insights

One of the most important things about knowing where you are going is being able to see your way. When you are working in a forest of complexity, seeing not just the trees, but also the whole map, is essential to finding the path ahead.

Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker tells us that the way our mind lets us see objects (locating ‘where they are’, and ‘what they are’, and ‘where they are moving to’) has given us a unique ability to think about problems that are too big to be seen. Understanding how our mind works in the 3D physical world can help us to map the conceptual world, expanding our ability to manage complexity.

The Strategic Vision for the Waste Management Board of Western Australia is that we will live in a zero waste society, to be achieved over a 20 year span. The interim goal was to have halved our waste sent to landfill by the year 2000. Simple targets did not represent the complexity of the task. If you think about all the products our society creates - there are tens of thousands of ‘trees in the forest’. Managing wastes only after they have been produced makes this goal almost impossible.

Following an industry and community consultation process the Waste Management Board developed a map of the entire waste landscape - and then did something special - moving from two dimensional management into three dimensions.

In creating this landscape map the Board was then able to see all products and their lifecycles. Answering the question “What is it?” and “Where is it?” made locating what needed to be done much easier. However as the landscape is changing, they also need to know “Where will it be next?” to set priorities. Looking not just at some wastes, but all wastes at their source, the key to success came in finding a way to visualize priorities in a dynamic flow.

On 23 September 2004 the Minister for the Environment launched the Waste Strategy for Western Australia. This is a bit different for us, as the intangible benefit will actually become visible. While moving to this new management framework may take a few years, and the effects a few decades, having a map will at least allow a strategic vision to emerge. With this view the Board can explore the changing landscape with enhanced perspective and greater confidence - seeing the whole forest, while managing all of the trees.

(Read more - “Visualising Complexity- How the Mind Works”: Reflections Articles Series)

When in 1994 Henry Mintzberg, one of the fathers of strategic thinking, announced strategic planning’s demise the business management community mourned. If the world outside of an organisation could not be objectively determined with certainty, what hope was there for strategy?

In the meantime new tools and new schools of strategy abounded. After everyone had developed different approaches and discussed their relative merits, Mintzberg (and his co-authors) again helped us out identifying within the confusion 10 different schools of strategy.

At least we now know when asked ‘What is strategy?’ the answer will depend on which school we went to. But which one to choose? Everyone claims to be strategic and each approach claims to be right.

In exploring the question ‘What is strategy - and does it matter?’ Whittington discovered another part of the answer, identifying that the classical planning school was one perspective in four quadrants: Classical, Evolutionary, Processural and Systemic. What Whittington found, but could not yet see, was the four quadrants were a match with those in Ken Wilber’s integral analysis.

What we realise from this is we do not have (or need) one right approach to strategy, but multiple approaches, all of which are valid, depending on the circumstances, and the appropriate worldview. Four quadrants, ten schools and multiple lines of enquiry. We only need to choose the right mix to make the complex simple.

So how can we bring all the disciplines together in one frame?

For the last two weeks, I have been in Melbourne, studying with Chris Cowan and Natasha Todorovic connected with the National Values Centre in the U.S. looking into values management in large-scale systems change and the work of Dr C.W. Graves. In an insightful article they provide one example of many applications for this type of work and review the levels within worldviews of the 10 schools of strategic analysis.

When an organisation does not understand its external environment in cannot successfully grow. What we find is a ‘one paradigm - one tool’ approach may work, but if it is the wrong one for that organisation, it never will, regardless of how sophisticated an approach it might be. What we ideally need to do is be able to work across all ten disciplines to create a careful selection of processes from all the available tools, with respect for the operating worldviews.

To be strategic we need both insight and foresight. We also need to select from the best options, consciously and with clarity of the unknowns. Our strategic approach will always reflect our approach to strategy.

If our strategy approach is not making sense - it probably isn’t increasing our learning either - however we can always change schools, or at least play for a while in a different school yard, if we want to graduate - and that is what the 11th discipline - or integral strategy - is all about.

(Read more: Mintzberg’s views and his biography- and Ken Wilber)-(pdf)

Strategic Excellence is “insights” name for that process where good organisations that have everything going for them begin to look to their external environment.

When organisations get to this point, they have to think about things in a new way. They need to move from being inward looking to having an outward view. They can either understand the new landscape and adapt, or do what they have always done.

Strategic Excellence is also FCG’s way of structuring the way of thinking about strategy that is accessible and meaningful, matching ways of ‘knowing’ to the new ways of ‘being’ that are required. Having an approach founded in integral strategy helps us in this role.

“Will the organisation anticipate and respond to a changing world - or will it die?” Strategic Excellence is where that question is answered.

A vital question ~ but what is interesting is why many cannot find a way to a satisfactory answer in time!