Improving CRM through a Framework of Questions

Why are you implementing CRM? That’s a question — but is it the perfect question? Is there one perfect question? As much as we want to believe there is (and some do) the truth is that no single question is a magic bullet when it comes to helping a company design an improvement, or solve some sort of problem. Finding a better question to ask is similar to finding a better employee. Many modern thinkers in management theory would argue that greater than 85% of the problems and variability faced by companies are the result of an inadequate system, not inadequate people. Putting a superstar in a dysfunctional system will only lead to frustration and turnover. Thus, they would argue, you need to fix the system!

An organization is nothing more than a system; residing within a larger system and made up of interdependent sub-systems, processes, methods and steps. If systems thinking can solve the biggest management problems, shouldn’t we consider using systems thinking when asking questions? I…