The Anarva Energies Model:

The Anarva Energies Model is a comprehensive model that enables an organization to build a sustained strategy for success, especially during changing times, by creating a balance between 3 essential energy components.

A leadership team often focuses on growth with the question, “What should we create next, that will have a mega impact?” Where impact could come in the form of brand growth, revenues or market leadership. The approach is then constructed around, “key strategies, resources to deliver, and capabilities to be built” with a strong review plan in place.

However, creating a plan is not equal to sustaining momentum, and an organization can sometimes hit the wall of diminishing returns, as current urgencies overtake future agendas. Unwritten status quo is often stronger and can drag down the new.

The Anarva energies model is a comprehensive approach that allows an organization and a leadership team to:

  • Identify which of the three energies they are currently invested in, and how the current pattern creates imbalance.
  • Determine where to place their energies for the future and how to ensure the pursuit is successful, without diminishing over time.
  • Pinpoint the likely blocks (hidden and unknown) to growth opportunities, and prepare unblocking strategies.
  • Bolster the key hidden strengths, which if leveraged, will allow for an unobstructed growth trajectory.
  • Create balance between the three energies, so that the internal aspirations have a real impact in the market.

When should the Anarva energies model be used?

  • When growth strategies have slowed down and need to be re-ignited.
  • When an organization or leadership team needs a transformational framework to help implement change comprehensively.

The Belief Umwelt Principle:

Umwelt means ‘an organism’s perception of its world’. Perception is often limited, and hence breakthrough opportunities emerge when organisations break through their umwelten.

What prevents breakthroughs? What blinds us from opportunities? Why are we taken aback when someone else creates what was an obvious breakthrough, in hindsight?

Jacob Van Uexküll described the Umwelt (environment or surroundings, in German) as the meaning an organism makes through perception. This depicts its model of the world. The mind and the world are inseparable, because it is the mind that interprets the world for the organism. Hence, umwelt means the ‘self-centred world’. However, umwelt is the organism’s subset of the world, and there could be a greater environment called umgebung.

While Uexküll used this model in the context of biology in the early 20th century, it could well apply to organizations and industries too. Over a span of time, people create organisation and industry umwelten- their reality of boundaries and rules. These then become blind spots that limit new opportunities and ways of working. The belief ends up being- ‘this is the only way in which the industry works’, ignoring the reality of the greater umgebung. As an industry matures, the beliefs become unquestioned truths. We call this the belief umwelt principle.

Anarva can map organisation and industry umwelten.  Once the umwelt boundaries are identified, we then break through boundaries for new insight and new opportunities, in the greater umgebung. This mapping is even more compelling with the penetrative questions designed to specifically target and arrive at the umwelt.

When should the Belief Umwelt Principle be used? 

  • When a business is looking for a breakthrough or an innovation opportunity (especially in a commoditized market) or
  • When an organisation wants to transform the landscape of its industry to emerge as a significant player with a big idea.

Reference for Umwelt and Umgebung: https://edge.org/response-detail/11498

The Big Questions Model:

The Big Questions Model enables a leadership team to unscramble the various building blocks of their strategy journey in order sharply focus their energies and effort on the imperative elements for maximum results.

Where does an organization begin its transformation journey? In the absence of clarity- often, any vision/mission or leadership activity is undertaken, without an adequate exploration of the big picture. But is this the most necessary activity at this state of the organization’s life? Has the leadership team defined each of the variables, their meaning for the organization and how to surf between them?

Organizations can achieve lasting success by developing clarity and designing for success along the three big questions routes.

  • The Existence questions: which articulate or renew the vision and mission
  • The Strategy questions: which identify where and how to play the game to win and
  • The Leadership questions: which clarify how to direct the game and what culture to create in order to motivate the organization to win.

When should the Big Questions Model be used?

  • When a leadership team wants to unscramble and clarify the depth of each of the three imperatives in organization building.
  • Or when it wants focus its intervention for maximum impact given the context and need of the organization; for any of the three could be used as gateways to lead organization and business growth.
  • Or when it wants to create clear ownership and motivation in the rest of the organization- where fuzziness in the big questions will multiply to greater ambiguity.