In Jim Collin’s Good to Great book, the hedgehog concept strucked me. Hedgehog organizations are known for their consistency, knowing the “one big thing” and stick to it. They leave the competition behind for behaving like foxes – known for being crafty, cunning creatures that knows a lot of things but lack consistency.
To be a hedgehog organization, its people must understand and agree what they can be best at and not be best at, assessing the wants. Knowing what you can be best at and focusing yourself to it can serve as a a basis of your organization’s hedgehog concept. You may not be the best in that area right now but can undertake projects and activities to reach that goal. For as long as the organization and the right team members share the same deep passion, then you’re on the right track.
As you identified your can be best potential, analyzing your economic engine is important as well. You need to figure the one denominator (profit per x) that has the biggest impact. It can be profit per employee, per customer, per area, per brand, per local population, among others.
Once your hedgehog concept is established, you can implement and monitor through an active council composed of various members of the organization. This is equivalent to your 360 degrees feedback process that allows you to shape your implementation process to meet your end goal.