stuff rather than the activity reports.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Yeah and the right time to look at your balanced scorecard and identify those core measures is when you're having those strategic conversations with your board anyways. So you're having strategic planning conversations and you're talking about what you want to accomplish asking yourself how will we know we were successful? What measures do we need is just such a natural time to be identifying those measures and bringing those together and and moving towards having a balanced scorecard and making sure that your governance body has the insights that they need. So a couple of takeaways as we get ready to wrap this up a couple of pieces organizations just need to remember generic does not differentiate. You need to be specific and that's where I do recommend going a layer deeper and if you have something that you're like I think this is our differentiate differentiator can you tell it can you explain it to others and is it consistent? So that's that's a really important piece is generic doesn't differentiate. Keep in mind that a clear and aligned strategic differentiator will drive your strategy and it's going to help with decision making. So back to Mike's example of RBC is doing this cool thing, does it make sense for you? It's a really important decision filter. And number three is to really take the time to measure and report on the outcomes that prove your your differentiators those will be those kind of three key take homes when thinking about strategic differentiation.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

Rochelle, can I just um look at that first one again which is be you know don't be generic, be specific. One of the great techniques that you can use at the start of each year when you've got your your first board meeting particularly if you've got new directors coming on is for the chair to actually lead a conversation saying here's our vision or here's our strategic differentiator or here's our purpose. Now Rochelle, what does that mean for you? Okay, thanks. Now Michael what does that mean for you? And literally go around the table because you will get different views of what it means. The important part of that is that you don't have to agree on what it means, but you get an understanding from your fellow directors about what it means for them. And always in that exercise will come ideas or or insights that you wouldn't have otherwise have had as a board. So you can actually use that to start the conversation in fact start the year off. What does it mean for you? We don't have to agree on what it means we just want to have that conversation about what does this mean to you personally? What does this mean to you personally? What does that look like? Fantastic way of actually getting the articulation of what directors uh uh what lenses they're viewing things through do you know uh another another question to ask in that same conversation is why should somebody do business with us?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

And often what you'll get is a lot of those motherhood statements um that are built on myth and not necessarily on fact and then somebody can say well because we're local well why do what does that mean? How do we know anybody cares? And so that's when you can start to Steven's point introducing data right so and and and finding out do can we prove that why we think somebody should do business with us really matters to the customers we're trying to attract excellent team so time to wrap up so please feel free to connect with the presenters on LinkedIn everybody if you'd like to be put in touch with Michelle Michael or Stephen please indicate your interest on the survey as you uh exit the webinar today.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Now I've had a lot of requests uh from people over the last week or two about our historic webinars we have about 200 historic webinars in our library so you can access those off our website uh the details are there on the QR code or on the link below. Remember I'll I'll also send you this slide deck out tomorrow. So this will the the email you'll receive from me tomorrow will include a copy of the recording obviously the slide deck and the transcript and they'll also be hosted on the webinar library as well within the next 48 hours. And of course if you're considering board management software for your organization we'd love to hear from you of course better still why not try our free 30 day trial it's simple and straightforward no credit cards required to get started. So thanks again everybody for your attendance I hope you enjoyed the session today. Thank you Rochelle Michael for you especially because I know it's late where you are for the great conversation um I look forward to seeing you on our next webinar everybody have a great day