The CEO sitting across from me looked dejected. He had been brought in from the venture capital start-up world to help a large company innovate faster. The reports stacked in front of him showed that his new strategy was not panning out. Things had gotten stormy. They had run into a lot of surprises. Pressure from the board was high. 

“We could have quickly sailed ahead of the competition if we’d moved fast enough. Turns out, this organization is just a big clunky tanker!” he lamented.

The EASY thing to do was abandon ship. The HARD thing to do was to take a breath, consider a new perspective, adapt, and move forward.

In my work with organizations to get a strategy back on track, I find many leaders are surprised when their strategy doesn’t pan out.

There are always lots of reasons — and a lot of finger-pointing. Especially when taking an established organization in a new direction.

At the end of the day, the answer is usually to

• acknowledge your need to stop and get some fresh perspective, and
• get “back to basics” to navigate the storm.

Here are three “basics” to consider if you want to get results faster from your strategy — even if you run into stormy weather:

#1. A NEW STRATEGY REQUIRES THAT YOU BRING A LOT OF PEOPLE WITH YOU.

WHY IT MATTERS: If your strategy requires a lot of people to take NEW action, they need to be prepared or your strategy will falter. 

My frustrated CEO friend was right. He launched the new strategy like he was sailing — by himself! But executing a big idea in an established company meant he had to get a LOT more people in the boat with him.

Actually, even big “clunky” ships successfully shift direction every day. The ship captain enlists all the people who have to do something new. Not just the officers on the bridge, but those in the engine room, those who plan fuel and supplies, and even the cook!

Your strategy needs more than a plan for your new product/service/program. You need a plan for the PEOPLE who must understand and DO something differently.

This includes your leadership team and first-line managers and employees — but also your suppliers, contractors, volunteers, and even your funders.

And don’t stop there. You need to plan for those you SERVE if your strategy requires your customers or beneficiaries to make a change and DO something differently.

When Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke”, they hadn’t anticipated how much change they were asking of their customers. Consumers pushed back HARD, including stockpiling the original product and creating protest groups. As it says on the company website, “What these tests didn’t show, of course, was the bond consumers felt with their Coca-Cola — something they didn’t want anyone, including The Coca-Cola Company, tampering with.” 

Nobody likes surprises. And if you are asking people to DO something new, it’s on you to help them get ready for it.

CONSIDER: Who needs to take action and do something NEW if our strategy is going to be a success? What do they need to know, believe and DO differently? What can we do to help them prepare?

#2. A NEW STRATEGY REQUIRES ENERGY TO EXECUTE.

WHY IT MATTERS: If people in your organization do not have the CAPACITY to focus on your new strategy, it will falter. 

In Canada, icebreaker ships are vital to keeping seaways open year-round. When the icebreaker ship Louis St. Laurent speeds through open water, it burns 8,000 gallons of fuel a day. But when it runs into thick ice and needs to take a turn, it has to use all five of its engines, and burns 24,000 gallons a day — 3 times more fuel! 

Your organization might have the same challenge. When executing a familiar process you’ve tuned over time, you deliver very high quality at volume. People know what to do and productivity is high. Customers are happy.

But when you introduce a new strategy, people can run into a lot of unexpected roadblocks. Organizations can burn up a lot of energy: missed deadlines, production mistakes, customer complaints, and escalations.

Sometimes it’s a matter of too many priorities. The “top 3 priorities” from the CEO translates into 10 priorities from the director which turns into 30 priorities for folks on the front line.

The problem is: there is a physical limit to how much energy a person can invest in any one priority.

In fact, a 2020 study in the Journal of Neuroscience reported that the human brain has an energy limit on how much information it can process at once. “Energy supply to the brain remains constant regardless of how demanding a task is. Humans show ‘inattention blindness’ – information doesn’t process even when it’s valuable to them.”

Your new strategy may be critical for your future, but overload is real.

CONSIDER:  What is our CAPACITY as an organization? What will be the impact of this new strategy on top of the other changes we are already executing? What can we STOP? What can we do to make decisions easier for the front line if we encounter difficulties we haven’t run into before? 

3. A NEW STRATEGY IS JUST A GUESS. 

WHY IT MATTERS: Defining your assumptions and proving them true ( or false) can help you navigate the risks of your new strategy.

Clay Christensen was an innovation expert, entrepreneur, and Harvard Business School professor. He was also a man of faith humble enough to realize there was a LOT he didn’t know. 

In his book, “How Will You Measure Your Life,” Christensen recommended this test for a new strategy:

Just ask: “What has to prove true for this to work? As simple as it sounds, companies seldom think about whether to pursue new opportunities by asking this question. By the time they have learned which assumptions were right and which ones were wrong, they’re too far down the road to do anything about it.”

Make sure you and your team take the time to list and rank the assumptions that MUST prove true for your strategy to be a success. Find quick inexpensive ways to validate your assumptions. But keep your ego in check while you do. Finding out early which assumptions are wrong can help you change course faster, and avoid a shipwreck.

CONSIDER: What assumptions are we making? What can we find out by testing and learning? How can we pilot or create short “sprints” to get feedback, validate our assumptions, and move forward with eyes wide open to the risks?

BOTTOM LINE: Whether you are driving a new strategy or turning one around, whether you’re a big organization or a small one: Take heart.

You CAN navigate stormy seas, even if you’re dead in the water.

Sometimes, it just takes the right captain with the humility to “go back to basics”.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

— Susan Schramm

This article is part of my series, Driving a New Direction  to equip and energize leaders with practical ways to move people forward, whether you’re leading a new strategy (or getting one back on track). I write about once or twice a month, and would welcome your subscribing below! 

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