By Mark Sedgley

I had the pleasure of attending the #Hackaction hoedown in D.C. last week. This innovation discussion was put on by our friends at Delcor and Principled Innovation LLC.

The core of this discussion was how to truly understand your organizational value proposition. Sounds simple, right? You should know by now it never is.

Through this meeting, it became clear that the economic downturn has had one silver lining: it has forced organizations to truly take a detailed inventory of their mission and the value that they bring to their respective stakeholders. Whether your stakeholders are customers or association members, the need to better understand the value we bring is, dare I say, invaluable.

Jeff De Cagna and Mark Sedgley at Hackation

Needless to say, these types of conversations can become a real bore. However, this one did not. Jeff De Cagna really brought both passion and perspective to the table and pushed the attendees to look through a different lens. Today and Wednesday, I’ll share a few nuggets of information that really struck with me.

“Getting partial answers to the right questions is always better than getting complete answers to the wrong questions”

Asking the right questions constantly came up as a theme throughout our discussions. What are the right questions? Of course the obvious answer is: The ones that lead you to the right solution. With that said, some examples that were thrown out as potentially good questions to get you there are as follows:

- “How can your stakeholders fully express their fundamental human desire to be social?”

- “How can your stakeholders find the support they need to solve some of their biggest challenges?”

- “How can your stakeholders negotiate a different relationship with you?”

Although I think these examples will allow us to find better solutions, they are all “how” questions. I think in order to round off this exercise, an organization needs to also ask a lot of “why” questions. So, perhaps think about all of the items that you potentially list as part of your value prop today and then ask yourself “why.”

Admittedly this is a simple exercise, however, it will prove to be beneficial in bridging the gap between your “perception of the value you bring and the reality of your stakeholder’s experience.”

— Mark Sedgley is the vice president of business development and sales for MemberClicks

Photo courtesy of Delcor’s Flickr