Tom & Carissa delve into the challenges of aligning visions in organizations and the importance of balancing deliberate and emergent strategies. They highlight the complexities of managing multiple visions within a company to accommodate individual aspirations. The podcast also explores the evolution of the modern business landscape in a VUCA world.
Embrace diverse perspectives by holding multiple visions for adaptive strategy formulation.
Transition from traditional to decentralized visions for agile project management in complex business landscapes.
Prioritize flexibility and responsiveness in strategy execution to adapt to changing business dynamics.
Deep dives
Company's Vision Chasm: Navigating Strategy and Sense-making
In navigating the Vision Chasm, companies are challenged to align different perspectives on vision and strategy. The discussion delves into the complexities faced when trying to establish a singular vision that suits all stakeholders, leading to potential paradoxes between teams' viewpoints. The podcast elaborates on the need to hold multiple visions and anti-visions, advocating for a more adaptive approach to strategy formulation that acknowledges diverse perspectives.
Adapting to Modern Business Environments
The podcast highlights the evolution of business dynamics in the modern digital age, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities presented by instant global comparisons and increased complexity. It underscores the shift from traditional strategies to more adaptable approaches required in today's fast-paced and interconnected business landscape, where traditional one-size-fits-all visions may no longer be effective.
Managing Organizational Complexity with Micro-Projects
A key point discussed is the importance of shifting from centralized, singular visions to decentralized approaches that enable managing smaller, more agile projects. The concept of embracing multiple visions and facilitating numerous smaller initiatives within an organization is advocated as a strategy to navigate complex and uncertain business environments.
Embracing Adaptive Strategies: Lessons from Vision chasms
Lessons on adaptive strategies are drawn from the discussion, emphasizing the need for organizations to embrace flexibility and responsive decision-making processes. The podcast underscores the significance of continuously assessing and adjusting strategies based on real-time feedback and signals, highlighting the value of being open to adaptation and evolution in response to changing circumstances.
Striking a Balance Between Strategic Alignment and Diversity
The podcast explores the fine balance between fostering strategic alignment and appreciating diverse perspectives within an organization. It emphasizes the importance of creating systems that can manage a multitude of micro-projects and initiatives, reflecting the need to embrace varying viewpoints while maintaining organizational coherence and effectiveness.
This is one of our "thinking about things in real time" episodes. Tom & Corissa talk through the next part of the Vision Chasm blog series. For nearly an hour!
We talk about when visions are good actually, as well as when they aren't, and when we could hold many visions lightly instead. And we explore the challenges of doing that.
We look at the squickiness of emergent strategy through lots of examples and stories.
We refer to a post by Stephanie Leue that does a great job of capturing what it feels like when you're in the weird reality distortion of the Vision Chasm: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7211982950198894592-jQsX?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
... but we don't agree with her prescription for fixing the problem.
We criticise the common approach to strategic "wisdom" that won't say this out loud but implies, "if you don't know what to do, then just try knowing what to do instead!"
