Irrelevance Is The Enemy

What do you do in the cracks between meetings and tasks? My instinct is you do what I do - you fill it.

This is a good way to remain efficient. But, the more important question is to look at what we fill it with.

I like to have a list of tasks on sticky notes or in my Asana that take no longer than a five or ten minutes. They can be checked off when I have a spare moment or need a break from a larger piece of work. Good old Covey and Eisenhower tell us we should get the Quadrant 1 stuff done asap and fill in the cracks with Quadrant 2 stuff (image below in case you're not familiar). The larger Quadrant 2 stuff is what we want to schedule in, and if we rid our lives of the Quadrant 3 and 4 stuff we'll be sweet. 

I'm not so sure this gets us to where we are aspiring to. It gives us an opportunity to keep loading on the pressure onto our workload which are already overflowing.

Image Source: Paul Farina

This is where strategy comes into play in our day-to-day lives and being more strategic in how we use our resources and intentions. It is surprising how often we go to work and plow through hundreds of tasks without being clear or knowledgeable about what its all for. When delivering Strategic Facilitation I'll spend up to half a day with a group of executives simply defining why they should continue to come to work and ask others to buy-in. It sounds silly, but test yourself by asking, "why does your work matter?"

Often it is surprising how difficult this question is to answer in a succinct confident manner. It stumps the most seasoned and committed amongst us. I hear people say it is their love for their family that drives them. But, this is why we work (or work extremely hard). It does not answer the meaning of the work itself.

This is  only one area to clarify, let alone the overall business goals, the areas of focus or investment in the business, the new initiatives. as well as continuous improvement for business as usual. There is a lot to think about, plan for and pro-actively plot out. Usually it is not a case of 'what can we do?', but a case of 'we could do many things, which ones should we actually do?'. Paralyses of possibility is common. But, how and when can we do this strategising. You can't get a facilitator in to do a two day offsite every month - nothing would get done!

The ability to have a meeting with oneself is where effective strategising begins. But, it seems to be the hardest thing to execute.

Obstacle One - who has the bloody time!

We exit our day with a task list longer than we started it with. We walk into work with big plans to sort stuff out only for Roger to call in sick and Beverley asking why she never got the email. There are interruptions, distractions, and... is the kettle still not working in the staff kitchen!?! The family, social, and leisure stuff piles on top and we are more than up-against-it most of the time. So, finding the space to think is a terrible and very real blockage to being more strategic.

Obstacle Two - what is the point?

We have got to this point without any fancy strategic tools or thinking, so will it really make that much difference anyway? Honestly, we don't need more stuff to do and I believe it is always a good idea to be conservative with adding too much 'new' into our ways of working. Trends and fads are not helpful. But, the counter argument is that without introducing some kind of strategic thinking process into our work we expose ourselves to irrelevance - one of the worst possible places we can end up. Ageism is a real thing and anyone older than 50 will tell you it is confronting out there in the job market. The only way to ensure any form of job security and a sense of purposeful and enjoyable work is to remain relevant (that goes for all ages). Investing in skills, knowledge and a strategic angle of attack is going help us to remain in the game. This enables us to solve relevant problems in the market. To be relevant in the times we live in. At the core of this is being strategic in our approach to our day-to-day work, our jobs, and our careers. When we start talking/thinking in these terms the discussion on being strategic comes alive.

Obstacle Three - so I make an appointment with myself, now what?

There is nothing scarier than needing to be creative on a deadline. Staring at a blank canvas wanting to paint a pretty picture is terrifying. Ask any author about writers block - it is crippling. Many leaders express this same anxiety to me. When they go to be strategic there is nothing there (insert mental blank). Expressions like, "I don't know where to start" or "I don't know what to write" come up all the time. This is exasperating as people read books/blogs/articles and see the science or thought leadership on how this is a good idea and then they go to do it and fall flat on their face. Chalk it up to another thing society says 'we are failing in' - rack em up baby! The big blank feels awful.

So how do we overcome this? We need a tool(s). A model to fill in. A cheat sheet of sorts. This gives our mind some guiderails to get the strategic juices flowing. And, the good news is it is all google'able. The most underused and underestimated tools have been around for decades (just like the quadrants above). They are not sexy, exciting, or cutting edge. But, the results are. 

Here are some starters to fill your Big Blank:

SWOT - Use it! I have ways of using this model in my coaching sessions that make the profound insights obvious. Many will scoff but I can tell you that the majority of strategic plans created by C-Suite Executives to corporate businesses will either include a SWOT or they would have used it at some point in their process. It is like a boxer using a speed bag. It looks boring and simple but it sharpens everything. To paraphrase Gary Vaynerchuk, "stop trying to be fancy. Do the work!"

If in doubt, start here.
Image Source: Paul Farina

SIGMOID-CURVE - To quote my favourite line from Fight Club, "On a long enough timeline, everything has a survival rate of zero". Processes, structures, products, services, people, and tools all have an expiry date. The market moves on and things become irrelevant. Their performance tapers off. We have current 'stuff' in our business which is becoming outdated / is outdated / was outdated a long time ago. This is represented by the red line below. There is a need for a new strategic project (the green line). Plot out the 'stuff' in your business that needs updating. Find the proof for this and get to work - the strategic brain is now firing and creativity is exploding.

Play with all your options. I encourage people to list out four to five different areas of the business that could require a 'new strategic initiative'. Then draw this model for each and plot out what you are seeing. There can be some wonky,weird curves out there but it gives interesting and useful insights.
Image Source: Paul Farina

EFFORT VS IMPACT - This is my fave. Plotting the things we could do into these four quadrants tells us so much. It helps us understand where we should place our bets. The fact is that leadership is all about resource management, and there are two languages within this - COST and RISK. This model quickly shows us where the cost/risk equation sits in our strategies. I love it love it love it.

My fave. Effort can also be interpreted as Resources. Plotting any actions into this can show us where the risks lie and help us decide on what to advocate for. Often we put our name to actions without going through this process - high risk in itself!
Image Source: Paul Farina

I know this piece is a lot to take in. But, after a few years of helping leaders be more strategic, it is clear that many are not doing it, not sure if it is worth doing and are not sure what to do if they do it. My hope is this helps you take a moment and seize the opportunity in going slow to go fast (and far). Irrelevance is our enemy in a fast moving and highly disrupted world. Making a practice of being more strategic is such a competitive advantage.

Go play and keep in touch with how you go.

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