Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode 11-A

The 5 I's.

This episode I want to share with you a very interesting principle on 'Insight generation and solution management'. This is not certainly taught at the Harvards or IIMs.....this was one of my ex company's think tank's. I find this principle brilliant, easy to adapt and if followed well as per laid out steps, it would be 'Aa Ha' moments for everyone.

When we are confronted with some major problems, we start, most of the time, reacting to it than going deeper to get the insight, as we are always on a quick fix mode, that's our DNA. When we follow these step by step approach, we dig deeper to get the Insight-the Aa Ha moment.

This is called the 5 I principle..... yes, you got it....the 5 I s.....

This can be applied in every situation....I am taking the Covid situation here as and example as we all know the kind of havoc it had created across the globe and still creating.....lets all imagine we are in January 2020.... 

Suddenly all over the media across the globe the headlines were screaming the outbreak of the new virus from Wuhan and how it was spreading faster and impacting the life of people across the universe. Everything else was pushed aside and the media was covering only this newborn and danger diabolik virus....this is the scene now and lets learn how to follow the step by step approach of 5 I's. 

Step 1.

The first I.....Issue....A clearly understood and expressed as a specific question about the problem to address the same. After hearing and understanding from different sources the Issue is then identified as"

There is a virus creating havoc and spreading fast across the globe.

Step 2.

We now know what's the issue is....The Aa/ Ha moment has been arrived at....With this understanding of the Issue on hand, we need to look at the second I....that is Information...what kind of information we have about this Issue? Either we have the information ourselves or we gather from sources which are spread across. We need to keep the following three while collecting and collating the information.

a) Review the sources.

b) Organise the information.

c) Select only the relevant information as this would only lead us to Step 3 which is the most important-the Insight.

So whats the information we have after following the above 3 steps.

1) This is spreading human to human....how is it spreading....thru sputum nasal and oral.....3) what's the origin of this.....Wuhan lab China.....4) How bad it is....It started in Wuhan and spread to the entire population there in a matter of few days.....5) How does it spread to other places? When people travel and if they are the carriers, it spread thru them.....6) Symptoms? Mostly asymptomatic but symptoms are, cold, throat infection, headaches and stomach disorders..... analyse these on the basis of the 5 W tool....Who is getting affected? What's the cause? Where is it spreading from? When does it surface and Why it is happening?

Once we map the answers based on the above findings we arrive at the 3rd I....the most important I....the Insight...

As per the dictionary the meaning of Insight is 'seeing beneath the surface'. 

This is critical as without generating the insight from the information one has, it would be very difficult to progress further as this is a killer virus.  

So a high level team is created by the GOI to look at all the information on hand, go deeper, gather more information and arrive at the insight but it has to be done within the time frame as time is the major factor here.

Insight

This is Pandemic....the world has not seen one in the last few decades.

(this is a self defining moment as one gets the insight based on the information available on hand and keep digging deeper and deeper like peeling the onion to arrive at that one particular Insight....) One should also be wary of the difference between information and Insight. The insight generation is an ongoing process, this has to be kept in mind.

Having got the Insight what's the next step?

Step 4.

The 4th I...

Implication:

What does implication mean? What one could do based on the Insight? One could have done something without the insight but with a clear and well defined Insight we can clearly strategize. This is a key step. Think of the implications-strategies and plans that can be generated from the Insight.

Implications. 

The whole world is under threat.

It spreads quickly and transmitted from human to human. 

Unlike normal flu this one surfaces only after 4 or 5 days and the impact is quite severe and can be life threatening. 

It can be confirmed only by nasal and throat swaps (RT PCR) test. Medications are not very clear as still treated by symptoms only.

WHO has given a guidelines but in a thickly populated country of ours, how do we apply them?

Based on the Insights keep asking 'so what' for defining each implication....

Based on the above, we move to the last-Step 5-the Implementation.

Step 5. The implementation.

Key processes for the Implementation.

a) Execution planned vs implemented.

b) How true are the implementations to the insight and Implications?

c) Constant reviews.

Implementation.

Lockdown....everyone should stay indoors to control the spread of the virus. Borders with in and overseas are closed. 

Only essential services are operated and medical infrastructure is geared up. 

Wearing masks when stepping out of home, hand washing and sanitizing and social distancing is mandatory. 

Institutions, offices and non essentials are closed. 

Travel within the state, intra state and overseas banned.

People are asked to work from home. 

Governments announce relief packages...

Medical teams periodical announcements on kind of medications to be administered.

Exclusive covid hospitals, beds, services.....

Counselling...preventives and cure medicines....fast tracking vaccines.... 

Ministry of health and family welfare's notifications on immunity boosters and medications. Ayurveda, Homeopath and Sidda medications gets the nod...

A high level committee is created by GOI to track and review...CoWin app is created. 

Conclusion. This Step by Step approach-the 5 I's process- can be applied on anything and everything especially those who are in business-sales-marketing et al. You can even apply this when you are looking at what field you have to choose for your higher studies...

I have given the above, based on my learning and understanding. You can save it, cut and paste it as the situation demands...but keep the 5 I's step by step approach handy. I am sure and confident this would help you immensely...

Good Luck and High 5s for the 5 I's.