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How to Grow Your Strategic Mindset

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | How to Grow Your Strategic Mindset“It just completely caught us off guard.”

That’s a statement you never want to hear as a business leader. But today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world makes it incredibly difficult to plan and predict the future. At the same time, we’re all under pressure to move faster and get more done. So while thinking – and strategic thinking, in particular – is a key leadership responsibility, it often gets pushed aside in the midst of the day-to-day challenges of running the business.

In fact, there’s almost a universal resistance to long-term thinking in many organizations because we’re so focused on today’s problems: Are we making our numbers? Did the products get shipped? Did we resolve the customer issue?

The problem is, when you’re not thinking strategically, not only is it hard to see what’s coming, it’s hard to know where you are. A leader I spoke to recently put it this way: “When I’m mired in the swamp, it’s hard to see anything, much less the future.”

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About the Author

Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, CEO of Herrmann InternationalAnn Herrmann-Nehdi is CEO of Herrmann International, the originators and trailblazers of Whole Brain® Thinking and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®). A thought leader in her field, Ann has worked with many hundreds of organizations around the world of all sizes and industries, helping them increase their thinking agility to improve profitability, leadership, productivity, innovation and overall business results. She is an AthenaOnline management expert and a faculty member of the Institute of Management Studies.

The Big Picture of Business – Doing Your Best Work on Deadlines: Mobilizing the Energy for Best Business Success

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We just had the first live TV musical play extravaganza on television after a 50-year hiatus. The production was The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood. This TV special got a lot of attention because it was unique live, just like opening night of the Broadway show on which it was based.

Truth is that throughout the 1950’s (the Golden Age of Television), there were comparable live TV extravaganzas on the air every night of the decade.

Many of them were consistently great. They were live, in real time. They had top talent behind them. They were well rehearsed. They had the adrenaline of “going live,” and they shined with luster.

Among those crown jewel TV moments were:

  • Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
  • Requiem for a Heavyweight, the premiere of Playhouse 90. It was written by Rod Sterling and starred Jack Palance and Ed Wynn.
  • The Petrified Forest, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda. In it, Bogey reprised the 1930’s Broadway hit and movie that launched his career.
  • The Ford 50th Anniversary, a two-hour musical starring Ethel Merman and Mary Martin. This was the first TV special and set the tone for thousands of others since.
  • The first Beatles appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” where the whole world was watching. The Beatles topped that by composing All You Need is Love while they performed it on a global telecast.

I have those any other live TV gems on DVD. I watch them to experience the magical energy of live performances. Many of us remember writing the college theme paper the night before it was due. We recall compiling the case notes or sales projections just before the presentation meeting.

The truth is that we do some of our best work under pressure. We might think that the chaos and delays of life are always with us, but we handle them better when on tight time frames.

Before you know it, you’re on deadline again. Even though the tasks mount up, you have a knack for performing magnificently under deadline, stress and high expectations.

This is not meant to suggest putting off sequential steps and daily tasks. Learn when deadline crunch time is best to accomplish the optimum business objectives. I’m a big advocate of Strategic Planning and Visioning. Every company needs it but rarely conducts the process because they’re knee-deep in daily minutia.

I know from experience that planning while going through the “alligators” is the most effective way to conduct the process. By seeing the daily changes resulting from the planning, companies are poised to rise above the current daily crises. I recommend that diversity audits, quality control reviews, ethics programs and other important regimen be conducted as part of Strategic Planning, rather than as stand-alone, distracting and energy diverting activities.

Those of us who grew up working on typewriters know how to master the medium. You had to get your ideas on paper correctly the first time, without typographical errors and with great clarity. The first time that I worked on a computer was when I was 40 years old. I took that typewriter mentality with me when I had to compose a brochure and do the desktop publishing graphics in the same two-hour window where I was learning how to work on a computer.

There were years where I kept the typewriter on the work station next to the computer. When I had five minutes to write a cohesive memo and fax it off to the client, I wrote it on the typewriter. Though I wrote all my books on computers, I wrote the modern technology chapters on the typewriter, to make points to myself that the readers could never have grasped.

In mounting your next strategic Planning process for your company, go back and analyze what elements from the past can be rejuvenated as your future. That’s a trademarked concept that I call Yesterdayism.

With planning and organizing, you can meet and beat most deadlines without working in a pressure cooker. Don’t work and worry yourself into exhaustion over every detail. Sometimes it makes sense to move the deadline to the 11th hour. Having too much time to get projects accomplished tends to breed procrastination.

Here are my final take-aways on the subject of doing your best work when on last-minute deadlines:

  • Learn what working style goes best with you.
  • Care about deadlines.
  • Prioritize the real deadlines, apart from the artificial or self-imposed ones.
  • Review the work that you’ve done on tight deadlines. Analyze what makes it different.
  • Know your own strengths and limitations.
  • Work on your own timetable.
  • When working with teams, determine the best compromise working tempo.
  • Get Your ‘to do lists’ in order.
  • Evaluate your progress.
  • Remove the distractions to doing your best-focused work.
  • Ready… Set… Be productive.

This article was written in one hour, just before the impending deadline.

About the Author

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, part 1 of 6

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Today, in almost every sector of society, we are facing a crisis of leadership. This cry is heard in newspapers, magazines, and TV debates and at dinner tables across the nation.

In the realm of business in particular, the need for leadership has become crucial. When we compare our country’s economic performance with that of countries like China and Germany, it’s clear that we have been losing ground and that despite the ravages of the recent economic crisis, over the last 10 years, our competitors have been doing better.

In the U.S., we are contending with wave after wave of jobs moving overseas, markets that whip up and down, and energy prices rising at an unprecedented rate. As business leaders, we are troubled by the regular announcements of once-proud companies being sold, broken up, or downsized. There is a nagging sense that something is not right as we face still more layoffs and plant closings while profits go up.

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About the Author

Chris Majer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Human Potential ProjectChris Majer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Human Potential Project, is the author of The Power to Transform: Passion, Power, and Purpose in Daily Life (Rodale), which teaches the strategies corporate, military, and sports leaders have used to positively transform themselves and their organizations in a way readers can adept to their own lives and professions. He may be reached at www.humanpotentialproject.com.

Picasso and Project Management

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For those that may not know, Picasso is a famous artist. Like others similar to him in related fields, his art has made an impact on the world. But art, like many other things, is relative to the observer, i.e. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” (This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greece). So while many people may like Picasso, many others may like Jackson Pollack, Thomas Kinkaid, etc. instead and not care about Picasso at all.

Of course art extends way beyond just painting. Films, books, etc. all have their impact on society. And everyone has their personal preference as to which type of art they prefer over other. This just means that if they love films, they may still read a book. It is just their preference to like one better than the other.

This means that artists will cater to the type of art their audiences want. They do this by starting with an idea or concept. This can be from something they saw or imagined, real or not. It can be a new creation or based off of a different from of art, book to movie or vice versa for example. Or even a simple enhancement, like a book’s re-release with extra chapters or a film’s Director’s cut.

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About the Author

Russell HarleyRussell Harley is a veteran project manager and PMO director, passionate about helping organizations embrace world-class project management practices and “climb out of the quicksand” in terms of gaining control over complex, ever-changing project portfolios. The best practices he advocates stem from key learning’s acquired from his M.S Degree in Project Management, combined with over 20 years of hands-on PM experience in the high technology, telecommunications, and clean energy sectors.

Read more of Russell’s project management insights at The PMO View (www.ThePMOView.com)

The Advisor’s Corner – When Should I Remain Quiet?

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Remaining quietQuestion:

As a leader, are there times when I should hold back my opinions?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

It is a balancing act for leaders to know just how much to talk and how much to listen. Extroverted leaders have a particular challenge because they talk to think as an important part of processing information and ideas. They risk grabbing too much airtime and shutting others down. Conversely, Introverted leaders think to talk and can be challenged to communicate enough information at the right to meet their followers’ needs. Leaders make fewer wrong decisions when they ask more than they tell. Our focus today is on the more verbal leader. You should consider staying quiet when…

  1. It’s emotional – people need to believe they are being heard. Ask how you can help rather than assume you know.
  2. You come in during the middle of a story – no need to embarrass yourself!
  3. You are wondering if what you’ll say is offensive – if you have to wonder, and then it probably is.
  4. You are tempted to ‘fix’ the person’s problem and about to give advice no one asked you to give.
  5. Someone asks you a question that you should not or cannot answer fully or accurately.
  6. You think your idea is the best thing since shelled walnuts.
  7. When you ask a question, it is a good idea to wait and listen for the answer.
  8. You feel yourself jumping to conclusions without much information – not a good way to get your exercise!
  9. You’ve been drinking, partying, etc. and someone from work calls you – it’s far better to stay off the phone.
  10. You are angry or upset. First, take time to figure out why you feel the way you do, and then determine the best course of action to resolve the problem.

Consider a leader I worked with who was unable to say he did not know. He would give anyone an answer on any question asked of him. Yet, it would have been so easy, and correct, to say, “I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll find out and get back to you.” He isn’t stupid, just misguided about what is expected of a good leader, including telling the truth. Of course, his credibility was negatively impacted.

I know another leader who routinely asks questions and listens intently to the answers. People tell her the truth because she honors them by deeply listening and with her thoughtful responses. She observes a great deal, is rarely fooled, and does not claim to have all the answers. Her credibility and reputation were beyond reproach.

It is true that quiet and contained leaders need to speak up when they have something meaningful to say. People need to understand and hear about their opinions, vision, values, decisions, and expectations. Staying quiet when you need to be heard can be just as problematic as talking too much.

Leaders need to engage others, share their ideas, and make decisions. It’s the balance of listening and talking that makes all the difference. It’s not an accident that the ratio of ‘listening’ body parts to ‘speaking’ body parts is 4:1 (ears and eyes: mouth).

For a quick indicator, try this: next time you are in a meeting, make a tic mark every time you open your mouth to say something. Keep track of whether you are telling or asking. Keep score for a day or two and you’ll have a good indication of whether you are talking too much, sharing too little, or have a healthy balance.

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to TheAdvisorsCorner@StrategyDriven.com.