Lets Think About That
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7/30/2019 Lets Think About That http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/lets-think-about-that 1/3 Copyright © 2013. Strategic Thinking Institute. All rights reserved. "Let's think about that" "The important thing to recognize is that every activity involved in delivering a business's product or service should be guided by strategic thinking. There's really no single activity, process, department or functional area that should be left to chance." Margaret Peteraf, Professor, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Imagine Noah was once again building an ark (we have been getting quite a bit of rain in the Midwest). And instead of taking two of each animal, he showed up at your office and said, "I'm taking two of each type of worker. Please pair up as I call your type and walk onto the ark: administrative assistants--those who do most of another person's work; information technologists-- those who understand that there really are such things as dumb questions; human resource managers--those who know lots of other people's secrets but can only tell their spouse or partner." This continues until Noah's last call, "thinkers: those who think before they react to everything that comes there way." Would anyone in your office get on? Or would they be too busy checking the Facebook page of that Noah guy? With an avalanche of information and data at our fingertips, it's easy to succumb to the waves of reactivity. Much of it is well intentioned. We want to be good team players. We want to support the needs of our colleagues. We want to be responsive to customers. Unfortunately, all that good intention is often laced with a lack of discipline, turning our days into a series of firefighting, aimless action and off-task wastes of time. A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review showed that the more workers switched tasks during the day in a reactive manner, the less they accomplished. Workers that had double the number of task switches (email to phone, phone to report, report to meeting, etc.) were a whopping 9 times less productive then their counterparts. Multi-tasking may make you feel like you're getting more done, but research shows that's a comfortable delusion. There are three ways to increase your effectiveness and efficiency when it comes to thinking before reacting: 1. Individual Think Time. You're busy. Really busy. No time to think. It's the most common challenge I hear in strategy workshops. But the great leaders don't find time to think. They create it. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner recently wrote, "If you were to see my calendar, you'd probably notice a host of time slots greyed out but with no indication of what's going on. There is no problem with my Outlook or printer. The
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Transcript of Lets Think About That
7/30/2019 Lets Think About That
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Copyright © 2013. Strategic Thinking Institute. All rights reserved.
"Let's think about that"
"The important thing to recognize is that everyactivity involved in delivering a business's product or service should be guided by strategicthinking. There's really no single activity, process, department or functional area thatshould be left to chance."
Margaret Peteraf, Professor, Tuck School ofBusiness at Dartmouth
Imagine Noah was once again building anark (we have been getting quite a bit of rainin the Midwest). And instead of taking twoof each animal, he showed up at your officeand said, "I'm taking two of each type ofworker. Please pair up as I call your type
and walk onto the ark: administrativeassistants--those who do most of anotherperson's work; information technologists--those who understand that there really aresuch things as dumb questions; humanresource managers--those who know lots ofother people's secrets but can only tell theirspouse or partner."
This continues until Noah's last call,"thinkers: those who think before they react
to everything that comes there way." Wouldanyone in your office get on? Or would theybe too busy checking the Facebook page ofthat Noah guy?
With an avalanche of information and dataat our fingertips, it's easy to succumb to thewaves of reactivity. Much of it is well
intentioned. We want to be good teamplayers. We want to support the needs of ourcolleagues. We want to be responsive tocustomers. Unfortunately, all that goodintention is often laced with a lack ofdiscipline, turning our days into a series of
firefighting, aimless action and off-taskwastes of time.
A recent study published in the HarvardBusiness Review showed that the moreworkers switched tasks during the day in areactive manner, the less they accomplished.Workers that had double the number of taskswitches (email to phone, phone to report,report to meeting, etc.) were a whopping 9
times less productive then theircounterparts. Multi-tasking may make youfeel like you're getting more done, butresearch shows that's a comfortable delusion.
There are three ways to increase youreffectiveness and efficiency when it comes tothinking before reacting:
1. Individual Think Time. You're busy.Really busy. No time to think. It's the most
common challenge I hear in strategyworkshops. But the great leaders don't findtime to think. They create it. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner recently wrote, "If you were tosee my calendar, you'd probably notice ahost of time slots greyed out but with noindication of what's going on. There is noproblem with my Outlook or printer. The
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Copyright © 2013. Strategic Thinking Institute. All rights reserved. 2
grey sections reflect 'buffers,' or time periodsI've purposely kept clear of meetings. In
aggregate, I schedule between 90 minutesand two hours of these buffers every day.Over time, I realized not only were thesebreaks important, they were absolutelynecessary in order for me to do my job."
Notice he doesn't consider individual thinktime as a "nice-to-have." He says think timeis "...absolutely necessary in order for me todo my job." You may be thinking, "Sure,that's easy for the CEO, because, after all,he's the CEO. But that would never fly forme in my company." Well it should as longas you don't work for a buffoon. But forthose of you that still aren't sure, start small.Schedule 15 minutes after lunch on Friday tosit with a pen and notebook or tabletcomputer and start jotting down ideas aboutyour business: What's worked well recently?Why? How is your competition changing?What strengths should you be using more in
your job? What should you stop doingbecause it's no longer bringing value? Whatdoes your "not-to-do" list have on it?
2. Team Think Time. Let's play a wordassociation game. I say "up," you say,"down." I say, "reality TV," you say,"morons." I say, "morons," you say,"Congress." You get the idea. I say, "strategicplanning," you'd say what? Some of theresponses I've heard are: time-consuming,annual, PowerPoint decks, well intentioned,and not used.
One reason the term strategic planning has alot of baggage is because it's often poorlydone. It shouldn't be an annual dog-and-pony show preceded by weeks and weeks ofwork only to be filed away until next year.
Strategy should be an ongoing conversation,not an event. Engage people in dynamic
discussions of your key business issuesframed by the appropriate questions andtools and you've immediately elevated theexperience. Instead of a tactical, in-the-theweeds complaint-fest, you transform it into areal-time thinking session where the focus ison people's ideas, not a slide deck. Onceagain, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner shares histhoughts on team think time: "Thinking, ifdone properly, requires uninterrupted focus;thoroughly developing and questioningassumptions; synthesizing all of the data,info and knowledge that's incessantlycoming your way; connecting dots, bouncingideas off of trusted colleagues. In otherwords, it takes time. And that time will onlybe available if you carve it out. Conversely, ifyou don't take the time to think proactivelyyou will increasingly find yourself reactingto your environment rather than influencingit. The resulting situation will inevitably
require far more time (and meetings) thanthinking strategically would have to beginwith."
3. "Let's think about that." It's a simple butpowerful phrase that can change yourbusiness and culture. The next time youreceive an email marked urgent or someonecomes charging into your office with how toreact to a competitor's activity or a newflavor-of-the-month project, reply with "Let'sthink about that." Then stop and considerhow this helps you achieve your goals andsupports your strategic focus. To do so,determine the probability of success, impacton the business and resources required. Ifafter this analysis, it doesn't appear tosupport your goals and strategies, kindlyinform folks that relative to the other
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Rich is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author on strategy. As the CEO of theStrategic Thinking Institute, he leads executive teams through the strategy process and he has trained more than50,000 managers around the world to develop their strategic thinking skills. A former Chief Strategy Officer andprofessor of strategy, he brings both real-world experience and practical expertise to help groups build their strategy skills. Rich and his work have appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, NBC and FOX TV. Sign-up toreceive your free copy of Strategic Thinker by visiting www.strategyskills.com
initiatives you're working on, this doesn'twarrant resource allocation.
Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motionstates: "For every action, there is an equaland opposite reaction." In your business,thoughtless reaction may cost you a fewseemingly harmless hours, or it mayeventually lead to people losing their jobs.Heed Horwath's First (and most likely mylast) Law of Strategic Motion: "For everyneedless reaction, there is someone whofailed to think."
