Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Actionable Checkup.

Your venture: continue, pivot or close.

Agenda · what to expect

1Where you startPlace yourself: what you put in and how many ventures you have.2
2Choose the method, then go and seeLean, Six Sigma or both — and you listen to the client where it happens.3
3What you will solveThe charter of your project and its one key metric.4
4Find the rootFishbone and five whys, down to the root cause.5
5Act every week, until it arrivesAn action plan and weekly cycles against the metric.6
6Decide, and sustainContinue, pivot or close — and your A3 on one sheet.7
Terms and conditions8

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Where you start.

“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”Matthew 25:15

Before you start

First: does it respect your duties of state^¹ — family, work, word, and your contract if you are employed? If not, start there.

Bring your Leader Lifeplan (section 7) · Inspiration: Ventures · La Bicicleta, ch. 6 · Sazagua, ch. 8

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Who are you as an entrepreneur? · what was entrusted to you

What do you put in: capital, work or network? Mark the box that describes you today; if more than one, the main one. Ideas are not a column: they live in every box as hypotheses to test.

What you put in →

Capital

Work · time and talent

Network · clients, contacts, trust

Several ventures

The portfolio: several bets — which one can scale best?

■ e.g.Your job and a project on the side — your time is the bottleneck.

Your network feeds several projects: to which one do you lend your trust?

One venture

Monetization and cash-flow problems: diagnose before putting in more money.

Your company — or your job — is stuck, and you are the engine.

Your contacts open doors: turn them into paying clients.

No venture yet

Capital and no venture yet: compare your options — start, buy or partner — before investing.

In transition or newly retired: start from what you already do well.

You have a network of contacts who trust you, but no access to ventures.

¹ Duties of state: your family, your work, your word (Gaudete et Exsultate, 14) → tree of life

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Choose the method, then go and see.

“Come and see.”John 1:39

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Choose the method to optimize your venture (Lean, Six Sigma or both)

Answer the two questions. Most problems of a growing venture are solved with PDCA.

The project to evaluateYour prioritized venture — it comes from section 7 of your Leader Lifeplan. The two questions are about this project.

e.g. B2B sales-training school: weekly signed sales are stuck at $1.5K.

1 · Does the product or process already exist, with data?

no →

D

DFSS · Design for Six SigmaIt does not exist yet: you design it and test it with clients. Contact me

↓ yes

2 · Can you find the cause by watching the process (gemba²) and improve it in weekly cycles, measuring your leading and lagging indicators every week?

yes →

L

PDCA · Lean — this documentYou see the cause, move a lever and measure every week — plan, do, check, act, until the key metric arrives.

no →

6σ

DMAIC · Six SigmaThe cause hides in the data or in the variation: statistics finds it. Contact me

3

Voice of the customer and gemba²

Write what clients say, literally. Then go where the work happens and watch — without asking. From both, name up to three key pains.

The client says

“We need the team to close more, not another course.” — sales manager

“Your proposal took three weeks; we bought from someone else.” — sales manager

“The second facilitator was not the same.” — salesperson

Gemba · what I saw

Went to 3 sales meetings: in all 3, the sales manager — who owns the budget — was not in the room.

Read 10 proposals: 20 pages each; the sales manager read only the first.

Sat in on a facilitator’s session: no client case prepared — she improvised.

Key pains

1Selling to someone without a budget

2Proposals too long and too slow

3Uneven quality between facilitators

² Gemba (Japanese, “the real place”): go where the work happens — the sales meeting, the proposal, the session — and observe before giving an opinion.

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

What you will solve.

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost?”Luke 14:28

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The charter of the project

A charter is the birth certificate of the project: what problem, which goal, how far, with whom and by when. It opens your A3 (§10).

From step 2B2B sales-training school · method: PDCA · Lean

ProblemWhat is happening, with numbers, and since when — no blame, no solutions yet.

e.g. 6 months: 23 opportunities, 3 won (13%). Sells $1.5K a week; spends $2.25K.

GoalWhich number, by when — and what you will not sacrifice.

e.g. $3.75K a week (≈ $15K a month) in 12 weeks, with Sundays free.

ScopeWhat is in this effort and what stays out.

e.g. In: B2B sales. Out: open courses and one-to-one coaching.

TeamWho decides, who executes, who advises.

e.g. Founder (decides, sells) · facilitator · mentor, former sales manager.

TimeWhen you start, when you review, when you decide.

e.g. Weekly cycles; decision in week 12.

Lagging = the result; it arrives late (your weight). Leading = what produces it, measured this week (your workouts).

The key metric · result (lagging)

Sales signed per week

$1,5K → $3,75K

Lever 1 · action (leading)

Meetings per week with the person who owns the budget

0,5 → 3

Lever 2 · action (leading)

Days to send a proposal

19 → 3

The soul · action (leading)

Days a week with prayer and rest

2/7 → 6/7

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Find the root.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”Matthew 7:3

5

Fishbone · four bones

The head is the problem, with its lagging metric. Each bone is a family of causes: people, process, technology, client — one cause per bone. The tail will hold the root cause and its leading indicators.

Tail · root causeFilled with the five whys (§6)Leading: meetings with the budget owner · days to a proposal

People

The founder sells and delivers alone; the facilitator has no script.

Process

20-page proposals in 19 days; every program custom-made.

Technology

No CRM: nobody sees the pipeline or who decides.

Client

We sell to HR, which does not own the sales budget.

Head · the problem (lagging)Sales: $1.5K a week vs. a $3.75K goal

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The five whys · from the symptom to the root

The most powerful tool here. Ask “why?” five times, each time about the previous answer. It takes you from the symptom to the root cause: the one that, removed, keeps the problem from coming back (Taiichi Ohno, Toyota).

1Why do we sell only $1.5K a week?

We win 3 of 23 opportunities (13%).

2Why so few?

In 18 of the 20 lost, the person who decides was not in the room.

3Why was he not there?

We sold to HR, which does not own the sales budget.

4Why to HR?

The offer was a course — and HR buys courses.

5Why a course?

The offer was designed from what the school knows how to teach — without listening to the client.

Root cause · below the waterline

An offer designed without the voice of the client, sold to someone who does not own the budget.

Remove it, and the problem does not come back. Its leading indicators go to the tail of the fishbone.

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Act every week, until it arrives.

“Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”Matthew 13:8

7

Do · the action plan (countermeasures)

Each action attacks a cause and must move a lever. Without owner and date, it is a wish, not an action.

Action	Attacks	Owner	When	Lever it must move (leading)
An offer paid on results, written for the sales manager	root cause	Founder	wk 1	meetings with the budget owner
Ask HR to introduce the sales manager	pain 1	Founder	wk 2	meetings with the budget owner
A one-page proposal, approved internally in 24 h	pain 2	Founder	wk 3–4	days to a proposal
The mentor introduces 2 sales managers a week	pain 1	Mentor	wk 5	meetings with the budget owner
Script + client case ready 48 h before each session	pain 3	Facilitator	wk 6	NPS per session

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Check and act · every week, until the key metric arrives

Every Friday: did the lever move (leading)? Did the sales move (lagging)? If yes, standardize; if not, adjust — and run next week’s cycle.

$3,75K · goal

1,5w0

1,5w1

1,9w2

2,2w3

2,6w4

2,9w5

3,2w6

3,5w7

3,8w8

Wk	What we tried	Lever (leading)	Sales $K (lagging)	Act
1	Offer by result, for the sales manager	0,5 → 1	1,5	Keep: the manager listens; HR does not.
2	Ask HR to introduce the manager	1 → 1,5	1,9	Standardize: works 2 of 3 times.
3	One-page proposal	19 → 5 days	2,2	Standardize: it gets read.
4	Approval in 24 h	5 → 3 days	2,6	Standardize: lever 2 on target.
5	The mentor introduces managers	1,5 → 2,5	2,9	Keep going.
6	Client case 48 h before	NPS 6,4 → 8,2	3,2	Standardize: repurchase talks open.
7	Weekly post for sales managers	2,5 → 3	3,5	Adjust the message.
8	Ask for a referral at every close	3 → 3	3,8 ✓	Goal: standardize and keep the board.

If after four weeks the key metric does not move, the cause was not that one: go back to the fishbone — or ask for DMAIC.

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Decide, and sustain.

“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; all things pass, God does not change.”Saint Teresa of Ávila

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Keep going, pivot or close · leading and lagging decide

Read both from your weekly cycles: did the levers move (leading)? did the key metric move (lagging)? Then discern before you sign it.

Levers · leading	Key metric · lagging	Decision	What to do
They moved	It arrived	KEEP GOING · scale it	Standardize what worked and grow the levers.
They moved	It is rising, not there yet	KEEP GOING · more cycles	The cause is right; give the result time.
They did not move	—	ADJUST	It is execution, not the cause: review owners and weeks in the plan.
They moved 4 weeks	It does not move	PIVOT	The lever was not the cause: back to the fishbone; change client, offer or pricing — keep the purpose.
—	Not even the pivot moves it — or it breaks your duties of state	CLOSE · prune	Close well: pay, thank, learn. It is pruning, not failure.

Discern before deciding

Pray first. Then mark: does this decision leave you in peace (consolation) or in restlessness (desolation)? Decide in consolation.

■ consolation□ desolation

e.g. Keeping going gives peace: the numbers and the heart say the same.

“In time of desolation never make a change.”Saint Ignatius of Loyola · Spiritual Exercises, 318

e.g. keep going and scale: sales reached $3.8K a week. The cycles already carried a pivot — of client (HR → sales manager) and of charging (by the hour → by result). What stayed: the method, the team, the purpose.

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Your A3, finished · the one-page report

The seven boxes you filled, on one sheet. Bring it to every review: it is your path of continuous growth.

1 · Background

B2B sales-training school: it spends more than it sells ($2.25K vs. $1.5K a week); 3 of 23 won in 6 months.

2 · Current state

$1.5K a week · 19 days per proposal · 0.5 meetings with the budget owner.

3 · Goal

$3.75K a week in 12 weeks, with Sundays free.

4 · Root cause

An offer designed without the voice of the client, sold to someone without the budget.

5 · Countermeasures

From the voice of the client (§3): offer by result for the sales manager · one-page proposal in 3 days · mentor introductions · client case 48 h before.

6 · Plan

Each countermeasure with an owner and a week: weeks 1–6 · founder, mentor, facilitator.

7 · Follow-up

8 weekly cycles: $1.5K → $3.8K a week ✓ · Monday: plan the levers · Friday: said vs. done · week 12: a new checkup.

What the A3 gaveListening to the client (§3) redesigned the product — from a course for HR to a program by result for whoever owns the budget — without a full DFSS: listen, adjust and test every week. And the whole team sees the same story on one sheet.

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The pruning

“Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”John 15:2

Pivoting or closing is not failing: it is pruning. Before the final decision, pray “Father, I put myself in your hands” — and let the Holy Spirit move what you cannot.

More → Contemplative Prayer · the tree of life

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Actionable Checkup · Focus · sample

Terms and conditions.

Does not replace certified financial, legal or accounting advisors, therapists or physicians.
If you put in capital: evaluation and decision, not investment advice — I do not manage or collect investment money (manifesto).

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