Friday, April 24, 2020

Get on and do it - but get on and do it right!

When you really need to move fast, being handed the keys to a fast car is much more welcome than being passed the plans to build a car factory.
Here in April 2020 we have an exceptional need to move fast - so. for many, strategy is just extra paperwork right now.
There are many benefits to just 'getting on and doing it'. But there is always the counter that you may just be heading fast in the wrong direction. The solution is to think in terms of a rapidly rolled out framework. It should give you something you can start on right now, that gets you results fast, but in being started on also provides solid foundations to build a sustainable future on.
For me that looks somewhat like this:
1. WORK TO VALUE, AT PACE: (AKA, get on and do it). Choose a problem - pull together a small team - call the output of their labours 'the product' and start. Stand that up with access to insight, clarity of constrains and appropriate process and tools for ideation, concept development and prototyping. Allow decision making to stay within the team - and you'll get to a solution fast. You can do that tomorrow. It's a first and important step and can be done without any of the other three foundations laid. Go!

2. TECHNICAL BASICS: In step 1 you can get a long way just working on paper, with the insight you have and with the tools that may already be readily available. But in the rapid solutioning of WORK TO VALUE AT PACE you are also likely to start identifying additional basic data and technology needs. These will form your TECHNICAL BASICS. These can be captured as a backlog through repeating step 1, but you can get ahead of them by a rapid review vs need. Deploy step 2 early and fast and you'll be speeding up and scaling up your iterative capacity. So while step 1 will get you started, step two will enhance both your capabilities and your capacity.

3. NETWORK LEADERSHIP: By following step 1, and preparing to scale its activities with step 2, you will already been seeing the benefits of distributed leadership. You will likely be wanting more. To achieve that requires changes to governance, roles and responsibilities. By selecting to make this part of your framework you can unleash the network potential of the organisation - taking what you have learned from doing, to make it the way that you work across the enterprise. Change management, coaching and mentoring are essential value adds in step 3.

4. CULTURE TO SUSTAIN: Steps 1 to 3 will have taught you a lot about solving problems at speed and with accuracy. You will have achieved amazing things. It's great. You will enjoy it. But it can't go on for ever unless you appreciate that, like individuals, organisations exist in a society and on a planet on which our success depends. Steps 1-3 give you the tools to create value at speed - step 4 recognises that your continued success depends on that of people and planet. There's no profit without them. In this step governance and value generation build in a balanced approach to allow you to sustain your success.

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The rate of change is so rapid it's difficult for one person to keep up to speed. Let's pool our thoughts, share our reactions and, who knows, even reach some shared conclusions worth arriving at?