Sequencing: The Lost Factor

There's a time in a business for innovation and wild ideas. There's a time for locking things down into operational repetition and consistency. There's yet another time where a company must throw resources into either a parallel line or a disparate line to see if they need to jump the rails entirely and find a new path.

But you never do all of things in the same time frame. And that's where learning more about sequencing comes in. WHEN should something happen. Forget why. When?

Sequencing: The Lost Factor

Which comes first? When should you do A or B? That's the work of sequencing. It exists all around us. Cooking of all sorts, especially baking, is all a matter of when each step takes place and in which order. Songs are a sequence. Stories are. Movies. Software. It's all there, always .

For some, it's so hard to visualize. Is this the time? What about now? And yet, that's often what makes a company or a person successful. It's a matter of observation plus practice.

I'm bad at guessing when a trend will take hold. My old boss Jeff would be right about future technologies, but often, he'd be early by 3-4 years. I'm closer, but "close" doesn't matter. We both lose for being early. It comes from an optimism that everyone around us will "get it" the way we do, which isn't always the case.

What Goes Into Sequencing?

There are a few different components to understanding when an action should happen. Let's use a business experience as the example. If some change is to take place, like acquiring a complementary business unit to grow the organization, what's needed from a sequencing perspective?

1. Is the plan (and a few contingencies) ready to go?
2. Are the resources required for the action in place?
3. Are people ready to take on this activity?
4. Do they understand the intended benefits and outcome of this effort?
5. What else is necessary to ensure success?
6. Does this interfere with any other actions that may be in sequence?

That last one is often the big challenge. You might have a project that clicks well in the first five areas I've listed, but if it's going on at the same time as other large projects or sequences, it might run the risk of being a lesser priority, and thus, potentially ignored.

How Do You Find the Right Time for Your Sequence?

This is art, not craft. It's psychological as much as it's strategic. When change is already on the menu is often a great time to slip in some more change (as long as it's not overwhelming). When a growth cycle is necessary (like the company has to pick up a new set of skills), that's a great chance to slot in any related changes.

Also of note: change happens best in between (and a small distance before) any significant announcements or proclamations. If your company is about to roll out a new SUV, it's probably better to announce the cancellation of the old sedan model before you need the news cycles to be free to talk about the new SUV.

The right time for a sequence is in the "somewhat quiet" spots between the important cadence of public facing news, at least whenever possible.

Operational Vs Creative

There are two types of leaders at organizations: operators and innovators. Operators are great at taking what's in front of them and making it work better. Innovators are great at taking blank space and turning it into something new. There's a time (and a sequence) for both types of leadership. When a company is pushing towards a specific deadline or state ,that's the time for operators. When they're looking for ways to break out of malaise or shift paths, that's when innovators are worth their weight in stock options. But it's almost always innovators first, operators second, and ne'er the two shall meet. (Related to a conversation with Colin Puckett.)

Start With Whatever, But Pay Close Attention to When

I'm not a massive fan of "Start with Why" as a guiding tool. The answer in business settings quite often is "because that's what we're doing." But "when" is an important consideration. I hope I've got you thinking about it at least.

Over here,

Chris...