– Bernie Kelly –
Navigating from Current Concerns to Future Aspirations is key to leading transitions
Claire, typically full of energy for the organisations purpose and vision, was visibly exasperated and exhausted. As she closed her office door gesturing for me to sit down, she let out a massive sigh.
She had been attracted to this COO role because she really believed in the organisation’s purpose and that there was the potential to make a significant impact. She placed great value on both the business growth and the community contribution.
She shared her feeling of seeing and experiencing two very different worlds.
The CEO and the Board expressed passionate commitment to an aspirational role in the industry.
Yet when the Executive were together or met with the Board there was the urgency of current concerns that took up the majority of time. Budgets. Service performance issues. Frustrations with IT reliability. A key staff vacancy. The recent cyber-attack. The loss of a key account. The implications of new government legislation. A pay dispute. Compliance training. That leadership team member that does not see eye to eye with the CEO. The list went on…
The gap between the current concerns of keeping the business running and our future aspirations and visions can seem like being divided by a rough sea.
It is critical for more successful transitions, that we do more than paint a vision. We must provide visibility of the priorities to navigate a successful transition.
We discussed how leadership teams can map the work through the transition using 3 Horizons mapping, as developed by Bill Sharpe.
By Mapping the Current Concerns and working assumptions of Horizon 1, and the emerging changes from Horizon 3, we can then reflect on the priority work of Horizon 2 for implementing change.
Horizon two focuses on implementing change and change management in order to:
- Analyse the current assumptions that are being challenged by change and resisting it (and therefore creating tension and failures within the organisation)
- How to adapt to the change (by responding to resulting opportunities and risks)
- How to build on change (how to develop change and sustain it within the organisation)
3 Horizons mapping, is a useful tool for leadership teams before heading into a new cycle of Business Plans and Budgets. Business-as-Usual Business Plans and Budget building processes are greatly supported by this change-fitness exercise.
I am passionate about seeing more successful transitions this decade than people and organisations caught suffering disruption.
Bernie
