The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning →

"The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning" is one of my all-time favorites. The barriers to strategy execution and learning it describes always resonate, and every organization probably has more than one or two.

In the past, I've thought about how principles from Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team might apply. In my latest reading, I was using a different lens. This time I was thinking about how my own mindset – the things I was doing (or not doing) – had gotten in the way of past change efforts.

More importantly, this reading has me really focused on Organizational Fitness Profiling, the process the authors recommend to unearth the root causes of strategy execution blockers, and to develop a workable plan.

"For a decade, we have conducted research focused on understanding the root causes of the difficulties that Becton Dickinson and others encounter when responding to shifts in competitive strategy. Using an inquiry and action-learning method we call 'Organizational Fitness Profiling (OFP),' we enlist a team of senior managers to serve as our co-investigators. The process provides a window for understanding deeply rooted barriers that are common to an array of companies."

…

"[OFP] is both an intervention method and a research approach. It unfolds over a series of meetings intended to promote an open and fact-based dialogue within the senior management team of an organizational unit, as well as between the top team and lower organizational levels. The process involves five steps."

1. Create a statement about direction
2. Collect data on barriers and strengths
3. Develop an integrated plan for change
4. Refine the plan
5. Implement the plan

I love the idea of having a team lower-level managers investigate barriers and provide senior leaders with the unvarnished truth!

There's much more detail and context in the article, of course. While it's behind a paywall, if you're leading an organization that maybe could use a little change, I can't recommend "Silent Killers" more highly.

Send Me Away

Once upon a time, things weren’t going so well at work. I can’t remember what we were arguing about, but I left my boss’s office, walked back to mine, and kind of sort of slammed the door. I sat behind my desk – in the dark – pissed!

After a while, one of my colleagues came in and said, “Bill you’re obviously having a bad day. Why don’t you just go home?”

I thought, “you mean I could do that?” While it hadn’t occurred to me, it was great advice!

I grabbed my coat and briefcase, told my assistant I was leaving for the day and started for home.

I walked across Central Park South. When I got to Lexington Avenue, the proverbial lightbulb went on.

I ambled into Bloomingdales and took the escalator up to the seventh floor. I went to the American Express Travel counter where a young woman asked how she could help me.

“Send me away,” I said.

“Where would you like to go?”

“I have no idea, but I obviously need a vacation.”

I walked out having booked a trip to Barbados. I think the hotel we selected was undergoing renovations, so my wife and I ended up going to Jamaica.

Sometimes we need a little advice. It helps to be open to it when it comes. Maybe it’ll get you out of yourself, out of a jam, and relaxing for five days on a beach in Montego Bay.

And make it easier for others to deal with you when you return.

It certainly worked for me!