Deliberate, persistent, daily action towards a desired outcome.
Strategic planning often gives far more attention and time to thinking and theories, than it does to driving operational change. And the risk is that by the time we take action, the world has changed, and the plan is mostly irrelevant. As Susan Scott points out in her excellent book Fierce Conversations, ‘No plan ever survives a collision with reality’.
Strategic doing, based on the work of Ed Morrison at Purdue University, is a far better approach. Strategic doing is deliberate and persistent daily action towards a desired outcome. We still think strategically about where we are going and the outcome we desire. But we focus our energy on doing, not just talking. Creating specific behaviours that align with our vision, guided by our values and in response to feedback we get as we take action and review the results. All of nature follows this pattern – ebb and flow, tides and seasons, day and night. Strategic doing has a pulse, a heartbeat. It’s an energy wave. It has momentum. It’s alive!
Strategic doing’s mantra is “build, measure, learn”. Consistent daily implementation of ideas that gives immediate feedback so we can adjust and go again. We keep innovating, we keep improving, we keep growing.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, credits the massive success of his company to this one simple idea. It’s always Day One. Day two is stasis. The Day One mindset is obsessed with the customer’s experience, focusses on feedback and results over process so it can make high quality decisions quickly and adjust rapidly to change and external trends. A Day One mindset is strategic doing in action. It’s about rapid response to feedback. Cycles of quick iteration, consistent improvement, and immediate implementation. It’s action, feedback, new action.
Deliberate, consistent, daily action…
Clarity Follows Action
Often, we are slow to take action because we lack clarity about something. We may not yet be clear about our objectives and goals, or we may be unsure about how to go about achieving them. Waiting until we are absolutely clear on everything before we move can lead to analysis paralysis and a strategic planning flat line.
Instead, we need to take action based on our vision of where we want to be and our values as an organisation – the principles that gives us direction and fuel our motivation. By taking consistent action we get immediate feedback and can adjust, improve, innovate, refine, and take the next action. Clarity is what follows.
It’s a virtuous cycle. Action, clarity, next action, more clarity, next action, even more clarity…
Vision
Our vision is where we want to be in a future moment. That may be in 12 months, 3-, 5- or 10-years’ time. The timeframe is not as important as what that moment looks and feels like.
And our vision is a big-picture overview, an aspirational and inspirational objective that we paint in broad brushstrokes, not finite detail. It is a simple, memorable, repeatable statement of who we want to become and what difference we want to make in the world.
Check out these examples, and click the links for more ideas:
- Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy
- Nike: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world
- Alzheimer’s Association: A world without Alzheimer’s disease
- Southwest Air: To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline
- IKEA: To create a better everyday life for the many people
- Disney: To make people happy
- Google: To provide access to the world’s information in one click
To help refine a vision statement, consider these questions with your team:
- What difference do we want to make in the world?
- For others? For ourselves?
- Who do we want to become?
- What field of excellence are we know for?
- How are people better off because of what we do?
Values
Our values both motivate and direct us. They are our beating heart and our compass.
These are the core principles that we all agree are vitally important to us because they express who we are and, most importantly, WHY we behave the way we do.
Our actions demonstrate our values. It’s not what’s written on the walls, but how people act in the halls. And it’s easy to tell what our real values are – just look at how we invest our time, money and energy. What’s rewarded gets repeated. If we value something, we give it attention, appreciation and respect.
Our values drive our actions. They give us the courage to do our best work. And they make decision-making easy because we have a firm set of guiding principles to help us make informed choices about what will most directly lead us in the direction of our vision.
For more about values see: How to Define Company Values (And Why It Matters)
And watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk: Know Your WHY
Valid Actions
Valid actions are those things we choose to do that are most strongly aligned with our vision and values. These are our consistent daily actions. Actions that have meaning, purpose and impact. Actions that we measure because they matter. Actions that we prioritise and constantly refine through regular feedback, review and reassessment. Actions for which we take ownership and personal responsibility to achieve. Actions for which we share accountability with everyone on the team.
Strategic Doing
Deliberate, persistent, daily action towards a desired outcome.
A clear vision of:
- Who we want to become, and
- The difference we want to make in the world.
Shared values that:
- Articulate our WHY,
- Motivate consistent, quality actions, and
- Guide our decisions and priorities.
Valid actions that we:
- Measure because they matter,
- Review and refine through regular feedback,
- Take personal ownership and responsibility for, and
- Share accountability as a team.