The Method — Orient
The orient phase checklist
Use this checklist to know whether Orient is genuinely finished: if you cannot produce a written constraint and a 90-day plan, it is not.
7 min read · Reviewed by both partners
Every item below is pass or fail. Partial credit is how phases get declared complete while the business stays stuck.
The point of Orient is an honest inventory, a goal that forces change, and one named constraint. The checklist just makes that testable.
Step by step
The goal is written and it forces a change
A goal that the current operation would hit anyway is not a goal. It should make something uncomfortable.
The numbers came from your system, not an estimate
Estimates feel efficient and quietly invalidate everything downstream.
One thing is named, not five
Orient ends with a single item. A list of five means the phase has not converged.
Somebody disagreed and was answered with evidence
Unchallenged conclusions in this phase are usually just the loudest opinion in the room.
It is written down where the team can see it
A written constraint and a 90-day plan, in a document with a date on it.
Common mistakes
Checking boxes to reach the next phase
The purpose is not to finish Orient. It is to be right about an honest inventory, a goal that forces change, and one named constraint.
Accepting ‘we already know this’
Frequently true and frequently wrong. If it is known, writing it down costs an hour and settles it.
Frequently Asked Questions
The orient phase checklist?
Every item below is pass or fail. Partial credit is how phases get declared complete while the business stays stuck.
How does Growth-Scaling turn this into a concrete next step?
It sits under The Orient Phase in the Growth Scaling Method. The next step for an owner is the $1,500 Assessment, which reads your own numbers against everything described above.
What is the investment?
The one-time Foundation runs $4,500. Whether a monthly program follows, and at what level above the $5,000 floor, is a decision the Plan of Action makes with the numbers in hand.
Who delivers the work?
Both founding partners, every time — strategy from David Mitroff, Ph.D., systems and measurement from Steven Lockhart.
References
- www.census.gov — primary source
- www.federalreserve.gov — primary source
- www.uspto.gov — primary source
Check your own Orient against this
Most businesses fail two of the five, and always the same two.
Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm. It is not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical and does not provide medical, legal, financial, or contracting services; all industry content on this site is marketing and growth guidance for owners in those fields. Figures describing past engagements refer to specific businesses under specific conditions and are not a prediction of any future result. No outcome is promised.
Written by Steven Lockhart, reviewed by David Mitroff, Ph.D. Figures and regulatory details reflect the cited public sources; requirements vary by state and situation. Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm, not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical.