Previous entry left with “Plan your future to create it. Envision the future you want, map how to get there, set goals and achieve them.”
It’s not really as easy as that sounds. If it were, everybody would do it, all the time. As is, very few do. Both organizations and individuals are more frequently reactive than planful.
But those that are actively engaged in creating their future are more successful and satisfied than the rest.
Step 1 is to envision the future you want.
When operating reactively, under stress, just coping, that can be a great challenge.
It requires a decision to put the present “on hold” for short period, to disconnect from the stress, to recognize that the all-consuming crises will have to wait a bit.
The important work of envisioning the future has to take priority over the urgent, if only for a little while.
Is "a little while" all this takes?!?
Well, that depends – on how many people need to be involved. When an individual creates her own vision of the future, is can be pretty quick, with guidance and attention.
When a small organization envisions its future, those various views need to be reconciled to a meaningful consensus. That takes longer, but still can be achieved in a morning.
When a larger organization does this, more people need to be involved and engaged, and it becomes an ongoing process. The senior leadership creates the vision, and then needs to engage the rest of the organization. While more time on the calendar will pass, it’s still just a very few hours at a time, spread over several weeks.
Is it worth the time and effort?
When you consider that the alternative is staying reactive, and what that costs, it certainly is.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
5 problems with reactive mode
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” We all know, intuitively, that if we don’t make and follow some sort of plan, we get stuck in a reactive mode.
Operating reactively has five specific disadvantages or risks.
1) Progress is unknown. If we don’t know where we’re going, how would we know if we’re getting closer, or farther away?
2) Satisfaction is elusive. Absent knowledge of progress, the best that can be said of a day might be “Nothing went haywire that we couldn’t fix!” While that can be an expression of relief, it’s different from satisfaction.
3) Decision quality is at risk. Without the context and guidance of a known strategy or goal, there’s no way to be sure we make right decisions. We may guess right most of the time, but it’s riskier.
4) Attention is scattered. By necessity, we focus on the urgent – and that may not be what’s most important. Operating without plans or goals leads to more - and more varied - things becoming urgent, until we’re overwhelmed and barely coping.
5) Stress levels rise. Productivity in organizations is at a very high level, as members cope with a long season of “do more, with less” as the guiding principal. When members leave, survivors take on as much of their jobs as can’t be left undone. But how long is that sustainable?
So, what to do?
Plan your future to create it. Envision the future you want, map how to get there, set goals and achieve them.
Is it that simple?
See my next blog for that.
Operating reactively has five specific disadvantages or risks.
1) Progress is unknown. If we don’t know where we’re going, how would we know if we’re getting closer, or farther away?
2) Satisfaction is elusive. Absent knowledge of progress, the best that can be said of a day might be “Nothing went haywire that we couldn’t fix!” While that can be an expression of relief, it’s different from satisfaction.
3) Decision quality is at risk. Without the context and guidance of a known strategy or goal, there’s no way to be sure we make right decisions. We may guess right most of the time, but it’s riskier.
4) Attention is scattered. By necessity, we focus on the urgent – and that may not be what’s most important. Operating without plans or goals leads to more - and more varied - things becoming urgent, until we’re overwhelmed and barely coping.
5) Stress levels rise. Productivity in organizations is at a very high level, as members cope with a long season of “do more, with less” as the guiding principal. When members leave, survivors take on as much of their jobs as can’t be left undone. But how long is that sustainable?
So, what to do?
Plan your future to create it. Envision the future you want, map how to get there, set goals and achieve them.
Is it that simple?
See my next blog for that.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
First Blog post - on radio about strategy and engagement
On Wednesday, November 4, I'll be on the Peter McClellan radio show from 5-6 PM on AM 1570, streaming online at business1570.com.
Being there, and posting this, and cross referencing it in Twitter and Facebook, is my foray into the new world of social media marketing.
I've held back from doing this for a while, with the nagging question in my mind "Does the world really need another blog?"
But I've come to believe that there are a few things that are well worth talking about, putting out there for public dialog and interaction, holding up for examination from a critical and maybe unique perspective.
So tomorrow what Peter and I will be talking about will be getting ready for the recovery with strategic planning and alignment. There will be other topics, including sales force development, employee engagement, assessment, and (following the Scottish theme of the show) haggis...
The last season in the economy has been hard on a lot of companies, large and small. Some have shed employees to save costs, some have retrenched, some have gone under; nearly all have struggled.
There's reason for hope - the news today reports some increases in manufacturing, and estimates of when the recovery will start to pick up get closer and closer.
At some point in the future (hopefully the near future), demand for the products and services will start to pick up. The pace of business will accelerate as the economy rebounds.
But there's a real risk at this moment, I think - one that reminds me of those old "Road Runner" cartoons where Wile E. Coyote's gone over the cliff, still spinning his legs, not falling... until he looks down.
For some companies, that have gone through layoffs - with the resulting burnout and changed culture among the "survivors" - there's a potential crisis of confidence among the best performers. If they are not engaged, if they don't know why they're coming to work in the morning, or what difference their own job makes in taking the company where they want to work toward where it needs to go.
People need to know why they come to work - beyond just collecting a paycheck and doing what's required.
They need to understand where the organization is going, feel a part of a worthy endeavor, and see the connection between their contribution of talent and effort and organizational goals that are worth it.
If the strategy hasn't changed in several years, or if it's unknown, or disbelieved, or clearly not working, people won't buy into it, and they won't give their best. Having no strategy, or one that doesn't fit reality, leads to cynicism and lack of faith.
And burnout, cynicism, skepticism about the organization's future may have a very bad (and not widely expected) impact: The best people in the organization will start looking for other work exactly when they're needed most.
What if, instead, organizations can muster the wisdom and focus to re-engage in a systematic strategic planning process? What if it's clear to all that the leadership is planning to take the organization in directions that its people can believe in? What if they take the strategy throughout the organization, so that everybody knows where the organization's going, and wants to go along?
Maybe that will be a key difference between the companies that are able to step up to the coming recovery, with their people engaged and giving their best, and those that get surprised by the loss of key talent at the moment they're needed most.
Being there, and posting this, and cross referencing it in Twitter and Facebook, is my foray into the new world of social media marketing.
I've held back from doing this for a while, with the nagging question in my mind "Does the world really need another blog?"
But I've come to believe that there are a few things that are well worth talking about, putting out there for public dialog and interaction, holding up for examination from a critical and maybe unique perspective.
So tomorrow what Peter and I will be talking about will be getting ready for the recovery with strategic planning and alignment. There will be other topics, including sales force development, employee engagement, assessment, and (following the Scottish theme of the show) haggis...
The last season in the economy has been hard on a lot of companies, large and small. Some have shed employees to save costs, some have retrenched, some have gone under; nearly all have struggled.
There's reason for hope - the news today reports some increases in manufacturing, and estimates of when the recovery will start to pick up get closer and closer.
At some point in the future (hopefully the near future), demand for the products and services will start to pick up. The pace of business will accelerate as the economy rebounds.
But there's a real risk at this moment, I think - one that reminds me of those old "Road Runner" cartoons where Wile E. Coyote's gone over the cliff, still spinning his legs, not falling... until he looks down.
For some companies, that have gone through layoffs - with the resulting burnout and changed culture among the "survivors" - there's a potential crisis of confidence among the best performers. If they are not engaged, if they don't know why they're coming to work in the morning, or what difference their own job makes in taking the company where they want to work toward where it needs to go.
People need to know why they come to work - beyond just collecting a paycheck and doing what's required.
They need to understand where the organization is going, feel a part of a worthy endeavor, and see the connection between their contribution of talent and effort and organizational goals that are worth it.
If the strategy hasn't changed in several years, or if it's unknown, or disbelieved, or clearly not working, people won't buy into it, and they won't give their best. Having no strategy, or one that doesn't fit reality, leads to cynicism and lack of faith.
And burnout, cynicism, skepticism about the organization's future may have a very bad (and not widely expected) impact: The best people in the organization will start looking for other work exactly when they're needed most.
What if, instead, organizations can muster the wisdom and focus to re-engage in a systematic strategic planning process? What if it's clear to all that the leadership is planning to take the organization in directions that its people can believe in? What if they take the strategy throughout the organization, so that everybody knows where the organization's going, and wants to go along?
Maybe that will be a key difference between the companies that are able to step up to the coming recovery, with their people engaged and giving their best, and those that get surprised by the loss of key talent at the moment they're needed most.
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