The beginner’s guide to current state assessments

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• What is a current state assessment?
• Why do a current state assessment?
• How to conduct a current state assessment
• Overcoming common challenges
• Conclusion

The beginner’s guide to current state assessments

Physicist Albert Einstein once said that if he were given one hour to save the planet, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes resolving it.

In other words, Einstein would have spent 92% of his time evaluating the planet’s current state and 8% of his time on saving it. What can we learn from Einstein’s assertion and how can it apply to the organizations where we work?

What is a current state assessment?

A current state assessment (or analysis) is a business process meant to evaluate the current state of an organizational issue.

It can and should take place anywhere in the organization, whether that be at the frontlines with the customer service team or deep in the weeds with the backend development of a product.

A current state analysis can also provide a way to discover the root cause of a problem and all of its components. It can help you define how things are today—and how you compare to your competitors.

Conducting a current state assessment involves asking critical questions like:

• What is the problem?
• What makes up the problem?
• What makes your organization different than your competitors?
• What other factors should you consider?

If you're thinking about any of these questions, you've already started your current state analysis!

Why do a current state assessment?

A current state assessment helps companies evaluate where they are in relation to where they want to be. In other words, your current state vs. future state requires a mechanism to get from point 'A' to point 'Z.' The current state analysis is that very mechanism.

Conducting a current state analysis can help your company tie organizational changes to reality. For instance, effective change management must be based in a solid understanding of where the business unit stands. Without a current state analysis, you could choose the wrong approach and put effort into something that ends up being ineffective. Your analysis will establish key data points to help you analyze the success of any changes you make, ensuring that you see the effects of the changes you make.

How to conduct a current state assessment

Einstein said he would have performed his assessment of the problem on his own. But companies should start by choosing who to involve and how to identify the problem at hand.

A current state analysis can't be solved in one sitting and doesn’t have a single correct answer. Instead, the process has phases and stages. The goal of these phases is to compare and contrast the current state and the future state. For example, if you’re trying to optimize gathering customer satisfaction data, the future state would be an ideal model of how to efficiently collect that data.

Here’s a current state analysis template:

Current state assessment framework

Phase 1: Build the process

Phase 2: Collect the data and discuss with stakeholders

Phase 3: Assess the current state vs. future state

Phase 4: Define the problem and find the solution

Phase 1: Build the process

This stage is all about building a current state assessment framework. This is the time to evaluate who the stakeholders are, how you’ll interview them, and which challenges they’re facing.

Phase 2: Capture each component of the problem

This is where you dig in to understand every component of the problem. You could send surveys to temperature check how people feel about a business process or host detailed discussions with stakeholders. Data analysis could play a role, too.

All of this input will go straight into the snapshot of the current state. Do your desktop research, talk to relevant executives and treat each interview like a discussion—not a survey. To gather the most accurate and specific information, every data point matters.

Phase 3: Decide on your desired future state

Next, zoom out on the issue and solution—i.e. the future state—at hand. Evaluate the current state for what it is, then decide on what you want the future state to look like. This should be based on the current state analysis you’ve performed.

Phase 4: Brainstorm solutions

Pat yourself on the back; you identified the problem. Now it’s time to brainstorm a solution. The current state analysis took you from ‘A’ to ‘M’, but now you need to find a solution that will get your organization from ‘M’ to ‘Z.’

Brainstorming can take different forms: sketching on a whiteboard, creating a bulleted list or discussing the current state with someone who can bring in a fresh perspective. Experiment to understand what works for you and your team, then ask for input from the stakeholders you identified earlier in the process.

Overcoming common challenges

Getting from 'A' to 'Z' might sound easy, but many businesses run into challenges along the way. Here are three common challenges associated with current state assessments:

Conclusion

There are a few key things to remember about a current state analysis:

1. Your current state analysis should be backed by insightful conversations and research.
2. The process is best undertaken in four stages.

Understanding the process, collecting data, assessing the current state vs. future state, defining the problem and identifying the right solution—it sounds like a lot. However, a current state assessment is a worthy exercise that can help you achieve your organizational goals.