When I was growing up one of the highlights of the school year was the report card time. I was a good student so I looked forward to the time when my teacher “told” my parents that through the grades and comments on the report card.

At work, the closest thing to a report card for an employee is the usually the annual review. If you live in a corporate environment, you know the drill. You show up for the meeting, the manager tells you the bottom (financial) line and then proceeds to list what you have done well or poorly.

This process may or may not be an effective one. The review checklist is often the standard one created by the HR department. Sometimes managers complete the review simply to check it off the list of their duties. At other times, an employee may invest very little into the process and miss the chance to get meaningful feedback. The whole process can be perceived as an optional, perfunctory exercise with little benefit.

There are times when a report card (and all that it implies) is not optional.

A competitive intelligence (CI) report card is such a case. It is an indication of impending failure if a competitive intelligence professional does not get a report regularly on his or her performance. Why? Because a CI function depends on the relationships with and value to senior management. When either the relationship or recognized value is waning, then corrective action must be taken. (Or, you need to look for a new job.)

So how do you get a report card from senior management?

It is probably too much to expect most senior managers to spend time creating a formal report card for you. If you are regularly communicating with them, you will get many signals that express their satisfaction (or lack thereof) with what you doing. A report card is simply one way to stimulate this conversation. And it’s up to you (not them) to get this process started.

You have to create a report card for them to use.

This works well because senior managers are used to evaluating people and their performance according to set guidelines. Since there probably isn’t a competitive intelligence specific set of guidelines you will have to create a template to use.

Keep it simple and focus on value.

The template should be one page or less. It should cover multiple categories. It should be understandable but not too restrictive. Finally, it should be used to highlight exceptional (good and bad) so that meaningful conversations can then happen about those areas. Here is an example. Note that the box to the left of each bullet is the place for a “grade” given by the senior manager.

Use the report card for long term planning and education.

A virtue of a getting a mark is that you can measure your progress over time. I have used “low” marks to help me define my plans for the future. For instance, I initiated regular CI reviews when I received feedback that the organizational communication about CI topics was too infrequent.

Another less obvious use of the report card is that it gives you a vehicle to expand a manager’s perception of CI. Perhaps they never considered that tradeshow intelligence was important. When they see it on your report card they might question what you mean and how it might help them. This is a great time to talk about how CI can be more valuable to them.

The grades that you receive don’t matter.

Well, actually they do. You won’t long survive if you consistently receive poor grades or if you receive good grades only for the less important (as defined by senior management) categories.

However, if the discussion about grades is regular, if your relationship with senior management is deepened and if “low” marks are used for improvement, you will win in the end. Report cards will become your friend and senior management will thank you.

And, by the way, that annual review cycle will also likely be a rewarding time for you as well.

A former colleague at Texas Instruments responded to my “PowerPoint Woke Me Up” blog entry by saying that sometimes the most effective communication is that done on a whiteboard with other people. As I thought about that I realized that he was exactly right (at least it matched my experience).

The vast majority of information is not written down.

It is communicated verbally or nonverbally between individuals. We are conditioned as social animals to use this method most frequently. The advantage is that it is often quick. The disadvantage is the intended message can easily get lost somewhere between the speaker’s words and the listener’s interpretation.

Meanwhile, many businesses are great fans of PowerPoint. Someone somewhere carefully (or sloppily) crafts a message that is presented. Much of the time there is one active presenter and multiple passive listeners. This can work but sadly it often doesn’t because the listeners are not engaged when they accept that the presenter is responsible for the communication.

There is a better way.

Why not draw pictures together?

Pictures are powerful ways to represent information. Much better than phrases on a PowerPoint slide, pictures can show relationships, sequences and other interactions. And when they are created by multiple people together, they can embody the collective wisdom of the group. If this is done appropriately, the resulting picture includes both the understandings and agreements among the people. How powerful is that!

The Grove Consultants International is a company that teaches graphical facilitation. The concepts are simple to grasp. Significantly, they all are aimed at graphically documenting what is most important. This works for topics like strategy, visions, value propositions, industry overviews and other similar things. The facilitation skills include the use of templates, creatively drawing to represent concepts and coordinating the discussions.

Here is an example where a Grove template was used to create an industry overview.

Pictures sometimes are a means to an end such as a specific decision. I have found that Sam Kaner’s book “Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making” is an excellent resource to help a leader understand how to reach a decision. Kaner’s techniques work well with the graphical facilitation techniques used by Grove.

Another excellent example of the powerful impact of drawing a picture together can come from a project retrospective. Norm Kerth’s book “Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews” is a valuable resource to describe how “looking back to move forward” is critical. His website at http://www.retrospectives.com/ explains the prime directive for retrospectives and more.

One of the exercises in a retrospective is the project timeline. A long piece of butcher block paper is tacked to a wall. Then, all members of the team the document the project by adding their recollections to the timeline. The ups and downs, deliveries, significant meetings, personal events, etc., are all added to the group picture. When everyone is finished, the whole team examines the completed picture to answer four questions.

• What did we do well, that if we don’t discuss we might forget?
• What did we learn?
• What should we do differently next time?
• What still puzzles us?

The actual format of the retrospective timeline is less important than the fact that the team creates it together. Here is an example from http://www.thekua.com/rant/category/retrospective-exercises/.

The impact of this exercise can be profound. Team members can literally see the entire project and what others considered important. They can understand more about what frustrated them, the problems that they faced together and overcame and the things that led to disappointments. Later, when they have digested the personal messages, they can use the picture to extract lessons and explain to others what went on and why. (Esther Derby is a great resource for teaching others how to conduct retrospectives. Esther and Diana Larsen have written “Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great” to show how to architect, design and run retrospectives.)

Maybe the pictures we create together aren’t as pretty as the PowerPoint masterpieces. Maybe they cannot be fit into the company template. And maybe they don’t have transitions, animations, embedded videos and other special effects which would impress Hollywood producers.

But what they do have is the powerful message created, owned and understood by a team.

Later, if you feel like it, you can always make a version for PowerPoint (with the approved company template). <g>

It happens in an instant. The question is asked and now time seems to stand still. Your breathing becomes shallow, your muscles tense and a dozen thoughts go through your mind. What is the right answer? You need the right answer! Now!

It doesn’t start that way, of course. Some days before a senior manager comes to you with an assignment. He has questions from the management team about the competitive landscape and you are just the competitive intelligence professional to get answers for them.

Luckily, you know what do. You start by clarifying their vague questions.  What specifically is important? You practice some rephrasing and finally present a set of three important questions to answer. Is this the right set, you ask. Yes, it is your senior manager responds and off you go to get answers. Your report is due at the next senior management staff meeting.

This is the fun part. Now that you have the questions, you begin to think through how to get answers. Let’s see, since one of the questions is about power and how it is expressed within our industry, I’ll start them with Porter’s 5 Forces. Then, I’ll follow with a detailed product comparison for the market segment we care about. Then, for the last question, I’ll finish with a financial comparison of competitors.

So, off you go. You begin accumulating information, talking to people and documenting the answers. You synthesize, summarize and test your conclusions. Your boss, acutely aware of your assignment and how it might reflect on her, monitors all that you do. She coaches you on what to say and how to say it. Your presentation slides begin to emerge. They are a work of art and represent an intellectual tour de force. Surely this will be a great triumph for you.

The presentation day arrives. You will have 30 minutes of an all day staff meeting to present. Due to other items taking longer than expected, you finally enter the room two hours after the scheduled time. You notice that the managers assembled look tired and distracted. Half of them are talking on the phone. Most of the others are doing email. Only a couple of them are even looking at you. You start.

The first question seems to fly by. A head or two pops up from their computers when they figure out that you are starting with the answers rather than the data. That is a good approach their eyes seem to say. There isn’t much debate as you move on to the second question. Again you present the answer as your boss fidgets nervously. There are a few more requests for clarification which you handle confidently. All of your preparation, skill and personal magnetism are paying off. Indeed, this performance may well result in the big bonus that you had been hoping for (and that your boss had been resisting giving to you).

Everyone seems to be listening now that you are to the final question.  You are on cruise control at this point so when the trap is sprung, it shocks your entire being.

One of the managers in the back (that has successfully cleared his email queue) raises his hand. What are the implications of the competitor’s new product on our technology strategy and the plans that we have to acquire the XYZ Company?

Wow, that is a great (note: all senior manager questions are “great”) question. It is not only a great question, at the time it is ask it seems incredibly reasonable that a competent CI professional would have a ready answer. The problem is that in all of your preparation you spent no time thinking about it.

While time is standing still, you review your options. I can’t admit that I don’t know, you think. If I do that, they will question all of my other answers. They will realize that I have been incompetent. Okay, I’ll give them an answer. They probably won’t know if I am right or wrong. Hold it, these are smart people. They will know. You look to your boss. Her look is glazed. She doesn’t know the answer either. Besides this is saving her a lot of money in your next review cycle. You have to think clearly. What do you do?

First, realize that the trap question is not about your competence, it is about your integrity.

Senior managers have built in sensors for bluffing. After all, much of what they do might be considered a bluff. (Yes, we can meet those sales targets with half the staff!) They accept that other senior managers will bluff them. But they do not want to be bluffed by you. It will kill your credibility once and for all if you try.

Second, focus on the value of future competence.

Remember that you have already answered some important questions for them. Compare the confidence that you have in those answers to any that you might provide off the cuff. Always think in terms of value the way that senior management thinks about value. They think about “big numbers” and how they and their organizations are measured. Most of all, they want to understand their risk. The best answers unqualified by risk are dangerous to them. You can answer the manager’s question but today’s answer has too much risk (or uncertainty). Tomorrow’s answer will be far more certain.

Third, realize that the on-going relationship ultimately defines your success.

A competitive intelligence function will not likely endure if its people are not trusted by senior management. An untrusted staff will find that the questions are no longer asked, the meeting invitations are no longer received and even the valid, useful conclusions are ignored. Senior managers are constantly sorting through their organizations for the people that they can trust. Most people do not pass the muster but the CI person must do so (or find other work).

So what are some good answers? Try one of these.

• “That’s a great question. It was not considered thoroughly in this analysis. My answer today has too much uncertainty. May I eliminate some of that uncertainty and report back to you next week?”

• “That’s a great question. I have identified several similar issues that require more study. May I address your question and the other issues at the next staff meeting?”

• “That’s a great question. I can only speculate about the answer today. I would love to discuss this with you outside of the meeting when you have time.”

• “That’s a great question. The way I would approach answering it would be to talk with Joe in sales, complete a four corners analysis and then work through the conclusions with the CTO. Would you like for me to do this?”

Remember that you must be competent. However, integrity trumps competence. Avoid the traps that suggest otherwise.

Would it make a difference who said it?

Of course it does. When President Obama says something people notice more than when you or I do.

It is the same way in corporations. By the very nature of their positions high level managers are entrusted with more latitude and responsibility. Hence, when they make a statement about the company, its prospects and its performance, people listen more intently.

This phenomenon ripples down the organization. For example, a senior vice president’s words are more significant than those of the director of product marketing. This effect is not a tremendous insight until a competitive intelligence professional makes good use of it. And here is how that is done.

First, you need the competitor’s organization chart.

Wait a minute, you say. I can’t get that. It’s proprietary information and I am an ethical practitioner.

What if you construct it from public information? Perhaps it wouldn’t be perfect or complete but most of the major slots would be filled. Six easy steps will get you there.

• Get a tool to help manage the information. I prefer OrgPlus from Human Concepts. This tool allows you to capture organization information in a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet information can be imported into the program to generate graphical organization charts. Updates are easily managed either in the original spreadsheet or in the chart.

• Start at the top. Public corporations must identify all major corporate officers. You will also get the major divisions of the company. Additionally, I like to include the directors of the company since exploring their interrelationships is often insightful for acquisitions and mergers. (It is a separate useful task to map the director relationships.)

• Comb the records of major conferences. Many companies will send representatives to speak at major industry conferences. When they do, they will include their bio which will identify their title, division and key responsibilities.

• Check standards organizations. For most companies, there are important industry standards. An individual company may be a leader or follower in a standard but they will often send senior people to participate. Look at the committees and subcommittees for the company representatives.

• Search social networks. LinkedIn contains a treasure trove of business information. Every current employee is a clue that fills in an organization chart. Each should be added to your database.

• Google. Finally, use a search tool to look for presentations (PPT, PDF) given by company employees. Also do a general search by company and title (usually at the VP and below level).

Now you created this wonderful collection of names and titles and you have imported it into an organization charting tool, what’s next?

Simple, you apply the understanding that all utterances are not equal. The “king’s words” matter most. Put another way, the organization level and position suggest the importance of statements.

Here are some practical ways to apply this understanding.

• Examine press releases. Often, the importance of a release dictates which company official will be quoted. The most important notices will include quotes from an executive officer (up to and including the CEO). Less important releases will be signaled by the quotes from lower level employees (e.g., product managers). Though it is possible that a sly company might try to misdirect attention by downplaying a release, this is unlikely in my experience. The exercise of ranking press releases will attune you to how the competitor values its public statements.

• Track public forums. Public companies regularly present information to the financial community. This is usually the SVP, CFO, COO and CEO responsibility. There are other public forums including the conferences and standards bodies that are attended by lower level officials. If you know their place in the organization (e.g., division, level), you can surmise the interest of their organization. If you know their interest over time, you can use this information with other data that you have accumulated to improve your guesses of their strategic directions.

• Monitor comings and goings. The addition to or subtraction from an organization is always information. The arrival of a prominent outsider may signal dissatisfaction with the current organization. Or, maybe it signals a new strategic direction. Similarly, a departure may indicate that an existing strategy has lost its advocate. Admittedly there are many reasons for people changing companies. However, knowing more about their organizational context will suggest richer implications of the change.

If you create a company’s organization chart, apply the implications and track this over time, you begin to get a deeper sense of how a competitor works. After a while, you might begin to feel that you know the people (though you may never have met them). You begin to understand what drives them, to guess at the challenges they face to execute their strategies and to grasp their strengths and weaknesses.

This understanding is precious.

Now you can tell your own king how to compete more successfully.