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Pre-mortem to Post-mortem: 9 Critical Steps to Creating a Killer Kickoff MeetingChris Sant | chrissant.com

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Ugh. Meetings.

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But wait!

Meetings have their good sides:

"We meet because people holding different jobs have to cooperate to get a specific task done. We meet because the knowledge and experience needed in a specific situation are not available in one head, but have to be pieced together out of the knowledge and experience of several people."

- Peter Drucker

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In fact…

This talk will show you how to piece your team’s knowledge and experience together to make your proposal:More than 30% more responsive to the RFPMore profitable by an average of $15,000 every time you submit a proposal

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What's the best time of day for a kickoff meeting?

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B - BackgroundE - Empower to changeS - Seven questionsT - Team WIN strategy@ - Cognitive web/mind mapP - Pre-mortemP - ProjectsP - Post-mortemM - Memorialize

It's BEST @ 3PM

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Background

• Nature and scope• Why is this a “Bid”?• Why is it important to win?• What’s the customer’s situation?• Previous relationships with customer

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Empower your people

• Invite the right people• Reassure them• Solicit opinions

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Research I’ve done shows that, if your proposal:is generic, persuasiveness decreases by 35%explains how features relate to the customer, persuasiveness increases by 48% 

Even with the fewest features!

Now focus on the customer

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1.What is the customer’s problem or issue?2.Why does it matter?3.What does the customer seek in terms of outcomes? 4.Which outcome matters the most to the customer?5.What are your solution options?6.Which is the best fit? 7.Why are you the right choice?

Seven questions

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Team WIN strategy

W – What's I – Important to themN – Now?

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The 3M of your WIN strategy

M – Most pressing needsM – Meet those needsM – Maximize score

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@=Cognitive web/mind map

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Pre-mortem

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Your spaceship has just crashed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surface of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board except for the 10 items listed on the next slide.

Your crew's survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the 200-mile trip.

Your task is to rank the 10 items in terms of their importance for survival. Number 1 is the most important item and number 10 is the least important.

Lost on the moon

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a) Food concentrate

b) Solar portable heating unit

c) Box of matches

d) Two .45 caliber pistols

e) Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen

f) Stellar map (of moon's constellations)

g) Magnetic compass

h) 5 gallons of water

i) First-aid kit with injection needles

j) Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter

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Better outcomes...but also...OverconfidenceBeing less willing to listen to different points of view

Collaboration leads to...

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Break through groupthink

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1. Prepare your team2. Imagine a catastrophe3. Generate reasons for failure4. Consolidate ideas5. Address biggest newly identified concerns6. Periodically review and update the list

The standard pre-mortem

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Identify major risks to proposal

The result of a pre-mortem?

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But Step 5 is problematic

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So you combine it with a betting market

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1. Give team members casino chips2. Assume proposal was a catastrophe3. Make each person anonymously contribute reasons4. Brainstorm additional reasons5. List reasons on board and put opaque cup under each one6. Everybody bets anonymously on most likely reasons7. Register the bets and address reasons in order of most bets8. Systematically re-evaluate during the proposal process

The GAMBLERS pre-mortem

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Identify major risks to proposalProperly judge likelihood of risksProperly judge impact of risksIdentify which risks to mitigate

The result of a GAMBLERS pre-mortem?

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Projects

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Post-mortem

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Memorialize 

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a) Food concentrate (4)

b) Solar portable heating unit (8)

c) Box of matches (10)

d) Two .45 caliber pistols (7)

e) Two tanks of oxygen (1)

How NASA rates them

f) Stellar map (3)

g) Magnetic compass (9)

h) 5 gallons of water (2)

i) First-aid kit with injection needles (6)

j) Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter (5)

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Questions

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Chris SantFounder and PresidentChristopher Sant Consultingchris@chrissant.comchrissant.com

Contact Us

APMPPO Box 77272Washington, DC20013-7272 Phone: +1 - (202) 450-2549www.apmp.org