Being More Strategic: Excuses?

Being More Strategic: Excuses?

More and more these days, it is important to consider being strategic regardless of our position in an organisation.

 

I am not a strategy specialist. I am coming at this topic ultimately from the perspective of my role as a psychologist and coach, helping people, teams and organisations to step back a bit and consider; ‘Is there another way I (we) can do life and work?’.

 

Being strategic can be as simple as an employee stepping back and making decisions about priorities and making time to devote to various tasks rather than just keeping the head down getting through task after task as it is assigned. At the other end of the scale, being strategic might be a CEO or a managing director establishing future plans for the entire organisation.

 

In a previous blog I discussed the challenges of being strategic and the difference between

‘strategic thinking’ and ‘strategic planning’.

 

 

Reflections on Being Strategic

 

If  you read my previous blog  on this topic, you’ve hopefully taken some time to consider your own strengths in  this area and  any challenges  you might have in getting both elements – ‘thinking’ and ‘planning’ – of being strategic working for you.

 

Here’s some of my reflections:

 

In my role as a coach and facilitator of change in individuals, teams and organisations, I am somebody who wants to support transformation in as many people as I can. I often notice themes coming up again and again across clients. In noticing these themes across people and situations, this gives me clues as to what many more people might be thinking. I give myself time to reflect on these themes by asking more questions, discussing the themes with others and through reading and writing about the topics.

 

To return to a definition of ‘being strategic’ from the first blog in this series

(What do we mean by ‘Be More Strategic?’ Thinking vs planning. (adaptastraining.com))

Being strategic is taking an outside: in view of how things are, and could be done. It’s making sure that an individual, team or organisation’s core competence or competencies are consistently focusing on directional choices that will best move the individual, team or organisation toward its new future, with the least risk and in the most orderly fashion. It’s being proactive rather than reactive. It’s  being committed to a vision and purpose.

However, just because I notice a theme and have done the thinking on it, doesn’t mean that my clients on a macro level are going to recognise the importance of addressing this particular theme. There are going to be other things on their minds, depending on their specific role and objectives. My ability to plan strategically as a business owner means I cannot just make a new set of plans to match this new theme. This will confuse my clients and possibly destroy my business. Therefore I need to sit separately in the ‘thinking’ and ‘planning’ and interweave both in making future plans.

 

My comfort zone in ‘being strategic’

 

I find I sit most comfortably in the strategic thinking side of things. I have endless ideas on what could be done and how things could be done. But because I have so many ideas and only a small team and very little time outside of my busy days, I am not great on strategic planning. Notice my excuse ‘only a small team and very little time outside of my busy days’?  Having a small team does not mean I  cannot  be great at strategic planning! I  just have to make the time to prioritise.

 

Many people I have coached are great at strategic planning but do not take the thinking time to consider new ways of doing things. They tell me that changing how things are done would create too much risk and so therefore there is no point in wasting time doing the big picture thinking.

 

 

Your ‘be more strategic’ challenge: Part 2

 

What excuses might you be telling yourself that are holding you back from taking adequate time to ‘be strategic’ NOW ?

Manage Your Time And Have A Life

Updated July 27th 2023

Does this look like a lady who manages her time wisely? 

Somehow for years I associated good time management with being a boring sort of person, lacking adventure and spontaneity. I even had a picture in my head of a prim and proper man waiting for a train and just as it pulled into the station, he’d glance at his watch and approach the platform. However, nowadays I’m firmly convinced of the vast benefits associated with it.

First step: Find your value behind this commitment
Finding your motivation to internally commit to good time management is key to your success at it. You need to see what values you have that are congruent with adopting this behaviour. Having a look at some of the advantages listed below could help you with this.

  • Be less stressed and in the flow
  • A focused mind
  • Less procrastination
  • Achieving your goals
  • Better finances
  • Greater self esteem and confidence
  • Better relationships with others
  • Less guilt/stress due to respecting other people’s time
  • Increase your productivity
  • Feelings of accomplishment
  • Enjoy and appreciate your leisure off without worrying
    ….And all without taking yourself too seriously because that is a serious matter!

80% of your productivity is down to 20% of your efforts
The 80/20 principle refers to the phenomenon where 80% of your productivity is brought about by 20% of your efforts. Being successful isn’t just about working smarter or harder; it’s about working smarter on the right things. The key is to focus your energy on producing the 80% of everything you do – which is also the 80% that matters.

The best time managers spend more time planning and training staff to take on delegated tasks than in a flurry of email and phone answering activism.

Some questions to ask yourself:
What is the best use of my time and energy this week?
Will doing this make a difference in the next 6 months?

The Key is Planning
With planning you can get a lot more done, more effectively and in less time. Because of this, I now find myself putting aside time each Sunday to plan my week. I begin by sourcing a piece of foolscap and creating headings which sum up the main areas of my life:

1) Family
2) Friends
3) Career/Work
4) Health
5) Significant other
6) Finances
7) Spirituality
8) Physical environment
9) Fun & relaxation 🙂

Then come the bullet points
Under each heading, I list what I would like to get done this week as it relates to each area. For example, if you would like to make more money, under the heading of finances you could write, ‘time for creative brainstorming around sourcing better leads’ and under health, ‘less burgers and more green veg’. Then with seven days to play with, you slot each ‘to do’ into a day and time. For example, go to that vegetable shop around the corner on Monday evening on my way back from work.

WARNING: Prioritisation
If your goals have taken steroids, I advise highlighting the most important ones to take precedence in your diary. We don’t want Mrs Doyle from Father Ted creeping her ugly head so there is no need to mend the roof, build a shed and organise a rock concert in one week.

With the Sunday best approach (above) however you can seriously give this theory a Father Jack kick up the backside. This is because, using this tried and tested approach, it quickly points out when you are on the wrong track.

Now you have time for a life
You cannot sustain the same output endlessly without rest and fun. Not only that but what’s the point in living life without having a life? So while you are scheduling enough time for bedtime, I urge you to put to bed the idea that work defines you or without you, things will fall apart. Apart from the fun part of being able to live a bit, when you get a rest and have fun, the brain performs better. Better still, inject fun into your work and success will come more easily to you anyway.