Summer’s Trump Cards
/We use the term "trump" a lot (hum...gambling influence on our culture?). So I thought I'd posit a few trump cards of my own for the summer - here they are:
Meaning & Purpose Trump Money & Profit: While we see this in the younger generation, isn’t it really true
for all of us, even if we don’t admit or realize it? Hey, ½ (or more) of our lives are ‘at work’ – so we should enjoy it, relish it, be passionate about it. It should be a means AND an end, not just a means to an end….
Challenge: Increase the meaning and purpose of those who work with and for you before the end of August.
Paradoxical Thinking Trumps Critical Thinking: While I was raised to think paradoxically (more eastern than western), for most of us, it’s formidable – we’re been trained in logic & linear progression. But life, work and innovation are about AND/BOTH, not EITHER/OR – that’s a false choice. Look at the edges.
Challenge: Discover a paradox, perhaps at the fringe, to help you and your team innovate before the end of August.
Culture Trumps Strategy: The best made plans are worthless if they’re not aligned with the culture. Sometimes the strategy can help transform the culture (for good or bad), but if the culture doesn’t support it, it won’t happen. Perhaps that’s why I think CEOs need to be CCS’s – Chief Culture Stewards.
Challenge: Start to check the health of your culture – really, be brutally honest -before the end of August.
Strategy Trumps Structure: In most crises, the first thing the organization does is restructure; ok, problem solved. How can you restructure without knowing where you’re going and how best to achieve it? Yet I fight this all the time with most clients. Remember – Form follows Substance. Structure is a trailing indicator, not the cure.
Challenge: If you have a good strategic direction, check to see if you’re organizationally aligned to make it happen before the end of August. (if you don’t, email me!)
Structure Trumps Processes: In helping clients formalize SOPs, we’ve realized that structure can stand in the way. Understanding how process improvement in one area affects another can help you negatively affect other process in other areas. It’s the 2nd, 3rd order effects, the ‘unintended’ consequences that can get you.
Challenge: Identify a few key processes and see their ripple effects throughout your systems before the end of August.
Please share your efforts on these challenges so we can learn from & help each other!!
