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Colleagues, Yesterday I wrote about being distracted from making progress on my greenhouse. I was more motivated to cut down some shrubs because it would lead to instant visual improvement. The issue was that the greenhouse was important though not urgent (quadrant 2) and the creation of open space was neither important nor urgent (quadrant 4).  In addition to cutting down the bushes, I would have had to spend time disposing of them and digging out the roots. Cutting them down was the easiest and most dramatic part, but it would have been followed by a lot more work. All that time and energy would have prevented me from working on the greenhouse. Ironically, in the total time it would have taken me to cut, dig out, and dispose of the bushes, I would have been able to get most of the concrete form built!
This is one the dangers of distractions. The initial effort may be low and yield good results, but the clean-up and follow through can be arduous and can prevent us from focusing on more important things. Think about some of the efforts going on in your organization. Are you cutting down bushes when you should be building a foundation for your greenhouse? Cheers! Frederick
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Last fall, I built an MVP (minimally viable product) greenhouse using reclaimed lumber and some 4 mil plastic. It helped me extend my growing season, but it wasn’t good enough to keep things from freezing on cold nights. Unsurprisingly, I have decided to build greenhouse 2.0 and see if I can do better. With nine weeks until our first frost date, I need to get busy.  My first is to create a wooden form for a new concrete foundation. Yet, Saturday I found myself sharpening my chainsaw blade to clear out some shrubs as part of a future garden makeover. Thankfully, Pam was there to save me from myself, but why did she need to?
The greenhouse is a very high priority and is necessary for growing food in winter, yet I was engaging in a task that had nothing to do with either the greenhouse or any other present projects. Why? Cutting down those bushes would have yielded instant improvement in the yard by creating more open space. The dramatic visual change was much more appealing than pounding some wood into the ground to make a frame for pouring concrete. In this case, the delayed gratification for something important had less value than immediate gratification for something less important. A-b leads to immediate incremental improvement, which is much more appealing than a big future payoff. The challenge for me is to adjust my greenhouse plan so that I can see some sort of progress in a short amount of time. Do you have any suggestions for me? Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Happy Friday the 13th! The first principle of strategic leadership is putting the purposeful in front of the urgent. Executing our daily strategies first, and then fitting in the urgent stuff helps us move our organization forward a little bit each day. One thing that helps me is to make my list of three strategic priorities for the day. This is my to-do list. Of course, there are lots of other things that need to get done, but none of them are as important to long term growth as my three strategic actions. Take a few minutes to reflect today:
Have a great weekend. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues, Today should be the big payoff if you have been working through your MVP strategic leadership plan. Today, we connect all the dots. Today: Look at your goals, and then consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Think about what you need to do on a daily basis that will:
In addressing the SWOT elements, you should come up with a list of key strategic practices that, if executed each day, will take you to your goal. Once you have identified the strategies, you can ignore the goal. This keeps you focused on daily actions. If you execute your strategies consistently, the goals will work out.  Strategies
Your MVP doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to help focus you on the daily actions you should be taking. If you can prioritize these activities, and then fit the urgent stuff around them, you will be a strategic leader! Cheers! Frederick Colleagues, Today we look at columns three and four of the SWOT table: opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are usually related to you and your organization. They are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are generally external factors. In my SWOT, my opportunities included ways to use external elements to meet my goals. For today: For each goal, list your opportunities and threats. Record what makes sense to you. Don’t get too caught up on whether you are doing it correctly or not. This is an MVP process and we can always revisit it if needed.  Cheers!
Frederick |
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