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The Fundamental Congruence Checklist – A Ten Question Smart Decision Toolkit That Will Change the World

Brian Kazungu

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Brian Kazungu, 19/05/2023

The Fundamental Congruence Checklist is basically made up of a set of ten questions that helps you to process the information which you have about a certain subject in order for you to understand it better so that you can make informed decisions in life.

It is a multi-versatile decision-making tool that can be used to gauge the relevance, effectiveness and impact of anything in life through answering the following questions:

1)     What is this thing?

2)     What does it do and how? – What are its key result areas or objectives and how are they accomplished?

3)     Why does it do so? – Why are those its key result areas, objective or purpose?

4)     What happens if it does not anything or does not perform as expected?

5)     Where is this thing situated in the whole matrix – what position does it occupy?

6)     Why is it situated there? – Why is it occupying that space?

7)     What happens if it is completely removed, moved somewhere, misplaced or even altered?

8)     Who is in charge of it and why? – Who makes it work as planned?

9)     How is its effectiveness assessed? – How do I or other people know if it’s effective or not?

10) What happens if it is effective or not – What are the related consequences?

By using a Congruence Checklist, you will be able to clearly define the purpose of anything and then determine its relevance and interconnectedness to other things which are dear to you in life before you commit your energy, time and resources to it.

When you don’t ask yourself these ten questions, you are most likely to make impulsive decisions out of emotions (excitement) and do things that are very costly and regrettable.

The ten questions in the Congruence Checklist gives you a broader perspective of anything you can think of when you want to make a decision on a certain matter.

A Congruence Checklist helps to reveal the probable consequences of your decision on the various other aspects of your life, i.e. the financial, emotional or spiritual implications of your decisions and actions.

As such, if you want to make an important decision such as getting married, getting divorced, quitting your job, voting for a politician or even buying an asset, you need to ask yourself these ten questions before you make that final decision.

Without an understanding of the Fundamental Congruence philosophy, you will realize that one excitable decision that you make in life can have multiple serious negative consequences that outweigh the benefits of whatever that prompted you to do something.

Let us do a Congruence Checklist on Personal Relations. This can include people you interact with in your life such as those who you engage with at work as shown below.

Congruence Checklist on Personal Relations        

1)     Who is this person?

# It’s a Friend, Spouse, Employee, Manager, Politician, Pastor Etc.

2)     What does or what should he/she do in my life or organization and how?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

3)     Why does or why should he/she do so?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

4)     What happens if he/she does not do or does not properly do that which is expected?

# It means the objectives of the actual basis of your interaction or association will not be achieved according to the defined expectations or will not be achieved at all.

5)     Where is this person situated in the matrix of my life or organization?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

6)     Why is this person occupying this space in the matrix of my life or organization?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

7)     What happens if this person is moved to another place or is removed from the matrix of my life or organization?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

8)     Who is in charge of my interaction, association or relationship with this person?

# Subject to the good laws of the land and principles of civility, you are in charge of the interaction, association or relationship that you have with anybody on earth.

9)     How is the effectiveness of this relationship assessed?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship).

10) What happens if this person is not measuring up to the general or specific expected results of this kind of interaction, association or relationship?

# The answer depends on the set objectives, principles and actual basis of your interaction or association (relationship). You need to review both your approach and that of the other person to see who is being fundamentally incongruent and assess if there is room and or possibility of a definite and measurable improvement. When it can’t be improved, it can be terminated.

In life, you can basically do a Congruence Checklist for anything. For example, if you are an entrepreneur, you can even do a Customer Service Checklist as shown below. This helps you to make smart decisions which promote business continuity and profitability.

Customer Service Checklist

1)     What is Customer Service?

Customer Service is a process of humane and professional attention and treatment given to clients before, during and after a transaction. It includes both the quality of the product and the approaches adopted in the course of engagement.

2)     What does it do and how?

When properly done through a show of respect and appreciation, a good customer service creates a beautiful shopping experience which guarantees sales and profits.

3)     Why does it do so?

We exercise good customer service in order to express gratitude to our clients and to build good relations which guarantees continued and profitable patronage.

4)     What happens if it does not do so or if it does not do it in the right way?

If we do not exercise good customer service, our clients will end up shopping somewhere else out of frustration and we will lose revenue plus the business may close down. Entrepreneurs will lose profit, workers will lose jobs, and the government will lose tax.

5)     Where is this component situated in the business matrix?

On your Mission Statement, customer service is that unique approach which you adopt in engaging with clients. It is directly linked to the product and the customer.

6)     Why is it situated there?

We link the customer service delivery element to our products and the market in order to create an effective and efficient interaction with clients which is mutually beneficial.

7)     What happens if it is removed completely or if it is badly altered?

Without customer service also refer to as a properly defined way of engagement with customers, it’s difficult for your enterprise to accomplish its mission.

8)     Who is in charge of this component and why?

The Sales and Marketing team in consultation with the Executive is responsible for the creation and provision of good customer service approaches to our clients.

9)     How is its effectiveness assessed?

Continued patronage is one of the best ways to assess if our clients are happy with us or not. We can also do a market survey to check on what customers say about our service.

10) What happens if it is effective or not?

If we are not effective in our customer service provision, we need to engage in a serious customer relations training program. We also need to investigate the causes thereof.

In order for you to clearly understand the Fundamental Congruence concept, we must firstly and separately analyze the meaning of the following words:

1) Fundamental

2) Congruence

Fundamentals are generally the basics or foundation of anything and as such, since the whole is made up of different components in order for it to serve its defined purpose, the components thereof must be in their right position and doing the right thing.

By congruence, I refer to the harmonious working together of these basic or primary components in order for them to achieve the desired results.

Let us also look at the dictionary meanings of the words Fundamental and Congruence, so that we can understand better what we are talking about.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Fundamental means serving as a basis supporting existence or determining essential structure or function, while, Congruence means the quality or state of agreeing, coinciding, or being congruent.

So, basically, Fundamental Congruence means a collection and arrangement of components that are fitly joined and working together to achieve a defined purpose.

This arrangement and the interaction of these components must be so orderly that no component will expressly or impliedly work against the effective functioning of the other.

As such, when you are deciding to do something, you must consider the probable immediate and long-term consequences of such a decision on the other things that you hold dear in your life.

A Congruence Checklist is like a Cost Benefit analysis (CBA) if we are to talk in business terms. It helps you to weigh the benefits of your decision against the losses that you may encounter.

When a Congruence Analysis is done, it makes it possible for you to evaluate your decision and it also enables you to see whether there is need to proceed, to postpone or even to cancel something you wanted to do.

A Congruence checklist can help you in several ways. It can help you to craft an engaging business pitch as well as a good marketing or political campaign. It can also be used by journalists to help them ask better and relevant questions on matters of community interest.

Adapted from THE SMART DECISION HANDBOOK written by Brian Kazungu

Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu

Twitter – @BKazungu

Brian Kazungu is an Author, Poet, Journalist, and Technology Enthusiast whose writing covers issues to do with Business, Travelling, Motivation and Inspiration, Religion, Politics, and Communication among others. https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu https://muckrack.com/brian-kazungu http://www.modernghana.com/author/BrianKazungu [email protected] @BKazungu-Twitter He has written and published several books covering various aspects of human life including leadership, entrepreneurship, politics, personal development as well as poetry and travel. These books are found on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu

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