Strategic Thinking: Replicating Pockets of Excellence
The working definition that I am using to explain strategic thinking is the following:
Strategic thinking is the discipline of noticing and responding to potential game-changers in order to have the advantage even in an uncertain and chaotic business environment
These game-changers are to be found both inside your organisation and outside, and it’s how you respond to them that’s important. This article considers one particular game-changer that exists within your organisation – pockets of excellence.
Notice the Outliers
In every business you are likely to find teams or divisions or individuals whose performance stands out head and shoulders above the rest. They meet and even exceed their targets, they meet deadlines, they are innovative and disciplined in their approach to their work – you just wish you could clone them. If they can get it so right, how come nobody else can?
If you examine why these pockets of excellence are outperforming the rest, you will find that there is nothing magical or mysterious about it. People and teams become exceptional because they behave in a particular way. You will find some of the following factors are at play:
Notice the Outliers
In every business you are likely to find teams or divisions or individuals whose performance stands out head and shoulders above the rest. They meet and even exceed their targets, they meet deadlines, they are innovative and disciplined in their approach to their work – you just wish you could clone them. If they can get it so right, how come nobody else can?
If you examine why these pockets of excellence are outperforming the rest, you will find that there is nothing magical or mysterious about it. People and teams become exceptional because they behave in a particular way. You will find some of the following factors are at play:
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4. The leader of that team is behaving in a manner that makes the team excited about and committed to its objectives – in other words, there is a high level of engagement in the team.
Be Insatiably Curious
In every pocket of excellence you will find that there are particular factors that make for this excellence. The true strategic thinker will have an insatiable curiosity about what might be responsible for creating this pocket of excellence – because if you can find out what the magic is and replicate it in other parts of the business, you will be creating an advantage for your organisation.
Strategic Thinking in Action
So what does strategic thinking in action look like when one or more pockets of excellence are to be found in your organisation? The strategic thinker is the person – at any level in the organisation – who does the following:
- What are the individual and team objectives the team members are working towards, and how do they feel about these objectives?
- What sense does each team member have of the progress being made, and how do they get information on the progress they are making against these objectives?
- How supported do team members feel? Or do they feel like Sisyphus – condemned to spend their lives pushing a boulder up a hill, only to have it tumble back to the bottom whenever they approach the top?
- What does it “feel” like in the team? Is it a pleasant place to be? Are the interactions in the team mostly pleasant and positive? Do they laugh much? Do you have a sense that they enjoy being together?
Be Insatiably Curious
In every pocket of excellence you will find that there are particular factors that make for this excellence. The true strategic thinker will have an insatiable curiosity about what might be responsible for creating this pocket of excellence – because if you can find out what the magic is and replicate it in other parts of the business, you will be creating an advantage for your organisation.
Strategic Thinking in Action
So what does strategic thinking in action look like when one or more pockets of excellence are to be found in your organisation? The strategic thinker is the person – at any level in the organisation – who does the following:
3.1 This means that she will talk to the leader of the team. She will ask what he thinks he is doing that is contributing to what is happening in the team. She will make an effort to understand his core beliefs – about his team, his business, his customers, his team’s mission. What is he doing that is different from what other team leaders are doing? Would he be willing to assist in replicating this pocket of excellence elsewhere in the organisation and what would that assistance look like?
3.2 She will talk to the team members to find out what it is that sets this team apart. 3.3 She will talk to the team’s customers. What is their experience of this team? 3.4 She will identify all the distinguishing factors that are actions or behaviours. Action and behaviour can be replicated – personality cannot. This will form her “theory of success”, and her next step is to put it to the test. |
3.5 Once she is clear on the actions and behaviours that she believes are making the difference, she considers how these actions and behaviours can be
replicated in other teams.
3.5.1 In which other teams does she want to replicate this excellence?
3.5.2 Is the leader of each of those teams capable of replicating the distinguishing factors she has identified? If not, could they become capable and
how? If not, what will she do about this?
3.5.3 How will she get the leaders and members of these teams enthusiastic about what she wants them to replicate? What will she do if or when she
experiences resistance?
3.5.4 How will they craft their strategy for getting from where they are (somewhat mediocre) to being a pocket of excellence in their own right – and how will she support this?
3.5.5. She decides how she will test her “theory of success”. To this end she decides how she will measure progress, give feedback, provide support and consider revisions to her approach as these teams do the work that must be done to become similarly excellent. What must she be obsessive about? How will she manage the quality of communication between herself and these other teams? How will she ensure that her team leaders are engaged? How does she need to model the desired behaviours and disciplines in her own dealings with these team leaders? How will she and the teams review whether the experiment is working and/or decide whether and how to amend their approach.
replicated in other teams.
3.5.1 In which other teams does she want to replicate this excellence?
3.5.2 Is the leader of each of those teams capable of replicating the distinguishing factors she has identified? If not, could they become capable and
how? If not, what will she do about this?
3.5.3 How will she get the leaders and members of these teams enthusiastic about what she wants them to replicate? What will she do if or when she
experiences resistance?
3.5.4 How will they craft their strategy for getting from where they are (somewhat mediocre) to being a pocket of excellence in their own right – and how will she support this?
3.5.5. She decides how she will test her “theory of success”. To this end she decides how she will measure progress, give feedback, provide support and consider revisions to her approach as these teams do the work that must be done to become similarly excellent. What must she be obsessive about? How will she manage the quality of communication between herself and these other teams? How will she ensure that her team leaders are engaged? How does she need to model the desired behaviours and disciplines in her own dealings with these team leaders? How will she and the teams review whether the experiment is working and/or decide whether and how to amend their approach.
Theory of Success
The strategic thinker identifies what is good in their organisation, seeks to understand it and formulate a “theory of success”, and then looks for ways to replicate it. In replicating these pockets of excellence, she is gathering evidence that tests the accuracy of this theory, amends her theory as necessary, and tests her new theory – so she actively experiments in order to create more pockets of success. This approach is borne out by a great deal of research that seeks to understand what it is that enables some organisations to out-perform their competitors in chaotic economic times. Rather than being the result of extraordinary vision, innovation, speed, internal change or luck, leaders in the most successful companies “observed what worked, figured out why it worked, and built on proven foundations.” This takes discipline, critical observation and analysis skills, and a certain amount of paranoia – a fear that the competitors are always out to get you! Because they are! Contact Me
If you recognise that you need to start developing your strategic thinking skills and disciplines, email me on [email protected] and let’s discuss your coaching programme. |