Common CI Management Errors
A. No Relationship with Senior Management
Not all CI professionals are extroverts and nobody expects them to be. On the other hand, they must not pretend that all their research and analytical skills will be noticed or be of value if they sit in their office all day.
CI professionals must devote their time developing and nurturing relationships with senior management. A strong relationship with any senior manager will get the attention of that manager’s staff, who can also develop into valuable allies for your CI efforts.
Think about it. Would anyone, especially a senior manager, share information, concerns or needs with someone they did not know? Not likely and as a result the CI function is likely to suffer.
B. Not Keeping Up with Education and New Techniques
Education is a responsibility that is often neglected, and CI professionals are no exception. There are some organizations that use only one method of reporting (e.g., an Excel matrix of competitive pricing) and one analytical methodology (e.g., SWOT analysis). Whether as an employee or consultant, you may be afraid of rocking the boat with new tools and approaches. Maybe you should.
New analytical techniques add valuable texture and context to available data that would otherwise not seen before.
C. Avoiding the Truth
As a CI professional, sooner or later you will come across “sensitive” information (e.g. conflicts with your company’s current assessment of the market) that has to be brought to the attention of senior management. This is the information that senior management will not be happy to hear – or so you may think. If you avoid making people aware of these findings, you will not only be making a disservice to yourself, but also to the people who depend on the information.
If you do, you will gain the respect of your senior management. It will allow them to make more effective decisions, because they will have to first address the conflicting information, and in doing so get at the real truth.
D. Not Making the Information Intelligible
CI professionals are trained in the art of obtaining and analyzing information. Too often, however, they stop there versus providing senior management with a presentation to make all the information intelligible so that decisions can be made and changes brought about.
Speak to the audience in their terms. If your focus is on product, the presentation should be on product analysis, such as how a competitor’s actions could threaten a particular product and what should be done about it.
E. Not Celebrating Victories
CI professionals don’t always like to draw attention to themselves, but they should do so because it is in their best interest to do so.
Victories don’t always come in the form of your company doing something spectacular as a result of your efforts, but rather in your company not doing something that would have, otherwise, resulted in loss of time and revenue (e.g. a decision not to compete against a regional competitor or go after a market sector and so avoid losses in expenditures and human resources.)
That’s still a win. Celebrate it.