Leadership

Over time, the word has become abused and yet still has an uplifting sparkle. From this practitioner’s point of view, leadership is critical, not because it’s the only thing but because it’s under-taught and under-used. The ability to think long-term and bring that perspective back to the present in a constant search for more complete paradigms is a critical, competitive advantage for any organization. All too often, it is easy to become used to “the way things are” and fall into a rut of doing like we’ve always done it … forgetting the original reasons why.

Leadership jars those of us in the status quo quagmire into new ways of thinking and doing. Jim Collins’ advice to “preserve the core and innovate everything else” is sage advice for the organization desiring to stick around. (Collins, 1994)

Change

I have come to believe people do not resist change so much as they resist senseless change. People must get an idea of what’s in it for them if they are to embrace or at least tolerate change. This allowance for change ranges from passionate “kool-aid drinkers” to the person who simply wants to keep getting a paycheck. Regardless of the motivation, most team members are naturally drawn to success and can be won over in time.

The interesting thing about change is it is both art and science. For example, one excerpt in John Kotter’s book, “Leading Change” suggests a scientific approach with eight steps to creating change. (Kotter, 1996) The how-to-execute these seemingly scientific steps is where art comes into play.

Business Process

Change is incomplete without considering business processes. The underlying, steady driver that keeps organizations running is the process machine (built partly by intent and partly by evolution). Without regular house-cleaning, business process can easily slow down an otherwise smooth running operation with unneeded obstacles and extra steps. In many cases, such problems occur between departments who unknowingly optimize their own areas to the unintended detriment of the greater whole.

Collaborative Culture

Far from being group-think without direction or coherent focus, collaborative culture is an engaging, dynamic entity … as it should be! This doesn’t happen by accident but is the intersection of humble leadership, change for the sake of vibrant business results and alignment of business process. Forget leadership and the destination is unknown. Take out change and any organization will eventually disappear regardless of how noble the purpose. Neglect business process management and find an organization driving like a car with two square wheels.

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Are there more important pieces to collaborative culture besides the above? How would you prioritize leadership, change and business process? What would you add, change or delete?

References

Collins, Jim (1994). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York, NY. Harper Business.

Kotter, John (1996). Leading Change. Cambridge, MA. Harvard Business Review Press.

Nitschke, Robert (2012). Creating a Collaborative Enterprise: Retool Your Organization to Dominate Your Markets. Bothell, WA. Book Publishers Network.

Here are two definitions to start.

• Mistakes in technique – With any change management effort, plan on mistakes in technique. This is the ‘how’ of change, the specific methods and experiments to move toward the vision. One speaker (I don’t remember his name) compared a technique mistake to accidentally making holes in a boat above the waterline. While not ideal, the boat can take a few without too much trouble.
• Mistakes in principle – Although techniques can evolve readily, there should be underlying principles that remain constant. For example, team members should treat each other with respect, even when there’s disagreement. To use the boat analogy again, ignoring a principle is like making holes below the waterline. This is much more serious.

While there are several contenders for serious change management mistakes, here are my top three. If left unchecked, each will become an error in principle.

Mistake #3 – Lack of Follow-through

Good intentions alone are incomplete. Wishing, discussing or even goal-setting for the expected change isn’t enough. One of the comfort zones during uncertainty is to stay busy with outdated activities or simply stay in a planning mode. This may not be from resistance so much as fear.

Most of us like to get As on our tests which means making few or no mistakes. In change management, it’s normal to make mistakes in technique but the follow-through must focus on the goals until reached.

Lesson – Repeatedly explain the ‘why’ of change and give reassurance about mistakes in technique. Be consistent about checking on goal deadlines and agreements. Find those who follow up naturally and appoint them as it makes sense. Lack of follow-through will kill a change effort.

Mistake #2 – Ignoring Current Culture

Periodically, senior managers mandate big change ‘or else.’ While the commitment is admirable, current culture may see the policy as a win for management and a loss for the workers. Bad move. As one wise mentor said, “Involve them.”

Please, do not under-estimate the status quo culture. Don’t be afraid but be intentionally wise. Here are some questions to help navigate the risky waters.

• What are the values of the current culture and will they need to change to ensure success?
• Where is the overlap between current methods and future techniques?
  What is the best way to capitalize on mutual goals?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the change plan? Of the current culture? Pick battles where change is the strongest and status quo is weakest.

With any serious change movement, there will be setbacks, mistakes and unexpected obstacles. Activities that might have seemed trivial may suddenly become rallying points for the status quo culture. Keep going, carefully choose battles and take alternative paths as necessary.

Lesson – Be willing to change the change. In other words adapt to the dynamic environment in method while remaining committed to the goals in principle.

Mistake #1 – Lack of Timely, Informative Communication

I have yet to visit an organization where the majority felt management communicated too much. Ironically, management in the same organizations often feels they communicate well. Why the disconnect?

Consider this context. Most of us are accustomed to more data than we can digest. Do a quick Internet search on any topic and note the number of results (in millions).

Give the team members as many updates as possible and let them filter for their own needs. Formal and informal channels buzzing with information is the life-blood of any change effort. Continually adapt the communication to meet the receivers’ expectations, needs and demands. This dialogue alone can create a healthier work setting.

Lesson – Communicate more than you think necessary … and remember this is a two-way street.

What do you see as the top three change management mistakes?

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Here is a related article.

Process Design in Operations Management (business process management) – “We all know there’s design … and then there’s DESIGN! From beautiful houses and buildings to boats – you name it – design makes all the difference in a great or just-ok outcome. Organizations are no different … design matters … a lot.”

Photo Credit: Copyright by SFB579 on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

What If You Forget Character at First?

It is bad enough to make a poor hiring decision. Any of us who have made this mistake (including yours truly) know about it within a short time after the new person begins work. However, it is worse to compound this large mistake by then trying to “reform” a person’s character through a competency lens. For instance, I once hired an individual who interviewed very well. He was articulate, respectful and knowledgeable. I thought we had a winner. Within the first 30 days of work, I knew I had blown the hiring decision. Here was the observed behavior.

• Low productivity and high social behavior (little work and much talking)
• Hit and miss customer service skills
• Excellent interactions with those in positions of high authority
• A need to do things other than in his job description

Since I was in a government system at the time, terminating this person would require a mountain of paperwork based on significant time in place to document any shortcomings. Sadly, I compounded my hiring decision by moving this person to another functional area thinking we had simply mismatched his skills with the area. At the time, I was frustrated that the behavior did not improve.

Soon after the first internal move, we started down that long road of performance review, standards communication and too much documentation. I brainstormed and coached with the supervisors in an effort to “diagnose.” In reality, I was in denial of the character problem we were facing and continued to try and salvage the employee all the while going down the government discipline road.

It was not until I could realize and communicate to the problem employee what were character problems. I eventually summed it up as, “you are unwilling to take direction and instruction.” I then followed with several clear examples to support the statement. Clearly, these were more character traits and not competency obstacles. They had little to do with his past job experience and knowledge because they were part of who he was as a person. While it is never wise to rush to judgment on a person’s character, it is still critical to go there at least in analysis.

Use Courage, Consideration and Wisdom

I can just hear all the HR people out there wringing their hands because this character discussion is what lawsuits can be made of (slander, liable, discrimination, etc.). Be smart about how you speak your thoughts during an interview discussion with other selecting members but do not dodge character issues. Focus on behavior, not on conclusions. “When you do A, B suffers” or “On such-and-such day, you did X and at this company we seek to makes decisions based on Y.” You could also use the opener from the previous paragraph as well.

If you think this person can be salvaged, you must tackle the character concerns and not dance around the issues through a competence mindset. You may want to ask your HR or legal sections for advice on how to say it but you must exercise courage and tackle this challenge. You are not putting the person down but are seeking better alignment with the values your section, division or company hold dear.

Make a Decision

You owe it to the entire company to work through these issues authentically yet compassionately. By doing so, you may create a long-term employee, increase morale and build your own credibility all at the same time. You may also discover in this process that value alignment is impossible. If this is the case, it is time to learn a lesson for next time and respectfully show the employee the door.

Character and competence. Both are essential traits to a highly effective team member but it is essential for a leader to understand both categories and how and when to apply them in any given situation. Otherwise, you can be sure your prescription will miss the mark and prolong problems within the organization.

When hiring for and growing employees within an organization, it is important to consider both character and competence traits. Considering only one or the other could be like being stuck in a fence. The single best strategy for helping a company improve results starts with hiring the right people for the right business needs. It is far better to leave a vacancy unfilled rather than fill just because “any warm body in the chair will help.”

The pain and cost of making poor hiring decisions is unnecessary. Sprinkle the hiring process with a bit more deliberation and patience and watch the long-term results take an upward course.

Too often, managers or would-be leaders blur the lines between character and competence partly out of fear and partly out of ignorance. The fear factor comes from our litigious society that promotes fudging or hiding the truth. The ignorance comes from a lack of intellectual curiosity that leaves us with too few leadership thinkers. For best use to any organization, character and competence need to be viewed in all their distinctiveness of meaning and use. Before we talk about the people side though, let’s think about the position.

Defining the Position

Go out and search the web for a few random open job descriptions. Most will focus almost entirely on the technical requirements. This is a recipe for disaster (more on that later). The fact is a job ad or description built only from technical traits is incomplete. Think about it.

Let’s pretend you want to hire a person for your IT Help Desk. In the extreme, you could find a person who could answer every alien technology question well but steal your company blind. Why? It’s a character thing.

Character and Competence Definitions

For our purposes, character traits refer to the values a person uses to make decisions, especially in difficult times. Number one on my list of preferred skills in this category is integrity. This is about consistently (as possible) doing the right thing in public and private settings.

Another character trait on my short list of favorites is excellence. Doing a task well, diligently and thoroughly is imperative for enterprises to thrive. It is related to work ethic but goes farther in the sense of working AND thinking at the same time. In other words, this means employing more than just my hands to complete a job. Of courses there is a long list of things to consider in the character area.

A second critical area to consider for employees is the competence. I could fully trust a new hire’s character but if this person does not have or cannot readily learn the skills required for the position, I have shot myself in the foot by bringing this new one on board. Examples of competence traits include trade skills, computer abilities and communication attributes to name a few. Keep in mind, competence is easier to teach than character.

Competence Now, Character Later

One of the interesting things is the tendency of managers to hire mostly based on competence and later judge by character. Perhaps this is based on a naïve assumption that most people possess higher character quality than reality or maybe on the fact that it is harder (although still possible) to measure character.

Whatever the reason, this process of hiring based on competence while expecting high levels of character often leads to misunderstandings and unneeded conflict. Usually the casualty is the new hire and the company suffers in the lost productivity, wasted payroll and training dollars and, ultimately, organizational results.

Let’s consider the two possibilities on why managers mistakenly hire for competence while wishing for better or different character.

1. Ignorance. This is a killer in today’s fast-paced marketplace. Either not asking appropriate questions or making too many assumptions will result in a more expensive cost model although the impact is usually insidious and not easily split out from other expenses unless a senior manager decides this is important. The manager may assume that things like honesty, respect and teamwork are natural traits for many seeking new positions. Do not make these or similar assumptions. A famous man once said “trust but verify.”

2. Efficiency. It’s easier to immediately see competence than character attributes. For instance, if your résumé says you can run a drill press, I can easily test your skills in a matter of minutes. If you insist you are honest, I must be more creative to verify your statement and it will likely take a bit more time. One method to test for character traits is to constantly ask in an interview for past examples of behavior in a variety of situations.

Next time, we’ll look at what you can do if you forget to hire with character in mind.

Granted, many business owners are happy to stay fully engaged in the business operations and do not want to change or grow. This is a perfectly acceptable option. However, this article is aimed at those who want to move into a big picture oversight rather than keep the organization fully dependent on the owner for daily operations.

Before we go farther, let’s define a few terms for the sake of this article.

• Strategy – Big picture and long-term. Which hill should we take?

• Tactics – Small picture and short-term. How should we take the assigned hill?

• Business Owner – A person who successfully starts and grows a business and is at its core. The business owner is mainly concerned with tactics with some attention to strategy as necessary. Take the business owner out of the picture and the business will die (slowly or quickly).

• CEO – A person who runs an enterprise with the big picture and who delegates appropriately for the organization size. The CEO is mostly focused on strategy with attending only to the most important tactics. Change CEOs and the enterprise will continue operating (assuming the new CEO is qualified.)

Anyone who has started a business comes to see that organization as his or her baby. The entity is like raising a child and is very dear to the creator. With this in mind, it is then often very difficult to mostly disengage while keeping the business viable and successful. The loss of nuts-and-bolts control is scary for most entrepreneurs to say nothing of how and who to hire to make it happen. Not only that, what can an owner do to make sure customers continue to receive the quality and personality of service and product they expect?

So how does someone move from being a business owner to CEO? While each transition is unique, here are some basic parts that remain constant.

1. Make a decision – This is usually a hard call for the successful business owner as changing to CEO is not for everybody. I have worked with business owners who expressed an intention to disengage from the daily operations but when it came down to letting go, they just couldn’t take the plunge. Again, either way is OK … just be intentional. Talk to close friends, family and business associates. Seek perspective from anywhere you respect the advice.

2. Develop a charter – First, think big picture, big picture, big picture. Did I mention you need to look at the big picture? What do you want the enterprise to look like once the transition is complete? What are the core values that have made the business thrive and must continue? Boiled down to the essence, what do the customers expect? What do employees expect in terms of corporate culture?

3. Make a plan – What are the key, daily competencies the independent organization must master in order for you to pull back? What are the crawl-walk-run processes? What are the profiles of the needed key people? Perhaps most importantly, how will YOU develop to stay ahead of the transition? Define a rough time-frame for the entire transition as well as milestones to measure progress.

4. Select a transition person – This may be someone already on staff or you may look externally. Decide if you want this person to be a bridge or eventually assume greater responsibility long-term. If you intend for the individual to stay in charge, plan on spending a lot of time mentoring and coaching. If you see this person as a bridge, collaborate intensively to ensure the project moves forward.

5. Most of all … communicate – Transitions are rarely smooth. There are unexpected setbacks and problems as well as timing speed bumps. Over-communicate (if that’s possible) with employees, business partners, customers and other key people about what’s happening, the next couple steps and, most importantly, the big picture.

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If you would like help moving from business owner to CEO, contact Leading Strategies for a complimentary, initial consultation. We offer a wide variety of scalable solutions for the successful entrepreneur.

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Be Flexible

Now this might seem to contradict the previous point but speaks to how things can change without much warning. What if my plan does not work? One rainy winter day, I landed an F-4 with the hook down because of a hydraulic failure. (The Navy guys out there are laughing.) The firm touchdown went as planned but the hook bounced over the cable. Fortunately, my Weapons System Officer (WSO or backseater) and I had discussed this possibility and stayed on the runway to catch the opposite end cable. Had we missed again, we would have ejected from the aircraft.

One tongue-in-cheek saying in the Air Force is “flexibility is the key to air power.” Regardless of how pretty the strategic plan looks, you will have to improvise in some way. This is where knowing and living principled values will pay big dividends. Stick to decisions as much as practical but do not run your company train over a cliff for sake of your personal ego. If the market needs change, adapt. Make another decision. Be flexible.

Have An Out

An analogy here is related to formation flying of two or more aircraft. One of the staples of formation flying is the rejoin where one airplane overtakes another aircraft with speed, geometry or both. Every good formation flier always has an out in case the unexpected happens.

In the military, there is always a designated formation leader but the reality is that all pilots in the formation have basic responsibilities to keep everything safe. A nice rejoin concluding with a mid-air collision will ruin anybody’s day, hence, the “what if.” No matter how the rejoin may be going, a savvy aviator will be constantly assessing and adjusting not only the rejoin maneuver but the Plan B should something go very wrong. Fighting other airplanes requires more aggressive use of geometry although the same basic rules of a rejoin apply.

I remember a time as a new F-4 driver when in the thick of a practice fight, there were two of us unknowingly converging on the same target, belly to belly. I was going to be a hero. Thankfully I had an experienced backseater who yelled, “Belly check!” Upon rolling inverted and seeing the imminent mid-air, I wracked the airplane in an opposite direction and we all lived to fight another day.

As the leader, you may or may not want to publicly admit your Plan B to risk distracting or demoralizing your team members. You may not always have an elegant or fully developed alternative. Be always thinking though. It may be an out by phases or increments. This really is an extension on the flexibility theme but this is the era we are in. Said another way, if all our grand schemes fall apart, what will we do? How will we recover the keep the enterprise viable? How will we rally the “troops” to pick up the pieces?

Nimbleness is a critical core competency and an effective leader will always be a few steps ahead of those being lead. I am not suggesting you pursue goals half-hearted; just be smart and ready to improve a good plan with great execution.

Keep flying …

Think long-term …

Be decisive …

Be flexible …

Have an out.

Simple yet helpful steps to making your leadership skills shine.

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Think Long-Term

If an airplane is in trouble, it is common sense for the pilot to land as soon as practical. Despite the urgency, there are questions to consider that will make or break the outcome. What is my fuel state? What is the nearest field that can appropriately handle the aircraft emergency? How far to the ideal airport? What is the weather like at the intended landing airport?

So often, it is easy to be too caught up with the urgent priorities of the present while all but forgetting the long-term. Executing a flawed business plan perfectly will still assure the eventual demise of any enterprise. Leaders must consider questions like the following:

• Where will our current organizational behavior lead?
• What changes are needed to arrive at the preferred destination?
• What business are we really in … long-term?
• How should the firm change to meet fickle consumer demands?
• How should we shape internal succession plans?
• How are we educating and growing the up-and-coming leaders to meet their future challenges?

Of course, there are many more questions as well. The long-term may seem far away but it is as or more important than the present for the leader. Chances are that your employees do their best work in the present. It is your job as a leader to devote enough time to future work.

Be Decisive

Prescribing a remedy for an aircraft emergency requires making consistent and timely decisions. A pilot can only make decisions based on what is seen, heard and felt (e.g., airframe vibrations, extra weight on the flight controls, etc.). In many cases, a wing-man can take a look at crippled airplane to give any more data. Otherwise, it is time to analyze the problem and move toward a solution.

Several years ago, when an engine fire indicator came on in the F-4 I was flying, I immediately turned directly toward the home airport. This sounds basic and yet many a student pilot has wasted precious minutes in a sim by working through the checklist before turning the airplane toward a suitable landing patch.

Decision-making is an obvious skill that any successful business person will have. A wise leadership instructor once said, “Intent counts for more than technique.” His point was to make timely decisions for the good of the organization. The only people who have 100% of the data for a decision are historians (and that might even be debatable). Don’t overly labor on a decision: Make it. It is guaranteed you will learn something from it if you are open. This is particularly true if the choice turns out to be a blunder. If you are not making very many decisions, you are likely not learning much. Stay aligned with mission, vision, and values but, by all means, make a decision.

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EPs raise emotion. EPs tax the most skilled pilot in spite of any outward bravado. The idea behind repetition and difficulty in training was to make the real thing seem relatively easy and to greatly increase the chances of a successful conclusion. Although I despised EP simulator flights (EP sims) as much as the next pilot, they were invaluable preparation for emergencies that invariably occurred in the real airplane.

Here are a few lessons from EP sims and flying in general that relate to the study and practice of leadership.

Keep Flying

When a pilot encounters any type of emergency situation, the natural tendency is to focus too much attention on the emergency. There is more than one story of an aviator too distracted with a problem to fly safely. As a beginning Air Force pilot, I will never forget a sim ride where I became so distracted from basic flying I ran into a mountain. The instructor’s quiet words of, “You would be dead right now if you had been in an airplane” was very sobering.

In the business setting, most of us do not have the privilege of shutting down the machine to redesign and rebuild it to meet the latest marketplace needs. The company must continue operating as we do our respective leadership work. A practical leader will continue directing what should be accomplished today while honoring timeless principles and continuous improvement.

The real leader will constantly evaluate if the current movement aligns with mission objectives. This is not about feel-good but about results. This is about meeting competitive demands in our very fast-paced economy, regardless of the organization type. It takes courage but it is a critical skill for the leader to do the right things.

Next time, we’ll look at two more leadership secrets of an aviator.

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So what are ways to maximize the chances of great organizational design? Here are 4 keys: 1)  Think like the customer, 2) Resist excessive department specialization (silos), 3) Promote the most inclusive metrics possible, and 4) Make money.

Think Like the Customer

At times, managers (and even leaders) become too focused on the internal organization and develop ad hoc systems or processes based on isolated problems. Invariably, this slows down the product manufacture or service delivery to the customer but it covers the managers’ back sides.

The manager should not be in the organization just for a soft ride. Sure, risk management is a necessary evil but it should never be an excuse for sub-par delivery because you can bet revenue and profit will suffer as a result. This is the opposite of elegant design. Here’s a test.

When was the last time you visited your company website or store strictly as a customer? How was the experience? How many extra steps did you find in completing your transaction? What annoyed you? What impressed you? How were you treated? Did you feel human or like a loose nut on an assembly line?

Ideas

• At least monthly, test the major company services or products by walking through the maze to buy
• Partner with a few customers to streamline the purchasing cycle

Resist Excessive Department Specialization (silos)

Someone once said, “Customer Service is not a department,” and yet the natural evolution in many companies can be where individual work areas become kingdoms to themselves. Everything within that department or division is about that department or division, not about the organization.

In order to have elegant design, department silos must be taboo. Notice I said “silos.” It doesn’t necessarily mean to go native in some sort of company commune but there must be healthy, working relationships between all areas. Yes, all. Let’s face it, customers can be mighty unpredictable at times. Excessive departmentalization increases the chances of an unhappy customer experience because the organization’s system cannot react let alone carry out the routine.

Ideas

• Make part of department head ratings based on the ability to build and maintain healthy, working relationships between departments
• Periodically trade workers (temporarily) between departments to learn the other area as well as bring new perspective.

Promote the Most Inclusive Metrics Possible

One of the large obstacles management unknowingly (or knowingly) puts in front of progress is excessive, specific metrics. Most times a department that uses very many measurements just for its area will assure that department does not have the best interests of the whole company at heart – the narrow metrics promote a department mindset and not an organization mindset. That’s not all bad but be careful.

The next problem this sets up is a department that will easily work at cross-purposes to other well-meaning departments who also have their overly specific measurements. The sad yield is sub-standard customer service because of the designed-in conflicts and the poor client is left muddling through this mess (or not if he or she chooses a competitor). Don’t leave this area to chance or natural evolution.

Ideas

• Convene a metric-meld session. Have the department heads meet, compare specific metrics and figure ways to make more holistic measures that honor the department as well as organizational needs.
• Hold an annual burn-the-metric meeting. Review all measurements and work hard to lower the number to the very most important.

Make Money

Making money is still the most important measurement for a business. Yes, principle-centered behavior should be expected but without profit, a business will eventually disappear.

It is entirely possible to be a profitable and responsible company. It is completely reasonable to be a fun and productive organization. It can be harder to accomplish both ends of the spectrum at the same time but isn’t it worth it to have higher employee satisfaction and great customer happiness? If you’re not making the level of profit that seems right for your company and industry, take a hard look at internal design.

How About You?

So … what questions do you have? What parts did or didn’t make sense? What added details would be helpful? Fire away in the comments …

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If you would like help designing a more customer-friendly company, contact Leading Strategies for a complimentary, initial consultation. We offer a wide variety of scalable solutions.

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A Great Tool

As an entrepreneur, you might want to explore if part or all of your current business approach will work longer term. As a boss, you could choose to use scenario planning to find out more about retention and morale. As a parent, you may be curious how your child-raising methods will work. Future scenario planning is a natural way to consider what might happen “out there” for these and many other possibilities.

None of us can predict the future with great accuracy. However, we can make general, high-probability forecasts with some certainty without highly specialized experience. For example, you and I could make a few general forecasts based on a scenario of steadily rising oil prices. We would probably miss several details but the main thoughts would be reasonably correct.

To maximize the value of future scenario planning, it is important to suspend limiting assumptions. For instance, if someone says, “That will never happen,” let the comment be a red flag. Some pretty crazy, unexpected things have happened in the last several years. In short don’t instantly accept or reject a possibility, examine it carefully first. But let’s step back a moment.

Brainstorm a List of Possible Future Scenarios

The first key question is “what if?” What if we continue ahead without any changes? What if we change this large variable or another? What if the market dries up? What if we start a R&D arm? You might think of this as worrying-with-a-purpose. The purpose is to consider the possibilities and then build a possible response. One caution is to not get too detailed as we are not predicting the future but simply working to consider likely scenarios. Another way to think of this exercise is like a set of computer if-then statements.

Another key part is to think long-term. You must decide what that means in you setting (days, months, years, etc.). The strength of scenario planning is to give the consequences time to emerge. The exercise can turn into fun as different ones suggest variable changes.

Shorten the List to the Few Most Likely

Look at each possibility and decide on pros and cons. If you don’t like the outcomes, play with the assumptions and see if you can improve the consequences. Now work on cutting the list.

There are several ways to do this. One simple approach is to first decide the criteria for choosing your favorite future options. Do you want use your personal or corporate values (or both)? Do you want to focus strictly on the outcomes? How do you want to tie into your personal or company purpose? Another way is to decide based on a balanced set of pros and cons. Maybe you want a hybrid of several requirements. The point is, choose what works best for you and your circumstances.

Just as too many options at the grocery store confuse some of us (my hand’s up), too many future alternatives may not help you or your organization. To bring clarity, fewer options are better. Theoretically, a person or company could have any number of scenarios but the time is better spent on boiling down all the possibilities and thoughts to a select few. I’ll explain why in a moment.

Include the Status Quo

There is a strong pull in any type of organization (or even for us as individuals) to stay with the comfortable, the status quo. Be sure and explore this possibility and what you expect as logical outcomes should the path continue unaltered. Otherwise, it will be tempting to fall for the siren song of sticking with the comfortable. In other words, the result of doing nothing differently should also be considered to make sure the choice at the end of the exercise is truly intentional.

Make a Choice

Remember the idea of worrying with a purpose? The purpose is to make changes now based on a scenario we intend to use. Notice I said “intend to use.” Other scenarios can stay on the shelf just in case but the intent is to make current changes to create more positive outcomes down the line. It’s very important to make a choice rather than be carried along with some mysterious current. As a fellow consultant says, “No decision is a decision.”

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