TV shows like 'Back to the floor' and 'Undercover Boss' highlight that as organisations grow, the leadership – the people who are making the key decisions – grow further away from the edges. The edge is where the product meets the customer. People at the edges are crucial for making sure that the organisation is delivering what the customer needs and wants. The edge is where ideas flourish, or where organisations start to wither and die.

However, its not just a matter of knowing what’s happening at the edges, but being able to communicate that back to the core (the leadership), relating that to the organisational objectives, and translating that into action: these are 'Opportunity Vectors'.

Projects and programmes come about from a number of different ways, but they are usually reactive. By that, it means that they are borne from a regulatory change that requires change, an inefficiency that has been identified, or an idea someone has. It's easy to find data to support an idea or opinion and make a business case. The Earth is flat. There is data to support the view that the Earth is indeed flat, as long as you discount all the evidence to the contrary.

Opportunity Vectors are all about being in touch with the edges, effective communication from the edge to the key decision makers, and relating to the organisations objectives.

All too commonly, projects are borne from a want, not a need. A want is reactive, a need is proactive. Most projects, unfortunately, seem to be generated as pre-determined solutions – I want to do X, I want to buy Y, I want to change Z - reactive, lacking a solid evidence base, absent of scientific principles and in trouble before it gets off the ground. It also means that the benefit can be changed to fit around what was delivered, not about how far it goes towards solving the problem.

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

If you don’t know what the problem is, how can you truly tell if you’ve been successful? If you’ve implemented a want, and you get what you want, then how do you know if that satisfies the need? To use an analogy, I want chocolate, so I go out and buy some chocolate, then consume it. That would be a success, but has it solved the problem? What I needed was something to eat because I was hungry. Chocolate was short term gratification, not long term gain (unless its on the hips) and did not advance my objective of losing weight or eating healthily.

To be good at Portfolio Management is all about Opportunity Vectors and remaining true to the organisational objectives. This requires strong scientific principles, clear and transparent communication (from the edges to the decision makers), and a really good head for facts, data, evidence and deriving insight. To be a good organisation, you need to have a good Portfolio Manager and empower them.

If you'd like to hear more about how Opportunity Vectors can be used in portfolio management, strategy development or achieving your organisational objectives, then please get in touch using the contact us page or email.  

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