Operational to Strategic
Breaking Away from the Frontline without Losing Touch
What does a CFO of an education facility, a COO of a childcare business, a Sales Manager at a national utilities company, and a Manufacturing Department Head at an auto-motor company all have in common?
They all have the same problem in their leadership along with many others I have spoken to and worked with in workshops in the last few months.
They all have well defined-rock-hard-Arnie-like 'operational muscles'. The reason they are in leadership roles is primarily (but not exclusively) due to their ability to perform exceptionally as subject matter experts in their chosen field. The CFO was once an enthusiastic bright accountant. The Manufacturing Department Head was once a talented mechanic. And, so on....
This is similar in many organisations. As much as attitude comes into play, most professional sporting coaches and directors still cannot pass up the delicious high-talent prospects every draft season. When the talented do well they immediately put themselves in the shop window for leadership roles. And, that's how it mostly goes.
So, it isn't surprising our leaders find it hard to pull themselves out of the frontline and get on with their actual job – supporting others to be great at their job. There are many ways in which this can be done. Some examples could be:
mentor and educate team members to develop their capability
be available to help them when they get stuck, need help, or have a question
give them direction and feedback when they are knocked off course
feed them updates and so they are aware of all the latest info
bored yet? me too – you get the idea
Knowing that 'achieving through others' is the central reason for the existence of a leader can be helpful. Adjacent to this is a helpful first principle leadership I like to use, 'a leader's job is to support their people to achieve their goals'.
My hope is these first principles in themselves reframe leader's mindset and begin to make it easier to separate from the operational familiarity (and temptation).
The next helpful step may be to look at what a leader should be doing instead of doing the work itself 🤔
If the job is not to do the work then it makes sense the leader's job is to figure out how the work will be done, done well, and within budget/time. This may be called planning. If done with thought and purpose then it may be referred to as a Strategic Plan. To paraphrase the words of Alicia McKay, the New Zealand Straight Talking Strategist, "Strategy is just the act of being deliberate".
Over the past years, I have found myself doing more and more Strategic Facilitation, and teaching leader's how to form Organisational and Operational Strategies. The term 'strategy' still intimidates me a little, but it really shouldn't. And it shouldn't scare anyone reading this. There is nothing scary about it.
To go from Operational to Strategic in how we lead, there are a few things I have learnt which may help:
Strategy is not fancy. It is simple
Simon Sinek became an overnight success with his Start with Why talk. He is a beautiful orator but what Sinek does so well is show us how simple strategy is. At the very least, all you need to do is to answer the following questions about the work your team is doing:
Why is 'the stuff that needs doing' worth doing?
What is the stuff that need doing?
How will people do the stuff?
There are many frameworks, analytical tools, and human-design-processes we can use. But, before even contemplating any of this, just ask and pursue the answers to the three questions above. Already you are doing more strategic thinking (and planning) than the vast majority of your competitors.
Strategy is culture
Here is another cliche for you, Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast. A zinger from our old friend Peter Drucker, a US consultant from the mid-twentieth century that influences business school teachings across the western world to this day. Sorry big Pete, this one doesn't stack up.
If culture is the description of how people behave, or are expected to behave as well as an attitude or shared set of values then isn't this covered in the why and how questions above? And, even if your answer is 'no Paul, you're wrong', then is it not true that you can build a strategy to build a desired culture!?! An individual can do this with pen and paper. So without getting into an existential debate, I call BS on this worn out and overused quote.
I simply do not believe it. I believe culture exists within strategies and they are intertwined much like ingredients in a cake - you can't split them once they are mixed and baked in. This opens up the stepping stones for Operational Managers to start tangibly building their own team cultures and growing influence within their circle. A circle that will only expand with more strategic leadership.
Being Strategic is being practical
The last barrier to being more strategic is it is often seen as conceptual gunk unhelpful to the nuts-and-bolts of the frontline business. The sort of thing executives have off-site retreats for (code for an expensive booze up) and create documents on an intranet no one looks at.
Fortunately, slashed budgets across all sectors are reducing this sort of nonsense. More importantly, it is strategy done wrong. Strategy is simply deciding to get stuff done in a deliberate way. And, most of what will inform this comes from the frontline. If you are a restaurant manager you will spend time on the dining room floor experiencing the reservations system, the struggles of the waiting staff, and watching annoyed customers try and fix their own wobbly table. Yes, you are doing the work, but not for the purpose of doing the work. You are doing the work to observe for the pain, solutions, and data which will feed your strategic thinking. If knowledge is power, then this is powerful activity for any leader (I'm talking to you BOD's and C-Suites - get out of you're boardrooms and office buildings!)
A leader is the data bank - constantly viewing for the best ways forward, the sustainable business practices, and the core problems to solve. If a strategy has been developed, agreed upon, and communicated to the troops then the leader's focus will be to observe for all the evidence that tells if the strategy is helping/correct or needs adjusting. First hand observations and constant dialogue with team members is critical (and ultimately) the only way to be a pragmatic leader.
There are further reasons for diving into strategic leadership, including the importance of communicating with influence to higher-ups and important clients/external stakeholders. Moving from an operational rhythm to a strategic one doesn't mean we all of the sudden need to dress, look, or speak any different. By embracing a simple approach to strategy there is a wonderful opportunity to increase influence and create a performance culture steeped in practicality.
