New article

Here is another article that I wanted to share. 

Effective Business Ideas

Two Approaches: Tactical and Strategic

When should you be tactical? When strategic? The usual answer is to be tactical when looking at an issue that needs to be taken care of now and be strategic when looking at the future.

Most corporate contributors are tactical all the time. It’s what they are asked to do. It’s what they get rewarded for. It’s what they need to be to stay “on the ball.” Managers are usually contributors promoted, and hopefully promoted again, because they excel at the tactical. Guess what? They continue to be tactical. And they continue to get rewarded for “taking care of business.” However, they are also asked to be more strategic. So what do they do? They try to be strategic; they use SWOT to determine strengths, opportunities and threats (they often overlook weaknesses), and then they go back to the familiar. Tactical.

How to be Strategic

First lesson – Strategic isn’t a thing you do some of the time. It’s a way of thinking that is done all the time. Yes, even when you are being tactical. Let me illustrate this point. Imagine you are sitting at your desk right now. (You are? Good.) On your desk pad is a yellow Post-It that represents the issue you have been asked to “take care of.” Stretch out your left hand and put a finger on the issue. Look at this issue and now think about how you will solve it. Use your usual tools; teams, task forces, consultants, etc. and get it done and get your pat on the back.

Works well and feels good also. Now your manager asks if you considered how this solution fits with the units’ overall strategic plans. What do you do now? Do you know the strategic plans? Did you consider the plans? Most likely, but you probably did so as an after thought. How could we improve this picture? Remember your other hand?

Sit back at your desk and keep the left hand pointed at the yellow Post-It. Now use your right hand to bring in other ideas. Still work with your tactical tools, teams and all. But bring in some new tools. Your right hand can be pulling out your strategic plan. It can also dial the phone to talk with some new people or do new research. You want to already be doing this research so you are aware of new developments, new processes and procedures, and what the competition is up to. Let this strategic right hand work with your tactical left hand so you bring the best to the solution.

Is this Strategic Planning?

No, it is strategic thinking. Strategic planning is the periodic effort that all organizations engage in to set the direction for the next period. It is the effort that informs your operational plans. Strategic thinking is what you do all the time. It is thinking that keeps you on track. It helps you know that you have your organization structured to support the plans, and that the plans will continue to drive business – up, not down.

Elements of Strategic Thinking

Second lesson – Strategic thinking is not a fixed or predictable thing with a uniform set of tools. It doesn’t have steps or milestones. If you are lucky, you have a mentor that does this well and you can learn for her or him. One problem we all have is that there are few who are proficient at strategic thinking and therefore not many who can mentor and teach.

At its’ heart, strategic thinking is looking at all the elements that go into strategic planning when it is not planning time. The elements you want to look at depend on your business circumstances. It may center on customer concerns, competition, research and development, financials, or all of the above and some I didn’t list. This doesn’t mean you become an expert in all these areas. It does mean that you keep track of them or know who does and talk with them. You stay interactive with others; all the others, not just the usual others. It also helps to look at situations in different ways with different questions – new questions.

New Questions

New questions and new perspectives help you look at issues or situations in ways that lead to strategic and tactical success. Let’s look at some questions. (You may be using these already, if so great. However, do you remember to use them in all situations?)

What is the positive aspect of this issue? What are the negative aspects? What is interesting about this situation? What makes this idea unique or valuable? In what ways can we build on this idea’s advantage? What are the factors for success in this situation? What is the history of this problem? (More on questions can be found in a book by Dorothy Leeds, Smart Questions: The Essential Strategy for Successful Managers.)

Lets try a simple example. You are responsible for the consolidation of two offices. Looking at the positive and negative aspects is a relatively common set of questions to use. You would be looking at costs to move and risks of moving, among a host of other concerns. You would be weighing these positives and negatives to arrive at your decision. Now let us add-in some other questions. What is the history? Have we moved in the past and if so with what results. Where are our customers and would this move impact them? What are our factors for success in this move? And so on.

Let any question be the start for other questions. Look for ways to bring in outside issues or concerns. Let these concerns include areas that might usually be looked at as not relevant. Do this to enlarge and enhance conversation and inquiry. However, do not let it pull you away from making a decision; timely decisions trump endless questions.

Please realize that this type of thinking takes practice. Give yourself time to become proficient in strategic thinking. And don’t give up being tactical – you need both skills.

© Fritz M. Brunner, Ph.D. 2008, Version 1.1

 

A new direction...

I've decided to close my web-site in favor of using my Blog in a more frequent manner. 
So here goes...

For my first "new Blog" I'd like to reprint an article I wrote for business clients that talks about influence.

Effective Business Ideas

Manage Perceptions or they will manage you!

They don’t understand! True and most likely they don’t care either. The question, your question, is how to get their attention so they understand and care.

You sit here in the middle of your life, your career, and your reality. People with whom you need to interact surround you. Some are clients, others may be people reporting to you, others you report to, and increasingly these days there are a lot of people that have a matrix relationship with you – all those other dotted line connections. They all have their own perception of what you do and how well you do it. So how can you help this large group of people understand and care about what you do, or more to the point – How will you be able to work most effectively with them? Answer: By managing their perceptions, their reality.

Is it Real or only your Perception?

Reality is very personal. So much so that my reality is most likely different from your reality in more than just a few ways.  For example, I see myself as a very effective business consultant and coach. JR, a client, saw me as a great coach, especially for someone starting out in the entrepreneurial world. (I had not coached someone as young or in this area before.) CK saw me as a nice person, but a total waste of time. (I am nice.) I could go on, however I believe you get my point – I have my idea of who I am and what I do and this is often at odds with how others perceive me and my effectiveness.

The people you interact with all have their own “real” beliefs about you - their perceptions. The difficulty is their perceptions are usually talking to them louder than your words. So how do you get your point across? How do you inform them about your reality?

Know Thyself

First be clear about what you are doing and why. Be articulate about your goals and which needs (tactics and strategies) are going to help you achieve these goals. State your priorities. And you should know that this all changes as time moves onward – Nothing is permanent and flexibility is a requirement. You must come from a solid and known position to influence others and change their perception.

In your working environment, this means you know how what you do fits into the larger picture or scheme of things. You find this out by talking with other people. Also, you have to know the relative priorities of all aspects of your work. This means not only knowing what to do first, but also what to drop down the list when someone you report to says “do this now.” (And you have to let them know some other item just dropped down the priority list.) This is especially important when you receive a request from one the “matrix” people; not people you report directly to, but very important dotted line people nonetheless. You need to know where their request fits on your list. And you have to determine this so you can tell them how you will be able to help them and when.

Remember that priorities are not fixed; they are positions that can be negotiated. For instance, if Matrix person A already has an item on your to do list, offer to move that item down the list to take on the new request. Be creative with this approach.

Know the Other Folks

Be Interactive. This means you get involved and stay involved with people without the need for a problem to prompt you. You need to learn what is happening around you. For instance, do you know your bosses’ goals? What concerns do your peers and customers have? What do the people in your matrix want? If you have people reporting to you, what are their concerns or thoughts? And don’t be reticent about your own goals and needs. Make sure other people know what you are thinking and planning. The more you know about your organization and the more other people know about your goals, the more successful the organization and you will be.

Will being interactive or staying on top of the situation automatically create positive perceptions? No. You still have to work at creating them. However these efforts will enable you to know more about the goals and needs of others. Conversation and actions change perceptions. Both have to occur continuously.

Some tips on how to Change Perceptions

How do you make this shift? Try these suggestions, practice them and share them with others.

1)    Be clear - What are you doing and why? What is important – what are your priorities?

2)    Be flexible - Keep reassessing your goals, needs, and priorities.

3)    Always question - What does this request mean to the person asking? How does it fit into your priorities? Let them know this.

4)    Know the people you interact with. Do you have direct reports? Who are the other members on your teams or task forces? What does your matrix look like? Who is really at the end of that dotted line and what do they do?

5)    Know the goals and needs of all the people you interact with. A tall order? Yes, and it’s very important for you to be successful at managing their perceptions. If you don’t show you care about their goals, you can never change the perception they have about you.

6)    Recognize the points of intersection between the needs of others and your needs. These are the points of possible synergy. Be on the lookout for these and use them for mutual advantage. Where you have synergy, you usually have an ally. And an ally helps you manage perceptions.

You can use these suggestions to help you manage the perceptions of others.

The most important additional point I need to make is this: Get feedback on everything from everyone. Find out what the perceptions are about you now and keep checking to see how they change. A 360 degree, or multi-rater survey is useful for this task, however they do not take the place of talking with people. Ask direct questions of others and be sure to let them know why you are asking.

© Fritz M. Brunner, Ph.D. 2007