Business Lifesystem Dictionary
A plain-English guide to the core terms, concepts and defined language used in the Business Lifesystem methodology.
The Business Lifesystem uses familiar organisational language in specific and deliberate ways. This Dictionary explains the core terms, concepts and defined language used in the Business Lifesystem methodology, the book and related articles.
How to use this Dictionary
This Dictionary is intended as a practical reference for leaders, consultants and transformation teams who want to understand how the Business Lifesystem connects strategy, delivery, governance, capability, culture and value.
Where a term is capitalised, it is being used in its specific Business Lifesystem sense.
Core Concepts
Business Lifesystem
Chaotic Evolution
Value
The Business Lifesystem is a practical methodology for understanding an Enterprise as a connected system.
It helps leaders see how Purpose, strategy, priorities, Customers, Propositions, Capabilities, Finance, culture, environment, delivery and Value interact.
Chaotic Evolution is the way an Enterprise becomes increasingly complex over time through individually sensible decisions, initiatives, systems, structures, workarounds and changing priorities that are not sufficiently aligned.
Value is the measurable worth created by the Enterprise for Customers, stakeholders, the Organisation and the wider system.
Realised Value is Value that has actually been achieved, evidenced and accepted, rather than simply promised in a strategy, business case or plan.
Business
The Business describes the value-creating logic of the Enterprise: its Customers, Propositions, markets, sales, revenue, strategic objectives and Results.
Organisation
The Organisation describes how work is arranged and enabled: people, partners, processes, systems, assets, governance, structures and ways of working.
Enterprise
The Enterprise is the Business and the Organisation considered together. It includes what the Business is trying to achieve and the Organisation required to enable it.
Business Lifesystem Methodology
Nature
The foundational layer of the Enterprise, describing what it is built from: its Customers, Propositions, Capabilities and Finance.
Nurture
The cultural and behavioural layer of the Enterprise, shaping how people lead, collaborate, decide, implement and define success.
Environment
The external context surrounding the Enterprise, including the forces, constraints and opportunities that shape strategy, delivery, risk and Value.
Business DNA
The core design of the Business, made up of four connected elements: Customer, Proposition, Capability and Finance.
CHOICES
The Business Lifesystem culture framework, covering Collaboration, Harmony, Openness, Implementation, Creativity, Environment and Success.
PERSPECTIVE
The Business Lifesystem framework for assessing external forces that influence the Enterprise’s strategy, delivery, risk and Value.
Golden Thread
The connection from Purpose through strategy, Target Value, Results, Enablers, delivery activity and ultimately Realised Value.
Business DNA
Customer
Proposition
The people, organisations or groups the Business exists to serve, including their needs, relationships, experience and satisfaction.
The offer made to Customers, including what is provided, how it is developed, delivered, improved and differentiated.
Capability
Finance
The resources and abilities required to deliver the Proposition, including people, partners, processes, systems, assets and ways of working.
The financial logic of the Business, including expenditure, income, surplus or profit, investment, affordability and measurable Value.
Purpose
The reason the Business exists, expressing the value it is intended to create and the needs it is designed to serve.
Objectives
The specific aims the Enterprise chooses to pursue in response to its Purpose, Drivers and strategic context.
Results
The measurable effects of activity, including the Outcomes and Benefits that show whether intended Value has been achieved.
Benefit
A measurable improvement that creates Value for Customers, stakeholders, the Organisation or the wider Enterprise.
Delivery Management Vehicle
The project, programme, portfolio, workstream or initiative used to organise and manage delivery activity.
Benefits Realisation Contract
An explicit agreement connecting intended Benefits to owners, measures, evidence, accountability and realised Value.
Strategy, Delivery and Value
Drivers
The internal and external forces creating the need for change, shaping strategic choices, priorities, risks and opportunities.
Target Value
The intended value the Enterprise seeks to create, protect or improve through strategy, change, investment or delivery activity.
Outcome
A changed state, condition or performance level resulting from activity, intervention, delivery or organisational change.
Golden Enablers
A critical Capability, condition, asset or change required to enable the Enterprise to achieve its intended Results.
Route Map
A practical path from the Current Enterprise Model to the Target Enterprise Model, showing how change will be sequenced.
Organisational Debt
The accumulated complexity, workarounds, misalignment and unresolved decisions that make the Enterprise harder to lead and improve.
Download the full Business Lifesystem Dictionary
The full Business Lifesystem Dictionary provides a more detailed reference to the defined terms, concepts and language used in the Business Lifesystem methodology and forthcoming book.
It is designed for leaders, consultants and transformation teams who want a clearer understanding of how the methodology connects strategy, delivery, governance, capability, culture and value.