Why You Don't Do Strategy
There is no denying we live in a world of speed.
Faster, higher, stronger is the ancient Olympics motto, but it has never been more relevant to todays thinking in our workplaces. But, it is causing all sorts of trouble too.
The need for speed is causing leaders to do more than work quickly. It is causing people to rush, run, and skip. Our ability to slow seems to be lost, yet it is one of the most impactful competitive advantages we have.
Cal Newport uses the term, "Pseudo Productivity" describing a focus on inputs rather than outputs more appropriate to the Industrial Economy compared to the Knowledge Economy we currently sit in (and even more so to the Technology Economy we are entering). In straight talk this means most professionals are powering through 'task lists' that are bigger at the end of the day than the beginning, and where most of the tasks are below their pay grade.
In workshops I run I have heard of Doctors spending most of their time filling out reports (which an administrator could do at a tenth of the wage cost) rather than Doctor'ing. I have heard of managers of large teams in digital marketing agencies doing the coding in client projects. Last week, an executive with five managers reporting to them and a staff of approximately 50 shared with me they were fixing tasks of their front line staff personally to ensure things were getting done 'properly'.
The world is full of leaders (and professionals in general) rushing about doing a lot of work, but creating little real progress. Where speed is king, it turns out most are simply skipping the core steps that make the most difference.
What Does Slow Look Like?
I Haven't looked at Seek (the employment marketplace) for years. But, from memory a lot of companies would describe themselves as 'fast-paced'. Is this how you describe your business?
It is a badge of honour in some ways and makes things sound exciting. The idea of working slow or being slow can conjure up associations of laziness, sleepiness, and boredom. Imagine describing a party, a football game, or a stand up comedian as 'slow'.
But, this is where the connotation of slow is a little warped.
To go slow is to simply not skip over essential steps. Try baking a cake without mixing the ingredients properly. Try playing football without putting your boots on. Try planting a tree without digging a hole! This is what we are doing a lot of the time in our businesses.
Going slow is more about being thorough, specific, and detailed in our questioning, discussing, and recording of past results, the current state of play, and possible strategies and decisions for the future. When we look at it like this it is easy to see that slowing down (not skipping) means we don't have time to mess around (we can see we need to work with serious pace). This is the dichotomy of Slow Productivity.
Why Do We Struggle To Go Slow?
Dr John Novetsky the Sports Psychologist defines Pressure as the outcome of three main reasons:
High Expectations (pressure on self)
Attached to Outcome (pressure of results)
Sense of Being Judged (pressure of criticism)
All of these contribute to our need to move quicker and just get on with it. This is the playing field we play within, and we find it difficult to react in a productive way.
Failure to admit this is driving a head strong approach of 'speed at all costs'. In short, it is our ego that is causing a lot of the issues. We are afraid to admit we do not have the answers. We are afraid of asking the deeper questions we do not know the answers to. And, we are afraid of the risks of zigging when everyone else is zagging. In fact, we are petrified.
Last week I took a client through a strategy session and he was getting physically irritated by the exercise. He asked, "why are we doing all this simple stuff? I don't need to do this!" Yet, we spent about 45 minutes working through the process and at the end we had 18 months of what we called 'legacy projects' (i.e. stuff he would lead to create high impact for the current business as well as changes that would be high impact for many years beyond his tenure).
I asked him to put more rigor into the work we did (research, data, consult others) and asked how long it would take. He said a couple of hours.
So the moral of the story is, for a few hours work we changed the trajectory of his business. We built the narrative, clarity, and detail he needed to sell his ideas to Senior Management, and to motivate his staff to implement. Yet, the resistance to the process was instinctive, strong, and all too common (welcome to being human folks).
How Can We Stop Skipping?
The ability to work at pace without skipping the critical thinking, discussion, and research for good strategic decision making is easy except when it is not.
Easy - follow the simple steps listed later in this piece using simple models and do the simple stuff constantly.
Not Easy - prioritising the time, effort, and energy to do this on a regular basis when the world is screaming at us to...
Move quicker
Just get it done
It is too hard to change
We can't afford to change
Stop making trouble and just get on with it
Note: Are we telling ourselves this as much as being told it?
Acknowledging this is the environment we are in is the first step. But practically, to ensure you stop skipping be sure to have a process. Know this could be used for your career, your household, and in your work even if you have no direct reports. It is also a process I use with Boards, CEOs, and Department Executives.
1. Analyse - what is the current state of play? What has happened? What is happening? Usually focused internally, but also including external factors. I love the way Warren Buffet put its, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.” Good analysis ensures biases and stories we are telling each other are filtered and self-corrected so we aren't deluding ourselves.
2. Activities - what could we do? No other questions need to be answered here. Warning - almost 100% of the time people get judgemental at this stage. When I facilitate executive groups through this there is always one loud mouth that says something like "why are we even talking about that! We'd never do that! This is a waste of time!" It causes people to shut down and withdraw from the process. The loud mouth has some valid points as we are at a stage of brainstorming and creating possibility where most ideas will be edited out. But, they are totally wrong to bring this mindset into this part of the process. Firstly, all activities are coming from the analysis (therefore they are valid). Secondly, often the discussion of ideas meld into each other and have offspring of their own, many of which become helpful during the process. Judgement at this stage is a killer - beware, it will come up in all of us.
3. Prioritise - please stop using the Eisenhower/Covey Quadrants. They are great for operational tasks, but the metric of urgent versus important does not cut it strategically. We need to understand RISK and IMPACT of possible activities we would take on. We also need to understand SCALE, as some activities will be operational (more tasks) rather than Strategic Initiatives or entire Projects. In the age of search engines there are many alternative models to use. Also, you probably have a few MBAs and Business Degrees amongst you - use the stuff you know and trust as long as it yields scale, risk, and impact.
4. Strategy Build - Simon Sinek made famous what everyone basically knows. A strategy should state why we are doing it, how we are doing it, and what we are doing. But, Sinek comes at this more from a marketing and motivation point of view. It made him famous, but I don't find it useful for real people doing real work. A little tweak can make all the difference. I think of it from a 'boots on the ground' perspective:
Why are we doing it? Refers to the MEANING of the work. Harder to define than we think.
What are we doing? Refers to the MILESTONES we need to achieve and the METRICS of success.
How are we doing it? Refers to MOVERS we will focus on and the MOMENTS of behaviour we expect in the team.
In short, how we do stuff drives the stuff we need to do that then contributes to the stuff we want to see more of in the world. You can quote me on that.
One other thing to remember about strategy that drives people mad is that a Strategy is not a Plan. Here is Roger Martin, a global expert on strategy to explain. We need rigor, data, and ways to implement, but be under no illusion - this is about putting together ideas on how you will win against all the friction, resistance, and competition out there trying to stop, slow, and hurt your progress. Strategy is blue sky thinking, not task-list-making.
5. The Story - business storytelling is big business. Content Marketing is a $413.3 billion industry as of 2022 projected to go to 5x within a decade (Research Dive). Start Ups, Consultants specialising in Strategic Communications, and of course Media and Entertainment use storytelling as a backbone of their proposals, pitches, products, and services accounting for billions in our economy. Talking in stories, thinking in stories, answering in stories, and identifying the stories is critical to building and selling any strategy you create.
6. Presenting - I joke that I have gone to 'Professional Speaker School', referring to the masters I have learnt under. From motivational speakers, to business gurus, to comedians, to global experts. I haven't worked with them all, but I worked with enough and have been mentored by many. And, every single one of them agrees on one principle - you need to have a structure. Janine Garner, the business mentor commonly uses the phrase, "structure will set you free". This is true, as having a tried and tested blueprint means your brain can focus on the content and the audience, and you can have confidence in your content and delivery. The critical thing to know is that if you cannot communicate your ideas with purpose, power, and clarity it will be dead and forgotten before dinner is served that night.
I purchased this book from a beautiful book store in Ballarat years ago for about $25. It has more models in it than I will ever use. You don't need a MBA, Business Degree, or any expert to tell you what models to use. If you are clear on the purpose of the exercise and the clarity to are looking to obtain then it is easy to find the best model to use. If in doubt, just use anything and start! Otherwise, it is procrastination.
Go Slow To Go Fast (And Far)
In a world riddled with Pseudo Productivity, unethical skipping (famous examples: Boeing, Apple, Uber, Volkswagen), and a push for pace, it is those able to slow the conversation, chunk down the problems to be solved, and build pragmatic and simple-to-buy strategies are the ones that will not only win, but will accelerate. It is one of the strongest points of difference for an individual professional and especially for leaders.
Einstein once said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I can see things in a simpler way." I think there is real genius in this and those able to take the mental time to get a piece of paper and pen out and think through the work they lead until it becomes simple to understand and explain will build tangible value no one will be able to ignore.
