How can business executives anticipate and predict more carefully the outcomes of their decisions? Anticipating and predicting is just as essential as implementing and achieving when it comes to achieving success and mitigating unintended consequences.
It is impossible for us to always accurately calculate the consequences of our actions, we can arm ourselves with the information, safeguard measures, and judgment needed to better predict and ideally control the outcomes of our strategic decisions. Being proactive is half the battle.
Here are six ways that executives can seek to control the outcomes of their strategic decisions:
The 1st Strategy: Slow Down the Decision Process Slowing down the decision process means harnessing the future by regularly scheduling time to deal with strategic challenges and opportunities, and allotting time to thoroughly think through a decision before the deadline to allow for the proper level of clearheaded discussion and deliberation. Thinking slow, maintaining a regular and thorough pattern for discussing and deliberating over strategies and ideas, and following through on the decision consciously and deliberately are definite best practices for reducing unintended consequences that may arise from executive decisions. Employing these techniques will reduce time induced stress, encourage clearer and more logical thinking, and produce more effective decisions in a more timely and appropriate manner. The fusion of these competing forces results in the reduction of downstream unintended consequences.
The 2nd Strategy: Expand Your Knowledge One of the most powerful things you can accomplish as a leader is to expand your knowledge base before making strategic decisions that serve as the catalysts for the employees’ purposeful actions. In business, a knowledge base is not a static collection of information; on the contrary, it is a highly dynamic resource. It demands constant inflow, input, and insights, as well as the diligent filtering of this intelligence. Your employees can serve as a powerful aid in contributing to executive knowledge and curbing unintended consequences. It is your duty, however, to effectively mine for this information and create opportunities to engage. Also understand the current limitations of your organization and then identify where executives need more information and how you can conduct research.
The 3rd Strategy: Clarify the Desired Outcome Envision what you want. Make it tangible in your head. All of the world’s greatest pieces of architecture were built twice: first in the architect’s mind and only then in real life. Sustainable success is not an accident. Not only do you have to be crystal clear in your own vision, you have to effectively convey it to others as well. Their perception and understanding makes up the majority of the paint on the completed canvas of your project. If their “purposeful action” is aligned with your desired outcome, you’re that much more likely to achieve it. Furthermore, this is 100% your obligation. If you’re expecting your people to engage in purposeful action towards a stated goal, it is your responsibility to ensure that they fully comprehend your vision.
The 4th Strategy: Unify the Team Substituting or bypassing micromanagement for a leadership that is instead based on delegation and collaboration is the most effective managerial evolution you could ever hope to achieve. This is the fourth strategy that will protect you from unintended consequences. By practicing these two key managerial behaviors—delegation and collaboration—you instill a culture of trust, communication, insight, motivation, dedication, and progress, all of which fuse to form a collectively aware, aligned, and strategically intelligent learning organization.
The 5th Strategy: Retain Control Be proactive. Proactivity is accomplished when you gain more control over the implementation prior to—and during the early stages of—a strategic decision’s implementation. You will drastically minimize negative downstream outcomes if you have the support of your staff to help you in this, especially if they demonstrate a willingness to admit mistakes or unexpected outcomes at the earliest stages of implementation. You must be open to hearing truths especially from the employees who have been charged with taking the purposeful action needed to achieve the desired outcome of the strategic decision. Best practices that enable you to gain more control include conducting limited trials and simulations, engaging the employees closest to the action and solicit their unbiased feedback, closely monitoring the early stages of the strategic decision’s implementation, and maintaining a positive attitude.
The 6th Strategy: Ensure You Stay Outcome Focused It is proper implementation that will lead the company to the stated positive outcome. The outcome—not the effort—is the prize. Removing your eyes from the prize means that you no longer see where you’re going, greatly increasing the chances of tripping—possibly the precursor to a complete meltdown or downfall. It is the executive’s responsibility to stay focused on the impending horizon and to ensure that the team’s purposeful actions are aligned with it in order to deliver the future as forecasted. Executives must fight the desire to get “into the weeds” of implementation, as it is the easiest way to risk losing sight of the end goal. Delving into the details impairs our ability to bring that high-level perspective required at times to keep the team focused on the plan.
More information can be found in my recently released book, Killing Cats Leads to Rats: Mitigating the Unintended Consequences of Business Decisions. Purchase the book on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2pGJB6D
Richard Franzi: Speaker, Author, Radio Host, Entrepreneur
Born and bred in a small coal mining and steel mill town in Western Pennsylvania, Richard moved to Orange County, CA, after graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh. While in Southern California, he continued his education by attaining his MBA from Pepperdine University.
Richard currently chairs CEO Peer Groups® throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, CA. His work and research into social/peer learning has been featured in national print and online media, talk shows, publications, and educational forums and outlets.
Richard is the host of Critical Mass Radio Show & Podcast. His program has showcased over 1,200 interviews and is available on iTunes, iHeart Radio, Stitcher and various podcasting platforms.
He is currently conducting extensive research for his 4th book The Critical Mass Company™.
Richard’s personal BHAG—what Jim Collins has coined as the “big hairy audacious goal”—is to positively impact 1 million lives through his work and research.
He and his work have been featured in national media: Forbes.com, INC.com, CNBC.com, American Express OPEN Forum, various talk shows, as well as Southern California publications: Orange County Business Journal, Orange County Register, OC Metro Minute.
For more information on Richard Franzi and his work, please visit his website: www.CriticalMassforBusiness.com or contact him directly.