It's been a while since I posted to this blog. Life just has a way of taking me away from the professional website sometimes, and thankfully, has me doing the actual work I talk about here. The last months have been packed full with a fantastic, emerging project.
I won't take time here describing the project, because that isn't today's point. The point is that for that last months, one universal "truism" has revealed itself over and over again - it's all about the people. You see, in this role, I've composed one strategy after the other. We've all agreed to the process, and the process makes sense. Somehow, however, the ideas don't manifest in actual deliverables. So, what was I doing wrong? I was imagining that square pegs were going to fit into round holes.
You see, it doesn't matter how brilliant the strategy is. If you don't have some fantastic, self-directed, imaginative folks to take your framework and run with it, it will lay dormant. And, any strategy should be just that - a framework for emerging ideas and directions. If your strategy is just sitting there one of several things could have happened.
- Your strategy sucks
- You skipped the "team buy-in" and collaboration phases of the process
- You're barking up the wrong tree - you don't have the folks in place who can manifest and expand on your ideas
As I try to practice what Peter Block calls "Flawless Consulting," I knew the problem wasn't points 1 or 2 (giggle). Seriously, though - there were several indicators that the strategy was good and I used a collaborative process to gain buy-in. It was very clear that number 3 was the culprit.
So, how did I solve this problem? I worked with the client to shift folks around to roles that were more suited to their skill sets. Next, I brought on a couple of folks that can take a simple strategic framework and make it soar, thus proving once again, it's all about the people.
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