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I was talking with my homie @desiato about how to decentralise strategy in an org that is used to following a "visionary leader" and he came up with a great metaphor.
A thread...
A thread...
In my opinion, the essence of strategic thinking is to "rise above" the immediate obstacles, constraints, concerns and limitations of the present moment and enter a more optimistic, expansive, creative mode of imagination
people who are considered "visionary" spend a lot of time in that mode of thinking. they're not concerned about pragmatic limitations (often that is annoying because they suck at life admin)
if you are not familiar with this mode, it can take hours or even days to switch out of your habitual "close up" thinking and get to the "zoomed out" view, a mindset that is less detail-oriented, pragmatic, pessimistic/realistic
many orgs start with 1 person doing that "visionary" work. like a small band of hikers making their way thru uncharted forest. the strategic thinker climbs a tree occasionally and finds an orienting landmark, say a mountaintop, and tells the others which general direction to head
the other hikers are preoccupied with cutting thru underbrush, avoiding dangerous animals, finding shelter, dealing with all the immediate pressing concerns between here and the mountaintop destination
to decentralise this process, and share the strategic thinking, you need to show people how to climb, they need to be allowed to drop the pressing concerns of the hike and embrace their optimistic imagination. hikers need to learn to climb.
the "visionary" person usually sucks at teaching climbing, because it is second nature to them and the don't understand hiking. this is why you need either a facilitator to guide the others up the tree, or a mutiny among the hikers who decide to work it out themselves
first rule: show people which way is "up", and encourage and support them to go there
(I've never met someone who can't climb)
(I've never met someone who can't climb)
second rule: once everyone is up in the treetops *you don't have to agree on what you see*.
you will all have different perspectives, don't try to converge sharply.
no point debating about the distant landscape. you need some shared words for the various landmarks, you need a "good enough" sense of direction, but save most of your effort for hiking on the ground.
no point debating about the distant landscape. you need some shared words for the various landmarks, you need a "good enough" sense of direction, but save most of your effort for hiking on the ground.
