In a recent (11/10/08) Business Week cover story, strategist Michael Porter poses and good question about the political and economic direction of the country…Where is the Strategic Thinking?More to the specifics…
What are we doing about the constraints that degrade America’s entrepreneurial strength?
What are we doing about the continuing erosion of educated citizens and foundation learning?
What are we doing about the principle disconnects between technical, social, political and economic policy?
Porter argues for some reality-based strategy analysis of national challenges, resource management concerns and the many factors that shape and drive the country’s competitive stance in the world.The balance of national planning and global leadership?Or the stab at national leadership and global development?These are important questions at every level of the political/economic discussion.
Stepping Into the Cauldron
The optimist would suggest that we live in interesting times, and further, that we have some exciting frontiers.In our precepts of strategic thinking as outlined in Prepared and Resolved, the opportunities for advancement are framed by two things – business reality and natural goals.Our business reality is painted with VUCA – the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity* of the world today.Our natural goals remain, in balance, the economic performance, competitive edge, customer relevance and corporate stewardship of the realities we guide and represent.These are touchpoints for every organization today.
Michael Porter’s question is a good one for the leadership of the nation.Who will come together to construct the answers that will make sense for individuals and society?And, how will we get “prepared and resolved” for change?
One of the great leadership issues of this era reflects on how we get our organizations prepared and resolved for change. Leadership expert John Kotter explores the growing relevance of readiness behavior in his 2008 book, A Sense of Urgency.In a business world shaped by technical, market and economic uncertainty, Kotter strongly suggests that complacency and/or “false urgency” can wreck an organization.
Complacency is “…a feeling of contentment of self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger …”
False Urgency is “…built on a platform of anxiety and anger, and behaviors that are energy-consuming but not at all productive.”
In contrast, a true sense of urgency is characterized by people moving on critical challenges in a manner that delivers results now.Kotter suggests that a true sense of urgency is shaped by a set of feelings and a set of thoughts; the feelings are essential.Engaging people in the challenges of the enterprise is a cultural practice. And so the formula goes, give them the facts and win their hearts and minds.
The “urgency prescription” Kotter provides is comprised of four leadership elements:
Bring Outside Reality into Focus…
- Engage people in the real challenges and concerns
Behave in Ways that Match the Challenge…
- Demonstrate a balanced sense of true urgency
Frame the Upside Opportunities and Prospects…
- Move on the problems and discover the possibilities
Tackle the Problem of Skeptics and NoNos…
- Remove or neutralize the barriers to urgency
Better, Smarter, Faster
Kotter points to the cultural sense of urgency that drives sustainable business evolution.He suggests that the true sense of urgency separates high performance companies from those with strategic disabilities.This is the same general argument we make in Chapter 08 of Prepared and Resolved.The resolute leadership of an organization builds a cultural sense of urgency into the temperament and capacity of groups and individuals. Further, a clear mindset of readiness and some forward-focused behavior helps power the organization to build and rebuild strategic and economic value for the stakeholders.
A company’s strategic agenda represents its framework for engaging the people of the enterprise in the work of business growth, performance and change.
Engagement brings together the cultural and structural forces of the organization, matching strategy and resources with:
The Evolving Considerations of the Business
Marketplace and Enterprise
The Goals and Objectives of Stakeholders
Strategic and Economic Value
A management view of enterprise engagement covers such matters as forward planning, decision making, problem solving and planned innovation. Resetting the strategic focus, behaviors and energy of the organization is what enterprise engagement is all about.
A governance view of enterprise engagement covers broader matters including accountability and sustainability.The measures for enterprise accountability must recognize near-term and long-term intentions.Sustainability is about business evolution, and it is enabled by enterprise engagement.
Enterprise engagement begins with purpose.Strategy connects people with a powerful sense of what the organizations stands for and where the business is headed.It blends together critical behaviors including membership responsibility, intentional discovery, respectful and enthusiastic relationships, discretionary efforts and effective collaboration.These behaviors are learned in the context of a strategic agenda that is backed by thoughtful, engaged and purposeful leadership at every level of the enterprise.
Further discussion on enterprise engagement is provided in my 2007 book, Prepared and Resolved: The Strategic Agenda for Growth, Performance and Change, dsb Publishing.
The 07/29/08 ABC Primetime portrayal of the life of Randy Pausch was potent in many ways.Building on the cultural platform of his widely-acclaimed book, The Last Lecture, the current and hopefully lasting impact of the Pausch Effect expands on a couple of important life lessons:
The value of thoughtfulness that inspires people
The value of relationships that help engage people
Beyond all the media hype and clatter is a simple and profound story of life experience that connects the dots between what people could do, and what they should do.We deal with this question in Prepared and Resolved, in business terms, and the Pausch Effect pushes these matters to another level, a personal and professional level of principle and insight.
There are ethical and spiritual constructs woven into the message of the last lecture.People of faith will sense the story behind the story immediately, not at the end.And people whose charge it is to engage other people in the work of their lives will find a certain call to readiness, persistence, courage and optimism.The Pausch Effect is powerful, and it should provoke every reader.
There is growing concern in business, education, science and other KM fields regarding cognitive distraction and reflection. Everyone has constant personal and work process distractions, and some of us are more vulnerable to the effects of distraction.Others partition their time and attention more effectively.
Web-enabled communication provides a powerful means for social connectivity and access to information.This, in turn, speeds up contact and automates the flow of data.In general, these are good things.However, some would argue that we are beset with some unintended effects and consequences of a constantly connected world.
In her book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, researcher Maggie Jackson suggests that we are well on our way to becoming a less capable society as people are saturated with instant response connections at the expense of true connection and engagement.
Productivity observers submit that people are not only distracted by connectivity-based stimuli, but also by the explosion of social networking, phone/text noise, standard e-mail streams and other attention-grabbing diversions.
This is an important subject for knowledge workers, because they are employed to utilize precisely those cognitive resources that are being effectively taken away by proliferating distractions.There are multiple technical, behavioral and economic implications of distractions-related tendencies.First, the problem is significant enough for Microsoft and others to get into the act with software-based attention interfaces.Second, more and more organizations are improving employee policies and education that deal with distractions.And third, most KM-based employers are exploring the development of technical and emotional literacy as a backdrop for avoiding distraction effects.Most HR/PD teams are baking this subject into policy.
The longer-term effects of distraction on cultural degradation require further analysis.However, observers in higher education are making more and more focused comments on this subject regarding the impact on students vis-à-vis reflective, serious thought, discourse, problem solving, decision making, subject matter expertise and leadership.
