Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle
New Thinking from Framework Consulting
You are about to begin a fresh round of strategic planning. The team is eager, but before the retreat starts, you have a tricky decision. What length of time should your organization create a plan for?
Visit our archives for past columns – https://blog.fwconsulting.com
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You have heard the saying that “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast”. It has a ring of truth to it, but you don’t want to believe that strategic planning is futile – a victim of large, negative forces which cannot be overcome. But if it’s neither entirely right nor wrong, can we still use it?
To access my archive of past columns, see https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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Your company is thinking about creating a new role: strategy specialist. This person should support the entire strategy creation cycle and help produce a strategic plan with impact. But what exactly should be that person’s responsibilities? What uncommon value should they add?
For other past articles, see https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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You want to engage your staff around a bright, hopeful future. At some point in the past, a two-paragraph vision statement did the trick. But lately, it’s gone stagnant. What should you do to restore the inspiration it once provided? Should you change the words, or try something different?
To read prior columns visit https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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In your company’s strategic planning activities, you hope to make more than incremental improvements. Instead, your team dreams of brilliant decisions and breakthrough results. But are these a matter of luck? While fortune plays a role, Digicel’s introduction to the mobile telephony market is an example of a new competency: “category design.”
Christopher Lochhead would be proud of Digicel. He belongs to a cohort of content creators who call themselves the “Category Pirates.”
For past columns, visit https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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Your company is aware of people analytics. It wants to use these techniques to increase productivity. But it’s not clear who should champion this transformation: HR or another unit?
In companies across the world, COVID has accelerated the call for data-driven innovation. Consequently, managers in your organization are concerned. Productivity has fallen due to work-from-home arrangements, but are they thinking about improving it in the best way?
To access other articles see https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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You know your company should be crafting long-term, post-COVID plans. Why? The pandemic has created once-in-a-lifetime opportunities waiting to be exploited. But you have been so busy just keeping the organization alive that you either have half-a-plan, or none at all. Should you make the investment in strategic planning now even though the times remain turbulent?
To read my columns, visit https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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Your company is considering its next strategic planning retreat. But the last real one, held just before COVID, didn’t anticipate a pandemic. So, the plan had to be shelved. Now, attendees are reluctant to schedule a new session. Do you give up on the idea?
Check out my past column on strategy and productivity at https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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You’re a corporate leader who wants to inspire your organization. But you aren’t naturally charismatic, nor are you famous. Is there a way to energize and motivate stakeholders who must play a part in the transformation you envision?
A startling number of CEOs forget what it was like to be inspired in a manner that leads to hard work. They think of themselves as unicorns, born to lead. It’s a mystery to them why everyone doesn’t wake up with the energy they have, excited about the chance to accomplish great things.
Some give up. Their secret sauce cannot be replicated, so they don’t try. The best they can do is threaten, trick, or bribe staff into compliance. That’s “the only way to treat these people”, they convince themselves. More
Find more articles on this topic at https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
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You are forced to deal with email every single day, most of it arriving at odd moments. At the same time, you need to be effective, but it seems that there’s invariably a slew of messages getting in the way. You want the problem to go away so that you can just focus on doing your job. This is a common sentiment, but is this frame of mind a help or hindrance?
To see other articles and columns, see https://blog.fwconsulting.com
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit longtermstrategy.substack.com/subscribe
Podcast: Play in new window | Download