Good Strategy…What if a simple re-orientation could exponentially improve your ability to ‘do’ strategy?

Doing Strategy Versus Doing 'A' Strategy

Like a lot of the language in the leadership world (or any world), when we ask,

What does ‘strategy’ mean?

it’s hard to get an answer beyond a bland dictionary or business book definition.

So it’s no wonder someone gets confused, or procrastinates, or feels inadequate when asked to do something, or gets measured against a yardstick that doesn’t have a shared understanding or, even if there is a shared understanding, we’re not quite sure of the usefulness of the practical application.

Last thing I want is another document that’s going to sit on a shelf!

said one of my clients when we were looking into why she didn’t seem to be moving forward with one of her key responsibilities.

Not to Generalise, But…

I don’t like to generalise, because language is simply an expression, sometimes a poor one, of a deeper intention, but I’m going to, for the sake of presenting this distinction…

What if strategy isn’t an outcome, but a way of doing?

It seems to me considerably more helpful to think about how to become adaptable, how to look up, and generate a long view, yet not be attached, and immediately bring ourselves back to the present.

Good strategy isn’t our ability to describe a single outcome,
it’s being able to be strategic.

I remember one client who struggled in this area and we had a lightbulb moment when I saw that he was simply lost in the woods.

Oh, you spend so much time in the detail, it’s like you’ve forgotten how to lift up your head and take in the horizon.

Once he saw that, ‘strategy’ lost its mystique and simply became a matter of moving his head and taking in a different view. Once we know there is something, or somewhere, else to see, looking is easy.

Good Strategy…

Any of us can pick, or change our destination with a simple re-programming of the GPS or the press of a button on google maps.

Good strategy is the equivalent of knowing that there are an infinite number of destinations, and that we can, collectively, pick one and navigate towards it.

But that the choice is not where the power lies, it’s our ability to choose, and to enjoy the choosing.

So much of our lives seems to be about pinning down a better ‘what’, which is why my client didn’t want ‘another report to be left on a shelf’—her version of a better ‘what’.

As soon as she saw the difference between ‘how’ and ‘what’—the difference between choosing a destination and knowing we have the ability to choose—she saw how much more exciting, and relevant, this was to what she and her organisation were aiming for.

If we live in a world of perpetual motion, then the more valuable skill, it seems to me, is being able to navigate, not to fixate on a destination we may never arrive at.

With love,

Cathy