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Adaptive strategic planning: shifting from and ‘either-or’ to a ‘both-and’ approach.

EARCOS Leadership Conference Bangkok 2015 Workshop 3: Thursday 29th November Dr Chris Jansen – University of Canterbury, New Zealand

chris@leadershiplab.co.nz www.leadershiplab.co.nz

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Chris Jansen

3 www.ideacreation.org

A thriving organisation is about……. innovation

A thriving organisation is about……. stability

Polarities

• have interdependent alternatives.

• tend to be ongoing and oscillate.

• there is no definitive end point to solving the problem.

• since they are not solvable, they have to be managed.

• require ‘both-and’ thinking

• creativity lies in navigating the tension

4 www.thinkbeyond.co.nz

“Either or”…..”both and”

• competition & collaboration

• cost & quality

• flexibility & structure

• action & reflection

• stability & change

• individual & team

• planning & action

• idealistic & pragmatic

• centralised & decentralised

• internal & external focus

• top down & bottom up

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• task & relationship

• freedom & accountability

• short term & long term

• work & home

• controlling & participative

• individual & collective

• effective & efficient

• activity & rest

• mission & margin

• rational & intuitive

• customise & standardise

.

.

.

Power vs influence Leaders vs leadership

Position of a leader vs action of leadership

Hierarchies and Networks

Mapping a polarity - impacts

• Define the challenge

• Name the poles (the two extremes)

• Brainstorm the upsides & downsides of each pole

• Upsides – benefits of focusing on this value

• Downsides – harmful effects of focusing on this value to the neglect of its pair

• Suggested order l-, r+, r-,l+

7 www.thinkbeyond.co.nz

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Mapping a polarity - actions

• Identify early warning signs and list these in measurable terms

• Brainstorm all the actions you could take to stay above the line. Identify the ones that will add most leverage and record these as action steps

• Discuss how you will use this to manage the polarity

9 www.thinkbeyond.co.nz

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Advantages of managing polarities • less caught up in power struggles

• more able to lower resistance to change

• greater ability to productively engage with allies and opponents in co-creating robust decisions

• once a polarity has been mapped insights and epiphanies rise to the surface

• Appreciate each others’ perspectives.

The leaders role • validate both options

• to hold the tension rather than try to resolve it,

• avoid representing one end of the tension

• foster dialogue to create new thinking and actions

• create a hybrid which is the ‘best of both worlds’

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Consultants to ourselves…..

How centralised or decentralised is our organisation?

How has this varied over the years?

What fine tuning of this could be helpful

at the moment?

Healthy, Thriving Organisation

Failing Organisation

Short-term Long-term

• Continuity

• Grounded

• Consistency

• Clear core ideology

• New directions

• Expanding

possibilities

• Freedom

• Lack of freedom

• Stagnation

• No new ideas being

generated

• No continuity

• Chaotic confusion over

what is happening

and Stability Change

Healthy, Thriving Organisation

Failing Organisation

Short-term Long-term

• Focus on what you

do well & amplify it

• Articulate what we

stand for

• Monitor key result

areas (dashboard)

• Clear targets, plans &

accountabilities

• Complaints of “being

stifled”

• No new ideas being

researched/developed

• Try lots of stuff and

keep what works

(bullets before

cannonballs)

• Celebrate

successes

• Fail safely

• Complaints of

“mixed messages”

• Complaints of things

“falling through the

cracks”

• Projects late or not

completed at all

• Ideas created but no

targeted actions

• Continuity

• Grounded

• Consistency

• Clear core ideology

• New directions

• Expanding possibilities

• Freedom

• Lack of freedom

• Stagnation

• No new ideas being

generated

• No continuity

• Chaotic confusion over

what is happening

Action Steps Action Steps

Early Warnings Early Warnings and Stability Change

Keeping in contact….

chris@leadershiplab.co.nz

www.ideacreation.org

www.leadershiplab.co.nz

@IdeacreationNZ

16 www.ideacreation.org