New Recording strategic ally.mp3
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Hello and welcome to Unlocking Potential. I'm Emily Petty, and I help senior leaders and their teams thrive and love work by helping them find a way to lead that feels, feels effortless, authentic, and empowering. And in this episode of my Unlocking Potential podcast, we are going to look at how to think and act strategically while keeping on top of the day to day. So what is being strategic? So quite simply, I believe it is getting clarity on where you are heading and how you are getting there. So if you've been told that you need to be more strategic, it isn't some kind of super skill that you need a diploma in. It really starts with you, um, being intentional, growing in your self-awareness, taking time to understand context, valuing time spent thinking and learning, networking and exploring and the struggle that we have is that time. Is time taken out of the day to day, it's time taken out of the doing. And we've been taught to value action and output. Productivity is king. That's what we're rewarded for. If you work hard, you will get good grades. If you are helpful and take action, you will be liked. So the challenge is is thinking and acting strategically requires quite a different approach. It requires us to take a bigger picture, to look at context, to do research and analysis, to listen, to slow down, to reflect on failure and success And it really starts with finding that high place, that place where you can get that perspective. And in his book possible, William Ury talks about the idea of the balcony where we can gain that perspective. So today I am going to use his analogy and the three steps that he identifies in his book, which actually he's using in the context of, um, uh, thriving in conflict. But I think they apply the almost mirror and match how we can think about being strategic.
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Um, and we'll this podcast will focus on how you can think and act strategically in your role, but equally, the same tips can apply to your life. Um, and, um, uh, if you want to sort of think more broadly about being strategically, then this will help you. What? It's not going to do. I'm not going to help you to write a strategic plan and give you a framework for strategy writing. But if you are embarking on a strategic process with your team or are being required to write a strategy, almost these three steps, um, are the foundations or maybe the umbrella that you need to have over a more detailed strategic planning process. So it's not about, um, the steps, the exact steps you need to take to write a strategy. But they're, as I say, either whichever analogy works for you, they're either a foundation from which to build a strategy on. And if these steps aren't in place, you won't be able to build it. Or maybe they're an umbrella from which to hang your strategy from. So there are three steps. So the strategic planning process is all about or being more strategic is all about standing on that balcony. So on that balcony you have perspective and you can see things more broadly and from a different perspective. So there are three steps that I'm going to walk through with you today in this podcast. The first is to pause.
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The second is to zoom in. And the third is to zoom out. Now each of these are hard to do, but so simple. So the first is pausing. This is the breaking of the cycle of doing. And I can't remember who said it, but the definition of failure is to continue to do the same thing, even if it's not working. At some point we have to pause. You can't change. What's the analogy of changing the wheel of a car while going at 100 miles an hour? And the problem is, is we don't plan for a pause. And so the cycle of mistakes continue, whether that's in our own personal lives, whether that's in our teams or whether that's in our organisations. So my first tip is to think about, actually are you planning for a pause? So a pause could be a period of time where you are focusing on strategy development, and you are deliberately stripping some things away so that there is capacity and time to do that work, to step away from the day to day. And that could look like a series of days where you step out of the office and you have an away day or a series of away days. It could look like building in a weekly or monthly or quarterly reflection or pause process where you stop, where you notice, where you listen, In, where you explore, where you become curious.
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It could look like a pause in meetings, right? So how are we building into our every day the notion of the pause. How are we creating space in between the words that each of us say? How are we noticing each other? Listening, reflecting? What does that look like in the day to day context? Right. How are we pausing for our own wellbeing? Lunch breaks. Reflection. Meditation. Getting out in nature.
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How are we pausing for ourselves in a moment? So, um, taking a moment to pause before reacting. If you're a leader, do you feel constantly under pressure to answer straight away to have a response.
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And William Urie's quote here is to. Choose to stop and stop. To choose.
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To choose to stop and stop. To choose. So it is in the choice we have to make to stop first. And then when we stop, we have the space and the capacity to choose to make the most effective decisions. And this act separates stimulus from response. And really being strategic is mastering this art. And I think we can master this art in the everyday as ourselves, and we have to embody that in our own lives before we can model that with our teams. And then before we could take that maybe into a wider strategic planning context. So if you are constantly reacting, if you are not able to pause in your own life, you're going to struggle to create this pause in the wider context in which you are leading.
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Nancy Klein, in her book Time to Think, talks about the idea that the quality of every action depends on the quality of the thinking we do first, and the quality of our thinking depends on the quality of the attention that we are given. Giving. Given. Given. So if we are not being given attention, we won't be able to do quality thinking. So how are we creating spaces where we can think and where we can pause? So that is the first step. How can you build a pause into moments, micro moments, few seconds here and there into your day, into your week, into your quarter and into your year. Or if you're really thinking about the strategy and your planning cycle, what do you need to do to pause? What do you need to do to pause and take that as your own personal pause or a collective pause? Um, what do you or your team need to do to pause? And then what unhelpful stories or assumptions may come up that will stop you? So that might be around working hard around. There's too much to do. We won't get everything done. Because actually, the truth is, if you don't pause, if you don't change the will, if you don't fix the problem and take a moment to choose to stop and stop to choose, you'll be making choices which down the end, down the end of the road, or further down the line you will have to unpick. And that is going to take more time, more effort, more money. It's going to impact your team, their morale and their motivation. So my view, we don't have an option. The only option is to start with a pause. Right.
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So when we have paused in whatever context that is, the second context is to zoom. The second tip or step is to zoom in. Right. This is to focus on what matters, on what you want. Right. What the team wants or needs. What your organisation wants or needs, what your supporters. If you're in fundraising or your beneficiaries in the charity sector want or need. And William Ury talks about two things Positions and interests. So positions is what we say we want, right? And then interests are why we want what we want. So the zooming in is getting into a layer deeper than the external things that we first might see. So when we are trying to find the answers to big questions or solve teams problems, we need to uncover what lies beneath. And this is what being strategic is all about. It's the zooming in. It's a part of what it's all about. And one way that we can do this is to keep asking why. So Simon Sinek has written a brilliant book called why. And there's a tool which is called the Five Whys. And what you can do is you can identify a need, you know, what do we want? Um, uh, or what do we need? And then we can ask why? Why do we want or need that. And then you identify that answer and then you ask why to that answer. And you keep asking why until you get to the core. Now this is hard work. I've done it for myself and I've done it with teams. It can feel distinctly uncomfortable because we are not used to asking why. We are used to very quickly trying to get to action and just focusing on positions and not on interests.
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The other thing that he talks about, William Ury talks about, is uncovering our basic human need. So what really is missing? And within the team based context, we can uncover some of this by focusing on values. So what are our values? What are our shared values? What are our values in this decision making? What are our values in the steps that we want to make? And we can also notice emotions. So when we are talking about difficult things, when we are feeling stuck, when we are a little bit panicky in the pause, what emotions come to the surface? So in the pause, as I say, emotions probably if you have paused, will have come to the surface because that's when we notice often our limiting assumptions will have come to the surface. So it's in these moments where we're zooming in, where we're uncovering those emotions, we're uncovering those thoughts and taking time to be present to what is possible in that moment. So zooming in is about the here and the now, but it's also about what is beneath, what's underneath, what's maybe hidden so that we can more clearly take action in this present moment with all of the data from zooming in.
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So we've paused and we've zoomed in. The next thing to do is to zoom out. And for me, this is sort of typically where I would think about strategic planning would sit. But I think it's really, really powerful to understand being able to zoom out, having paused and having zoomed in. So zooming out is about looking at the long term. Where do we want to be? Right? What is the context? So in a strategic planning process, often you'll do a Swot analysis which looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You might carry out some research. You might uncover um information. Um, explore different ideas. You might network those sorts of things. Um, are what we want to do when we're zooming out. So we're looking long term. We're broadening our perspective and we're looking at the context. Um, and I'd say that this is something not to be rushed, um, to be looked at, then hidden away. Um, but to notice what comes up when we look at this. So this is when we're curious and we maybe broaden our networks. What are other people doing? What are we not seeing? What are we leaving out? Um, often whose voice isn't being heard? Who do we need to talk to? Um, uh, who do we need to bring in on this process? Uh, what's another perspective? How can I see things from a different perspective? How can I listen more powerfully to what other people are saying? And one powerful thing you can do is to as well as exploring, being curious, going beyond our own sense of comfort, and getting other people's views. And remember, being strategic is not about gurus sitting in a boardroom with all of the answers. Being strategic is getting the voices of the people that are going to be impacted by your strategy and making sure they're part of that process. And also, I think that demystifying strategic processes makes it more accessible for everyone to be part of the process.
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And then a top tip is to look back from a future state. So how would we like it to be? Where would we like to get to? What will it be like when we have achieved our strategy in five, ten, 20 years time? What challenges might we face? What might we have done to overcome them. What perspectives do we need? What will we look back on and say, I wish I'd done X? And it's a really powerful exercise because we're very good at advising other people, and often stepping into the future state enables us to do that.
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So once we've clarified that future, we can then work back to decide on the most meaningful action in this moment, the first step that we can take. And that, really put simply, is being strategic. So we have paused, we've zoomed in, we've uncovered, and then we zoom out. And that helps us to work our way back to decide to what is the most important action to do today. So you can see how we can get ourselves in a cycle of doing and acting and taking steps that aren't quote unquote, strategic. And it's not that they're not the right things or, um, we shouldn't be doing them. But the thing is, is we've not really considered them within a wider, within a wider context. And it's important not to get stuck in sort of analysis paralysis, to be always doing the thinking and looking at the long term. We need to hold a balance between holding those long term visions and goals, understanding what might stop us, and then taking meaningful action today. Otherwise, we're going to be stuck in a perpetual strategic planning process. So being strategic is that balance of acting and doing. And that's why I've said at the beginning, you know, without missing out on the day to day. So actually there might be some small steps as you're thinking big picture and long term, what small steps can help you to get towards that goal is my action are my actions are is what is on my to do list going to help me to get to where I want to get to. And if you ask that every day, then your every day will become more clearly prioritised for you. So as I close, I have just a couple of headline questions for you to reflect on. What do you need to do to pause, to zoom in and to zoom out? And by you, I mean you personally. What do you need to do to pause, to zoom in and to zoom out? So this is about you taking your own aligned action to become more strategic. And then how can you create a space for your team once you've worked out what what you need to do to pause, zoom in and zoom out? Because if you're not modelling, pausing, zooming in and zooming out, you're going to really struggle to create a space where your team can do those things as well.
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So as I've said, thinking and acting strategically is something you can master for yourself and then model. So share how you're doing this when you're doing it for yourself. Actively walk your team through these steps. Coach them. Talk about these ideas because I think there's a power of three, isn't there? It's simple, really really simple to get your head around, which I love. It demystifies this whole strategic thinking malarkey and helps you to get clarity on where you're heading. You don't need to have this perfect document written up. You can keep iterating and working through this process until you get clarity.
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So those are my three steps to help you to think and act strategically without getting, while still getting on with the day to day. If you need help to become more strategic for yourself and for your team. I offer 1 to 1 coaching for leaders to give you that space where you can pause and be held and be held to account to take action as well as to pause. And I also can support you with your team. So either I could come in for a day and work with your team to introduce this concept of pausing, zooming in and zooming out. And we could work through those steps or which I think is even better and possibly more exciting. I can offer three separate workshops, one where we pause, one where we zoom in, and one where we zoom out over a sort of 3 or 6 week period so that you can put into action, pausing, zooming in and zooming out. So if you are interested in working with me, either through 1 to 1 coaching or working with your teams, whether that's a senior leadership team or bringing your whole team along with you on a strategic planning process. Um, let me know. You can email me at hello at Emily Petty Consulting.com or, um, pop me a message on LinkedIn or Instagram. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Um, there will be a short workbook and, um, lots of reflection questions inside the workbook. And as ever, I will be holding a live event during September to support you, to give you a space to pause and to think more strategically. Strategically. The dates and details are in um will be in the show notes. So I hope you have a wonderful week or day. And I hope that these tools have helped have helped you to, um, lead effortlessly, um, authentically and create, give you ideas to help you to empower your team.
