Strategic Doing /365

2010 Jack Ricchiuto



We have entered an era where it has become more obvious that our thrivancy is equal to our capacity for learning and change. 


This changes the whole business of being strategic and strategic planning. More organizations and communities are moving toward a more agile approach to planning.


We need to think of being strategic not as something we do periodically but something we do as daily practice 365 days a year. In a dynamic world, the only pragmatic approach to being proactive is making strategic doing ongoing.


The model I've been using in organizations and communities features 5 key elements: assets, aspirations, actions, attention, and affiliations. Together they frame 5 strategic conversations that give shape to strategic doing. Strategic doing is creating together a future that matters, a future different from the past.























Assets are the intangible and tangible talents and resources we have individually and in common. Aspirations are the vision statements we create that describe the future we want to create together. Actions are the research and projects that have the power to engage our assets in the realization of our aspirations. Attention is our ability to anticipate trends and constraints in our world. Affiliations are the social and economic connections that support our capacity for thrivancy.


Asset Conversations

We identify the tangible and intangible we have individually and collectively. When we are strategic in ways that engage our assets, we do not waste time talking about approaches that require assets we don't have. Focusing on what we do have has power; focusing on what we lack takes our power away. When we focus on what we have, it inspires us to combine our assets in new ways for new possibilities moving forward.


Aspiration Conversations

We craft statements that clearly describe the kind of future we want to create together. We start 20 years out because the depth and clarity of our passion is equal to the length of our vision. Because the future is intrinsically unknowable, we don't vision to see future probabilities more clearly, but to see present possibilities more clearly. Then we translate our 20 year vision statements into 2 year vision statements we can commit to. These include statements about what we would consider impossible, possible, and surprising.


Action Conversations

We translate our 2 year vision statements into 2 quarter and then 2 month strategic actions. Actions include any kind of exploratory research (strategic questions) and pilot projects (strategic initiatives) that have the power to create innovation and learning. Strategic doing is all about action because actions build our capacity for all forms of learning, innovation, and agility. Not only do we not miss important unpredictable opportunities, through action we create opportunities instead of hoping and waiting for them to happen to us.


Attention Conversations

We identify the kinds of trends and constraints we need to pay attention to as we take action, Smart action is action that anticipates trends that are clearly emerging in the present and prepares us for them. Pragmatic action is continuously in alignment with our constraints. There are three kinds of constraints. There are things we could change about our world but are committed to not changing, things we can't change even if we wanted to, and things we are committed to changing.


Affiliation Conversations

We identify and discover the richness of our social and economic networks. These are the networks of current and potential collaborators with whom we can do together what we could not possibly do alone, apart, or in opposition. In a connected world, we are as strong as our connections. When our connections are wide and deep, we become more capable of attention, action, aspiration, and engaging our assets.


What makes strategic doing a 365 days a year process is a practice of quarterly micro-retreats. These are half-day gatherings where we do the following:


  1. 1. Share what we've learned individually and collectively in the past quarter from our strategic actions, attention, and affiliations


  1. 2. Revisit our 20 and 2 year vision statements to see if we want to add any new ones or replace any old ones based on our learnings


  1. 3. Revisit our trends and constraints and revise our sense of them based on our learning in the past quarter


  1. 4. Share updates on completed and in-progress 2 quarter and 2 month actions, and create commitments to new actions that can help realize our vision


  1. 5. Decide if we want to develop or strengthen any connections that could help us with our actions and attention


This makes the process of being strategic continuous, collaborative, pragmatic, innovative, and agile.


What organizations and communities discover in the process is a way to see change as a constant, an opportunity and an intention. Action replaces talk, learning replaces speculative assumptions, connection replaces isolation, focus on assets replaces focus on deficiencies, and vision replaces excuses. The process gives us the power to create a future different from the past.



       

        To get started transforming your strategic planning process,

        contact Jack at jack(at)designinglife(dot)com. Thanks to my

        good friend and economic development guru Ed Morrison for
        innovating the idea of “strategic doing.”





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