An organization deploys capabilities to execute its activities. Some of these capabilities are critical to survive and thrive. You can determine objectives in three easy steps to steer the development of critical capabilities in your organization.
Steps to determine objectives
Advantage
Define which advantage the capability will bring to your organization.
Direction
Define a course of action for developing the capability in your organization.
Priority
Define the importance and urgency of developing the capability.
Advantage
To identify the advantage that a capability brings to your organization, you can perform a VRIO analysis. This allows you to find out four relevant properties. These properties are:
Valuable
Able to exploit opportunities and defend against threats.
Rare
Scarce and difficult to acquire.
Inimitable
Hard to copy or substitute.
Organized
Set up to capitalize on resources.
Direction
Determine a course of action for developing a certain capability as follows:
Produce
If it is valuable but not present in your organization.
Specialize
If it is valuable and present but not rare in the market.
Integrate
If it is valuable, present, and rare but imitable for competitors.
Multiply
If it is valuable, present, rare, and inimitable but vulnerable in your organization.
Maintain
If it is valuable, present, rare, inimitable, and organized.
Stop
If it is present but no longer valuable to your organization.
Priority
There are several ways to prioritize. There is no best way, as it all depends on the context. When pursuing an Agile way of working, determine a priority for developing a certain capability as follows:
Now
To be developed first.
Next
To be developed next.
Later
To be developed later.