1/ @DavidCHoll asked the other day about translating strategy to execution, and why that's such a challenge.
Here's what I think.
Here's what I think.
@DavidCHoll 2/ There is a necessary and natural boundary between the long term strategic goals of an organisation and the short term projects and tasks that are performed in pursiut of those goals.
@DavidCHoll 3/ @HiredThought, @madplatt and I did a podcast epidode which touched on this a week or so ago (out soon). Sun Tzu and eastern philosiphy has some clues on why this is the case. Western thought tends to want everything linear, but there are people who have figured it out.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 4/ Read this fantastic article by Dee Hock the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association: thesystemsthinker.com/the-nature-and…
Go ahead, I'll wait.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 5/ Purpose and strategy are necessarily abstract. You cannot linearly deconstruct them to a set of step by step actions to take to achieve them. It's impossible.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 6/ While you are doing the decontruction the world is changing, rendering the steps incorrect. While you are carrying out the steps, you're changing your understanding of the world, blowing subsequent steps ever more off course.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 7/ Dee says:
The whole of the purpose and principles should constitute a coherent, cohesive body of belief, although it is inevitable that one principle may be in conflict with another.
The whole of the purpose and principles should constitute a coherent, cohesive body of belief, although it is inevitable that one principle may be in conflict with another.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 8/ Where conflict exists, decisions should be balanced so that no principle is sacrificed to another. Paradox and conflict are inherent characteristics of chaordic organization.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 9/ Strategy, execution and the interplay between them form a strange loop.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 10/ A strange loop is a cyclic structure that goes through several levels in a hierarchical system. It arises when, by moving only upwards or downwards through the system, one finds oneself back where one started. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_l…
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 11/ If individial cognition is a strange loop, you can be damn sure that organisations made up of strange loopy individuals, interacting in a networked ecosystem of other composed strange loops are definitely strange loops:
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt 12/ So. Don't expect to "translate" strategy to execution. There's no mapping available to do so. They exsist in different systems. Use this model from @snowded and @PonchAGLX instead aglx.consulting/post/the-new-k…
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt @snowded @PonchAGLX 13/ Act (probe) - do something to effect the environment. Observe and Orient - evaluate the change that has happened and it's relationship to your strategy. This needs DETACHMENT. Decide your response - make any adjustments necessary before you act again.
@DavidCHoll @HiredThought @madplatt @snowded @PonchAGLX 15/ Boyd made extensive study of Sun Tzu and uncertainty as he formulated the #OODA loop. That is why it is so applicable across so many domains and contexts.
