DOJI: turning a leader's intuition into a basis for collective discussion

Context

DOJI is an organisation in a major structuring phase, driven by a committed team of 10 people across France and Canada and a strong ambition: to share the Science of Innovation and train people to solve complex situations and seemingly impossible problems.

At the time of the Diagnostic, the team had already validated an MVP, received positive initial client feedback and begun consolidating its business model. The issue was therefore not a lack of vision, but the transition from a project-based collective to a company that now needed to be structured.

The Diagnostic highlighted this transition clearly: DOJI needed to preserve the depth of its project while putting in place the practical conditions required for its entrepreneurial development.

Interview with Olivia Riant, CEO of DOJI

What was the context when you conducted the Strategic Alignment Diagnostic?

We were at a pivotal moment. Our first formats had been tested and validated, and we now needed to move to the next stage.

Until then, a great deal had relied on a highly committed team with a shared vision. But as the company develops, it becomes increasingly important to clarify roles, priorities, contributions and the practical conditions required for launch.

We had already planned a working seminar for the end of the month. The Diagnostic therefore came at exactly the right time: it identified the next stage we needed to work on.

What did the Diagnostic confirm?

It confirmed what I had already sensed empirically.

I could see that we had a strong vision, but also several issues that needed to be clarified before moving to the next stage. The Strategic Alignment Diagnostic helped put factual evidence behind those intuitions.

It was no longer simply a matter of saying, "I feel that…" or "I think that…". It gave us a structured analysis of our responses, allowing us to open up a discussion with the team on a more factual basis.

Which issues emerged as priorities?

Several issues came through very clearly.

First, roles and contributions. In a project-based collective, everyone contributes a great deal, often in a very fluid way. But when you are building a company, you need to make it more explicit who does what, with what level of commitment and over what timeframe.

Then there is the business model. We have a long-term ambition, but we also need to embrace the reality of entrepreneurship: selling, testing the offer, generating revenue, structuring pricing and prioritising development.

Finally, there is the question of partners. At DOJI, some stakeholders may act as trainers, educational partners, commercial relays, contributors or technology partners. The Diagnostic highlighted the value of clarifying our partnership model in order to avoid ambiguity.

Did the Strategic Alignment Diagnostic change your vision?

No, and that was not the objective.

The Diagnostic did not tell us, "You need to change your vision." It showed us how to connect that vision more effectively with the practical conditions required for launch.

We have a strong ambition with genuine depth. But we are also building a business. We therefore need to anchor that ambition in what is necessary to make the company's development successful.

What value do you see for a leadership team?

The value lies in creating a basis for discussion.

When a leader carries many different issues, they may have a fairly clear understanding of what is happening. But as long as that understanding remains in their head, or at the level of intuition, it is not always easy to share.

The Strategic Alignment Diagnostic helps move beyond individual perception. It gives the team a basis for discussing, prioritising and deciding.

This is particularly useful when responsibilities need to broaden. Until now, operational management had rested solely with a very small circle of co-founders, even though our wider team consists of 10 people. The seminar helped us clarify everyone's roles, our strategic horizons, priority areas for development, and governance within DOJI and its current and future ecosystem. In that context, it becomes essential for everyone to understand the vision, priorities and trade-offs using the same language.

This is also consistent with the protocol we teach ourselves through the Science of Innovation, which has four stages:

• identify the key observation
• formulate the key idea
• create the key object
• produce the key narrative

The Strategic Alignment Diagnostic helped us specifically with the third stage — creating the key object: giving our organisation a concrete and operational form. In a way, we are living proof of the scientific protocol we teach being put into practice.

Toryo Perspective

The DOJI case illustrates a very clear use of the Strategic Alignment Diagnostic by Toryo ®. The issue was not to create a new strategy. It was to help a committed team move from a strong vision to clearer organisational priorities.

The Diagnostic helped confirm existing strengths and make visible the areas that still needed clarification, preparing the ground for a collective discussion about the priorities for the next stage.

In this type of situation, the value of the Diagnostic is not to replace the leader's intuition. It is to ground that intuition in evidence.

To turn an existing perception into a shared view and enable the team to decide more clearly what to realign, in what order and why.