4. Deal with the Present

The Prepared Mind

A Briefing for Business Leaders

Maybe you’ve been told that you need to think more strategically if you want to move up in the company. Or maybe you just want to know why management is doing what they’re doing.

Well, moving from tactical to strategic thinking takes place via a change in mindset and does not require a certain title or level of responsibility. In fact, all of us need to think more strategically about the challenges we find in the here and now.

And that starts with asking questions to trigger a discussion you can use to engage executives, managers, workers, and partners in productive discussions about your company’s challenges and what should be done about them.

To start, answer the following six questions if you want to develop a plan to deal with today’s challenges.

Six questions.

It’s been said (but I don’t know by whom) that questions are the engine of intellect. So, let me be so bold as to start your intellectual engine about dealing with your present challenges with a half dozen questions.

1. Where are we?

Sometimes strategy is mysterious because you have insufficient understanding of current and emerging conditions.

It could be that a company has had a wonderful run of year-after-year increases in revenue and profits and you think you have the answer to success in your industry. It could be that your organization has been labeled the dominant player for so long that you’ve gotten used to being the industry leader and that nothing has to change. Or, conversely, it could be that you’ve had such a long run of bad luck that you’ve almost given up on the prospects of future success.

In any case, one of the initial questions you need to ask, and answer, is: Where are we? In other words, what’s going on right now?

NOTES TO SELF: What’s going on with your workforce, customers, competitors, and industry? What’s good? Bad? Unknown?

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2. Where are we going?

The question of “Where are we going?” does not have to be a flighty dream. It can and should be pretty darn specific.

There are a dozen or so factors that can and will change as industries, businesses, and careers move from today to tomorrow.

What do you see when you look five or ten years into the future regarding:

o?? Business ecosystem

o?? Competitors

o?? Customers / clients

o?? Offerings

o?? People and organization

o?? Equipment

o?? Facilities and locations

o?? Infrastructure technology

o?? Policies and procedures

o?? Metrics

o?? Partners

o?? Resources

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Now, how do these changes and potential changes affect your vision and goals?

NOTES TO SELF:? What do you see when you look into the future of your organization? What’s changing and how do you think you should change your organization? ?

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3. Why are we going there?

This is a key question. Sometimes strategy is mysterious because we don’t know why the company is trying to change.

Many businesses spend an inordinate amount of time and money trying to manage change and it seems that a whole industry of consultants has arisen to help with this onerous task. However, it seems to me that we have neglected a simple first step that might alleviate the problems of managing change.

My observation is that most employees do not mind change—but they do resist moving toward the future without a good reason. They simply want to know Why? Furthermore, they want to know what role they need to play and what’s expected of them.

Answering the “why” question often comes down to explaining:

o?? That the industry is changing, and we have to adjust to these changes.

o?? That a new or existing competitor has “changed the rules of the game” and we must respond.

o?? ?That senior management has a new plan to help us survive and thrive.

NOTES TO SELF: Can you explain why your organization is changing? If not, who do you have to ask? Escalate the question until you get an answer that you can explain (without buzzwords) to your team.

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4. What should we change?

As you consider the challenges of today, go to the list of twelve factors noted above. What do you think you need to change? This is a “clean sheet of paper” exercise.

NOTES TO SELF:

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5. What can we change?

Now, think about the resources available and the barriers that exist. What can you actually change?

NOTES TO SELF: What’s preventing you from changing the factors that you know should be changed? Triage the situation and decide on what can be changed.

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6. What will we change?

Finally, consider the culture of your organization. There may be factors that should and can be changed but will never be changed. For example, I worked with a small business decades ago that knew they should and could change the location of their factory. But the founder would never move from “his town.”

NOTES TO SELF: If company or management culture is preventing you from implementing needed changes see if you can escalate “the situation.” If that’s impossible, do the best you can with the time and resources available.

Next

Remember, a strategic mindset is the habitual process of learning from the past and responding to the present to intercept the future and survive and thrive.

We can wait for the future to “happen” to us, but we will have to react with (maybe) little time. It’s best if we can intercept the future and “get there” before our competition. We will provide an overview of some tools and techniques for doing so.

I’ll be back in two weeks with the next issue of The Prepared Mind.