Tag Archives: Strategic

Eight Times You MUST Reset Your Strategy

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Last week I taught Strategic Thinking & Planning for Leaders at the UCLA Extension’s Technical Management Program, for the 65th time over the last 30+ years.

My students were managers, group leaders, technologists, and project managers who kept me on my toes by asking provocative questions. One question was “when and how often should you update your strategy?”

I call this a strategy reset, a focused and well-facilitated conversation among key players aimed at keeping their strategy relevant and projects on-point.  This involves tackling troubling issues, making tough decisions, and putting new initiatives into play.

When I first started teaching, my answer to the WHEN question would have been calendar-based: develop your strategy annually, update it quarterly.  That still makes sense, but in these fast-paced times, some issues just can’t wait so I recommend a situation-based reset whenever:

1. There’s a big fat problem. You need to create solutions to current problems and prevent those emerging on the horizon. Kill the monsters while they are small, don’t than let them grow strong enough to devour you.

2. The business environment has changed. It’s a new ball game. Disruptive technology, a smart start up, or other nasty surprises demand a timely and thoughtful response.

3. New leaders have come on board. They bring their own perspectives, vision, and blind spots. Integrate their vision with current reality.

4. Mediocrity is creeping in. You’ve become stagnant. Something is not working, maybe many things. If you aren’t moving at the speed of change, you are falling behind.

5. You’ve lost focus. An old Indian proverb reminds that a man who chases two rabbits will lose both. Concentrate on doing what you do best, leveraging your competitive advantages.

6. Confusion exists. If goals are vague, responsibilities unclear, and morale sinking, it’s time to look at root causes and reboot.

7. Pressure is growing. Customers, senior management, or your upset boss expect more from your operation. You feel the burn. Time to deliver results.

8. Your plan has gone stale. Like home-made bread, plans have a half-life and decay over time. Turn up the oven to 425 degrees, and to bake something fresh.

So that’s the When and Why. For the How, register for my upcoming free Solutions Training. I’ll share the best approaches I’ve learned and taught in Fortune 100s, fast-growing private companies, government agencies, and research laboratories.

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Terry Schmidt is a business strategist and author of Strategic Project Management Made Simple, and chief honcho at ManagementPro.com.

An Innovation Lesson: How a Snarling Dog Saved American Airlines Money

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A story about Robert Crandall, the legendary former chairman of American Airlines, demonstrates how creative thinking can simplify operations and reduce costs.

Crandall visited each AA location annually and discovered that a low-traffic Caribbean cargo warehouse employed an expensive night watchman to deter theft.  Crandall suggested reducing the watchman to just three nights a week (the thieves wouldn’t know). A year later, with no theft, Crandall suggested further cost savings.

Crandall ordered that “Vicious Dog” signs are prominently placed around the facility, and they found the meanest and scariest dog to patrol inside the facility.  Months later, after no theft attempts, they put the dog on part-time duty.

But times were tough for the airline, and more budget cuts were needed. Crandall then instructed that the dog not is fed for a day to make him mean, then had staff tape-record the snarling animal. The dog was laid off after the recording was hooked to speakers and put on a random timer so that thieves would be fooled into thinking a vicious dog was still patrolling the warehouse.

And it worked!

How can you adapt this concept to your own situation?

Start by asking “what is the purpose of any system or process”, then look for better, cheaper, simpler ways to accomplish that objective.

In Crandall’s case, there were superior ways to deter potential robbers.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of habit, and continue doing things the current way, without periodically searching for better ways to achieve the essential purpose the process is designed to achieve.

Give this a whirl:  First, make a list of the top three time-consuming or resource-intensive processes in your business. Second, pinpoint the essential purpose of each, the “why” we are doing this. Third, identify at least three alternative approaches or simplifications to achieve the purpose in a better way. And finally, put the best ideas into action.

But please, reject any approaches that require you to starve and snarl your dog.

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Terry Schmidt is a business strategist and author of Strategic Project Management Made Simple, and chief honcho at ManagementPro.com. He helps people of all backgrounds to develop Project Super Hero skills that transform their ability to get great results faster and smoother. Learn how here.

How would YOU have managed the risky project to rescue the Thai soccer team trapped deep in a cold dark cave?

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The amazingly good news is that it’s over…. 12 “Wild Boar” Thai children and their coach were all rescued alive after being trapped two weeks in a cold dark cave 6 kilometers deep.

It was a mission feared impossible, as divers navigated tight passages of sharp rocks, weighed down by bulky equipment and guiding weak kids who had never swum before.

Now imagine that you were given this project to manage (along with a translator) . How would you pull off such a complex, urgent, risky, life-or-death project for which there was no advance preparation or warning?

What systems and structures would you set up to coordinate the multiple agencies and over 1000 people from 7 countries who were eventually involved — Thai Seals, cave experts, doctors, cooks, military, and others?

In the comments, identify the top 5 steps you would take to initiate and plan this critical, never-been-done before project.

18 Transformational Questions for your Mid-Year Career and Life Review

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The great Mark Twain reminds us that we should take our brains out once in a while and stomp on them because they get all caked up. Let’s stomp!

I’m a firm believer in the value of asking brain-shaking questions at least twice a year.  Since the first half of 2018 is history, now is a great time to ponder the following 18 questions… half reflect back on the months past, and half look ahead.

Relish these questions, add more, journal answers to them on your own, or share with others.

Reviewing the past six months….

  1. What has been the very best thing about this year so far for you?
  2. What new skills or talents did you discover in yourself?
  3. What projects made you feel most alive and why?
  4. What are the greatest family experiences you enjoyed?
  5. What work contributions do you feel most proud of?
  6. What did you do that most contribute to your personal mission and vision?
  7. What’s the most meaningful thing you did for the three people you love the most?
  8. What was the biggest risk you took and how did it turn out?
  9. What obsolete goals are you willing to let go of now?

Fast-forwarding the next six months…

  1. If you could write one news headline about you and make it come true, what would it be?
  2. What will be your number one focus during these next six months?
  3. What would you have to believe about yourself to make the coming months your best ever?
  4. What limiting beliefs would be useful to drop?
  5. What new or neglected old hobby would you like to experience?
  6. What are three ways you can work more productively while reducing frustration and stress?
  7. How will you help others to be more successful?
  8. What BHAP (“Big Hairy Audacious Project”) could you create that would transform your team or company?
  9. What “Super Hero skills” would accelerate your success?

Now, with fresh insights bubbling in your brain, identify some transformative action items. Get moving, so that the last half of 2018 is your most enjoyable, productive, and loving season of your life.

To learn the 4 Cornerstone Questions that result in transformational projects in work and life, click here to register for my one hour Project Super Power System training at no cost.

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Terry Schmidt is a business strategist, keynoter, author of Strategic Project Management Made Simple, and chief honcho at ManagementPro.com. He helps leaders at all levels to develop the skill set and mindset to accomplish outstanding results.

Outfox Murphy’s Law by Managing Your Project Assumptions — or Else!

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After NASA’s $125 million Mars Orbiter crashed during the landing phase, a later analysis showed that the spacecraft builders worked in the metric system. NASA assumed, but for some reason failed to verify, that the builders were using the English measurement system of feet and inches. Thus, the Orbiter’s computer contained bogus data and the mission failed.

And when “Company XYZ’s” strategic plan crashed during execution, a review showed that the core strategic planning team defined the future vision and set vague goals without much stakeholder involvement. They assumed, but failed to obtain, that there would be strong support those affected by their plans. This assumption was bogus and their strategy failed.

Whether you are shooting for Mars or aiming someplace closer, many missions that matter crash on the hard rocks of reality when an implicit but unmanaged assumption went awry.

Murphy and his infamous law dwell in the murky mess of invalid assumptions — those conditions which must exist for the strategy to be valid. The graveyard of failed strategic plans is littered with undefined, unexamined, and untested assumptions such as:

  • Top management support is etched in stone on this one.
  • Everyone is in the loop and on-board for the entire ride.
  • We have a good balanced scorecard and that should be sufficient.
  • No use wasting too much ink because we all know plans change.

Assumptions Matter

Invalid assumptions are the soft underbelly of achieving strategic goals. When bad things happen to good strategies, erroneous assumptions are often to blame.

Every strategy and project plan rests on assumptions—whether or not they are acknowledged or verified.

The best strategic thinkers, planners, and change agents take the time to identify, examine, and validate their underlying assumptions. Faulty assumptions act as invisible beds of quicksand, eager to suck good intentions under. How do you surface the most relevant ones?

There are two levels at which assumptions analysis can help planners to reality-base their work. One level concerns assumptions made about the implications of trends and factors that show up during an environmental scan.

There’s an old story about two European shoe salesmen sent to adjacent regions of Africa to study sales potential. The first reported back that since no one wore shoes, there was zero sales potential. The second reported that since no one wore shoes, the potential was infinite. Both salesmen noted the same underlying facts, but reached diametrically opposed conclusions. These contrasting conclusions reveal very different mental models and assumption at play. This phenomenon can also occur during strategic planning and among strategic planner as well, because we seldom bother to make explicit our implicit assumptions.

Ask yourself, “What should we assume?” or “What are we assuming?” in such categories as:

  • Planning Team Members
  • Related Projects
  • Stakeholders Interests
  • Willingness to Change
  • Management Support
  • Customer Expectations
  • Technical Issues
  • Political Climate
  • Resource Availability
  • Competing Concerns

Three Steps for Managing Assumptions

Your own experience may confirm just how many strategic initiatives fall flat due to faulty, ill-formed, undefined or unexamined assumptions.

Assumptions always exist, whether or not we acknowledge or verify them. You need to get them out of your head and onto paper.

Try this simple three-step process to surface easily-overlooked potential deal beakers which deserve your attention.

Step 1. Identify Key Assumptions.

Get your core team together, or fly solo, and use these kick-off questions to surface underlying Assumptions:

  • What conditions must exist, and what factors must be true, for this effort to work?
  • How must the world cooperate with us?
  • What else must happen for this to succeed?
  • What else should we assume?

Step 2. Analyze and Test Them

Now you can analyze and test each with questions like these:

  • How important is this Assumption to strategy success or failure?
  • How valid or probable is this Assumption? What are the odds? How do we know?
  • If the Assumptions fails, what is the impact? Does it diminish level of accomplishment? Delay it? Destroy it?
  • What could cause this Assumption to not be valid?” (Note: This one triggers specific risk factors).

Use this first-cut analysis as a jumping-off point for more rigorous risk assessments using conventional risk management techniques.

Step 3. Act On Them

Now subject each assumptions to the following:

  • Is this a reasonable risk to take?
  • To what extent is it amenable to control? Can we manage it? Influence and nudge it? Or only monitor it?
  • How can we design our initiatives to minimize the impact of, or work around, risky Assumptions?
  • What contingency plans might have handy just in case?

Managing Assumptions requires making contingency plans and putting preventive solutions in place. For example, if it absolutely, positively must get there overnight, send identical packages by DHL, UPS and FedEx. If dark storms are brewing, do the organizational equivalent of nailing on plywood and getting a gasoline-powered pump before the hurricane hits! You get the idea.

Steering Assumptions In Your Direction

Question #3 of the 4 Cornerstone Questions helps surface and test your assumptions, so you can either deal with them before they crush your strategy, or monitor them and have a “Plan B” waiting in the wings

When you and your team become adept at managing assumptions, you’ll be better prepared to sail skillfully and courageously across the sea of change washing over us, rather than getting drowned by a strategic tsunami you didn’t see rolling in on the horizon.

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To learn the 4 Cornerstone Questions that result in bullet-proof project plans, click here to register for my one hour Project Super Power System training at no cost.

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Terry Schmidt is a business strategist, keynoter, author of Strategic Project Management Made Simple, and chief honcho at ManagementPro.com. He helps leaders at all levels to develop the skill set and mindset to accomplish outstanding results.