Chameleon Strategy for Complex Business
How can strategic planning be effective when change is occurring faster and more widely than ever before? Events occurring on the other side of the world can have previously unimagined, massive, rapid effects on local conditions. Interdependence is increasing and things aren’t just complicated any more - they’re complex!
How can strategic planning be effective when it seems human beings really aren’t designed for it? Most of the time we tend to latch onto the first palatable option instead of continued exploration towards the optimum approach (premature convergence). In our craving for predictability we often ‘make up’ causes for events in the past and wrongly expect that the future will repeat in similar fashion (retrospective coherence).
How can strategic planning be effective when we’re no longer dealing with leopards but chameleons? As far as change is concerned, the old adage about the leopard never changing its spots is wrong. Complex problems are like chameleons: as soon as you take action towards a solution, the nature of the problem changes!
I believe that true strategic planning begins with a naturalistic approach, using techniques to properly make sense of where your organization is situated right now - not in some idealized, imagined future which, by the time we get there, isn’t guaranteed to be where we should have gone.
Using the Cynefin framework and other methods to help make sense of current conditions (the only aspect of strategy that is ‘real’), I help facilitate your organization to determine and devise appropriate actions. And encourage the outcomes of those actions as they emerge real-time - not having to wait-and-see if they’ve worked, or not, at some arbitrary future date. That may be too late!
I believe that true strategic planning is a function distributed throughout the organization, day-to-day, for maximum intelligence, implementation and effectiveness. Everybody in your organization has ‘value-able’ information and perspectives to contribute. My approach enables that contribution to be gathered, utilized and disseminated quickly and economically.
I believe that my strategic planning approach is grounded in reality, at times uncomfortable, challenging and unforgiving of complacency.
I know, however, that it will provide your organization with robust and resilient strategies for complex, changing environments.
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