Road trip
I had an encounter last night with a stranger that was revelatory. Our whole interaction took 10 minutes, and I never learned his name. We were seated next to each other at a restaurant, both of us solo, so we fell into conversation.
He asked if I have children. I said, “Yes, a son, he’s 13”.
“Oh, what a marvellous age”, he replied, smiling broadly.
He then went on: “I’m a family law barrister and feel free to ignore the unsolicited advice I’m about to give you. At this age, a son shifts his attention from the mother to the father. I call it Puberty Plus One, and I know from my own experience that your son will rely on you to be a model to him, in ways that are different to previously. The reason I mention it is that I see the absence, the breakdown and the failure of this modelling every week in my work”.
In reply, I took out my phone and showed him photos of the road trip I’ve just come back from: Jasper and I drove 1200kms last week on the snowy South Island of New Zealand. The scenery was transfixing, and the time spent with my son was marvellous. We had conversations we wouldn’t have had at home, and we had encounters and experiences that caused us both to ask questions and make observations we normally wouldn’t with each other.
Question: What ‘change of context’ can you create in your work that leads to different, deeper discussions and relationships?
What did we miss?
I am starting work with two boards right now that are in ‘repair mode’.
One is a ‘household name’ organisation with thousands of staff whose board has learned of severe and pervasive misconduct revelations. The other is a smaller specialised agency whose board learned that their billing was such a mess that they were bleeding cash at a rate that would empty their coffers within a year.
The primary question each board has is this: “What did we miss?”
The answer isn’t (only) to be found in fixing the culture, or the finances. It’s (also) to be found by the board — and other leaders — reflecting on their actions by taking a critical stance. This ‘reflective practice’ approach is based on the fact that experience alone does not necessarily lead to learning; deliberate reflection on experience is essential.
In each case, I am going to lead these boards through processes that involve questions like these:
What are we saying to the world outside the board room about what we stand for, and believe in?
What is the executive not telling you that you feel you need to know?
What do you see always being discussed but never resolved?
How is the external world changing in ways that are not reflected in your board conversations?
How are we challenging group-think?
How well do we know and trust each other?
What I’ve found in such ‘repair’ situations is that many people knew there was a problem but didn’t feel empowered to speak up. In other words, what’s not on the board agenda is just as important as what’s on it.
Question: Are you missing critical perspectives that, if not heard, could cause something to ‘blow up’ in your face?
3 Types of Sight
For years, I had clients coming to me with variations of this need: “Andrew, we need our board (or our executives) to think more strategically”. When I’d respond with, “What does ‘thinking strategically’ mean?” I was mostly met with blank stares, or this: “Well, it means not thinking operationally”.
Now, over 20+ years as a strategy consultant, I’ve met many great strategists, and what I’ve noticed is they invariably have three types of ‘sight’:
Foresight: The ability to see ‘beyond the horizon’ and anticipate opportunities and potential disruptors to their business before they occur. Ideally, they can then disrupt themselves before external circumstances do.
Insight: The ability to drill deeply into the experience of clients / customers and link to this the minimum / maximum viable services they can provide.
Oversight: The ability to interpret results / data to track performance against expectations, and inform decision-making while protecting their organisation against risks.
So, my response nowadays is this: “Do you mean you want your leaders to have foresight, insight and great strategic oversight?” The answer from board chairs and CEOs is a resouding, “Yes” followed by, “How would you do that?”
The answer is in asking great questions and, as a start, with my compliments, you can download a list by dropping me a line below.
Question: How well equipped are you and your leaders at foresight, insight and oversight?
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I’ll be with you again next Friday but, until then, even if you don’t go on a road trip, find ‘change of context’ opportunities to have revelatory discussions with people important to you.
Andrew
Loved this episode Andrew!
And would appreciate your list of great questions please.
Many thanks Lucy
Hi Andrew
Your road trip sounded fascinating and a great bonding exercise with Jasper.
I would appreciate your list of great questions please. Many thanks