Stephen Bungay takes a new look at the problem of making strategy happen and finds an old solution from somewhere unexpected.
The reason that executing strategy continues to be a problem for companies across the world is that we are still constrained by a legacy model of the organisation as a machine.
In the fast-changing, unpredictable environment of modern business, successful execution means closing the gaps between plans, actions and outcomes: the knowledge gap, the alignment gap and the effects gap.
The approach allowing us to do so was developed by the Prussian Army in the 19th century, and is based on the model of an organisation not as a machine but as an organism, a set of human relationships.
They closed the knowledge gap by formulating a clear intent; the alignment gap by a rigorous method of briefing the next level down and backbriefing to agree the implied actions; and the effects gap by giving individuals freedom of action within bounds.
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The Twilight of the Big Kahuna: Why a Learning Conversation about POWER is a game-changer
Well planned and facilitated Learning Conversations are among the most potent transformational interventions in any leadership development effort. This is because conversations are the primary way that knowledge workers learn, and well designed learning conversations yield immediate positive results.
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Creating new options for making faster and easier progress.
In the last issue we discussed how each of us has an invisible ‘operating system’ of beliefs and assumptions. Our ‘OS’ interprets, and so distorts, every piece of information we receive before we ever have a chance to consider it consciously. Whilst this is extremely useful, it also means that we all get stuck in patterns and traps of our own making. Every problem we face has two parts – what’s going on ‘out there’ in the world (e.g. the markets or our organisation) and what’s going on ‘in here’ – in the form of the assumptions we make about both the problem and the solution. When we’re stuck, or struggling with something, it’s often because we’re failing to examine those aspects of the problem that lie within us. The good news is that, if we can learn to do so, these aspects are completely within our control and so can give us many useful options for moving forward. This is just as true for teams as it is
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Breaking through with Learning Conversations
Breaking through with Learning Conversations We all get stuck in patterns of how we do things and the results we produce. Some of these are helpful – but others consistently frustrate our ability to get what we want. This is just as true for teams as it is for individuals. Some of our patterns are known to us. In the case of some of the less helpful ones they are only too familiar. Others are outside our awareness, and these are even more difficult to deal with. So what are they and where do they come from? Do you know how your PC works? To understand how these habits form, let’s think of ourselves for a moment like a computer. The PC, tablet or smartphone you are reading this on has three elements: the hardware, operating software and software applications. The hardware alone is an inert lump of metal, plastic and silicon. The applications are pieces of software that we choose to meet the task in hand. The really interesting
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Accountability Conversations
Can you count on those around you? In our work, leaders often complain that “He/she/they just aren’t doing what I asked them to do”. Alongside the content, usually comes a big dose of emotion – which can be anything from anger to resignation, from frustration to despair. In the wider world, the term accountability appears often in the news. Almost always the implication of the term in this context is that people should lose their job, or even their liberty, if they fail to deliver what is expected. But is this what accountability really means? Are we just talking about something punitive, a big stick that is held over others (or ourselves) to ensure that we do what we are supposed to? Personally, this approach to accountability is likely to make me perform less well – not better. People in organisations are required to deliver things as part of their roles. How can we ensure that they make the changes necessary in order to do so?
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How do you get your team pulling in the same direction?
Focus is the price of excellence A former colleague of mine was fond of repeating this at every available opportunity. It may be a little trite but it is also true. Whether you are talking about individual high achievers, teams or whole organisations – one thing that is true of them all is a relentless (even obsessive) focus on a few, critical things. Repetition, dedication, energy, persistence and determination are all brought to bear on a narrow set of priorities – so it is not surprising that capability then grows and performance improves. When I was setting up in business someone said to me that if my offer didn’t hit at least one of the clients top three priorities they would never buy. The reason for this is simple; every leader has a long list of things they know need to be done or changed. Unfortunately, they also have to live with the daily reality that they (and their organisations) simply do not have time to act on them all.
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How to get your team and organisation pulling in the same direction
Aligning your team and organisation Have you ever stopped to consider what ‘money’ really is? Is it pieces of shaped metal, ink on paper or, increasingly, a series of ones and zeros stored on wafers of silicon? Actually, money is better defined by what we understand it to mean to us. That makes more sense, but if that’s true then the single word money means lots of different things:- To a business leader, it may mean the ultimate arbiter of organisational success. To a beleaguered politician, it may mean a scarce resource to be fought for at budgeting time. To someone living in poverty, it may mean a lifeline to a better life (or just survival) To a religious fundamentalist, it may mean the source of all evil. Whatever the context, the substance of money has little importance. The significance of money (and particularly, the way it causes us to act) is defined by the meaning that we each attribute to it. It’s called Social Construction… Err what’s that? Berger
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Do you need help to deal with irrational people?
Sigmund Freud on leading in irrational workplaces Does your organisation feel like a perfectly rational place where people calmly make logical choices – or a confusing and frustrating one where anxious people seem to behave in irrational and destructive ways? If it’s the latter, you’ll be interested in the organisational insights that have flowed from the work of Sigmund Freud. It’s not all about ‘How’s yer father’ ! Freud, whilst not the first psychologist, (Wilhelm Wundt is usually credited with this) wasn’t even the first to discuss the unconscious. His impact was to be the first to scientifically study the unconscious mind – and then to begin to identify ways to work with the behaviour that came from it. Many of his theories are now subject to considerable debate and he never applied his thinking to organisational life. He earns his place in our ‘Great thinkers about leadership’ list because of his huge influence on so many of the thinkers, theories and practices in what has become the science of
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Is your team supporting you?
When is a team not a team? Members of leadership teams consistently tell us that their biggest area of ineffectiveness lies in their inability to have open, constructive debate. Rather than challenging one another and working together on organisational goals, they retreat into promoting and defending their own area of responsibility. Even in teams that work well, only 60% of respondents feel that they can constructively challenge one another without fear of a destructive reaction. In underperforming teams this falls to just 33%. When you dig under the surface of this depressing picture, what invariably lies behind these symptoms is a lack of trust between team members. They simply don’t have enough confidence in their colleagues to open up difficult discussions – or to ask for support. Everyone in the team knows which subjects are likely to provoke defensiveness or destructive arguments – so these simply get avoided. Unfortunately, these are frequently the very issues that the team really need to get to grips with in order to break out
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Why are you working so hard?
Our research shows that leadership teams which talk together about what they are aiming for are the ones that generate truly exceptional results. In our Six Conversations Leadership Programme we call them Ambition Conversations.
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