Complexity Science

A633.3.4.RB

Reflect on your own organizations strategy and how it has evolved over time. Discussing each stage of development and how feedback and strategy formulation have evolved. Consider the next stages in your company's evolution and describe what it will look like in 10 years and where will you be?

Not long after retiring from the military, I went to work for the State of TN which lasted for a better part of a year. This department underwent an evaluation and it was determined that in order to improve it services and regulating State laws, new capabilities (inspectors) were needed. Thus, the department’s strategy was to extend its influence and improve its customer service by being proactive throughout the State; by assigning inspectors to geographical locations. As I was coming on board as the supervisor to lead and manage this new team (capability), I had an in-depth discussion with the director as to her vision, priorities, and expectations for the departments new resources. With this information in mind, I began to shape the conditions that supported the director’s guidance such as: training, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), evaluations/expectations, etc. As we began to gain traction as a new team, we began to require further direction/guidance relating to department policies, many of which never existed or were extremely outdated. Furthermore, with new capabilities comes new demands for resources and systems administratively and operationally. Roger Martin (2010), identifies five important questions when developing a new strategy:

1. What are our broad aspirations for our organization & the concrete goals against which we can measure our progress?
2. Across the potential field available to us, where will we choose to play and not play?
3. In our chosen place to play, how will we choose to win against the competitors there?
4. What capabilities are necessary to build and maintain to win in our chosen manner?
5. What management systems are necessary to operate to build and maintain the key capabilities?

From the onset, the new strategy looked good on paper, but the planners failed to take into account the second and their orders of effect of adding to the department as indicated above in Martin’s (2010) question 4 & 5. Doing my best to maintain momentum, I felt I was constantly trying to “pull” information and guidance from the decision maker (director) as little to no delegation or empowerment was exercised or encouraged.

Attempting to remain positive and see the situation from the perspective as “growing pains” but not wanting to get bogged down, I took the initiative wherever I could. It didn’t take long to realize that initiative in this environment was not viewed or accepted as it was in the military. In fact, I believe that initiative in this politically charged environment meant one of two things, 1) your making a power play against someone, 2) your making more work for everyone else. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that although the department had good intentions in adjusting the strategy, nothing more was weighed or considered and wishful thinking drove the process. For example, there was no departmental prep to absorb and utilize the new group of inspectors, such as: training, equipment, and transportation for inspections. Also, no proactive steps were taken to update department policies which governed State requirements for customers (public) and guided inspector’s efforts as they perform their assigned duties. Furthermore, with the addition of the department’s new capability, the leaders and the department at large continued to operate as it always had and only knew how too. Many of the sections within the department were compartmentalized and rarely knew or understood what then next section was doing or how their efforts contributed to the department’s overall strategy. According to Obolensky (2014), “The extent to which the strategy is clear across the organisation is often a headache for many top executives. Clarity means that everyone in the organisation understands the overall big picture strategy and how they fit within it” (p. 29). Clearly this was a significant factor to the department’s reactive operation vs proactive aspirations, which also served as it biggest obstacle.

Needless to say, I decided that this organization was not prepared or capable of reaching their desired path and I needed to move on. I believe that this department’s strategic evolution has the potential to positively affect the people of Tennessee, only when its leaders have the organizational and strategic capacity to evolve and challenge the status quo. In the above case, the strategy evolution never fully developed as a result of poor planning, reluctance to change, and leader’s capability to lead transformation and adaptability.

References

Martin, R. (2010). Five Questions to Build a Strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/05/the-five-questions-of-strategy.

Obolensky, N. (2014) Complex Adaptive Leadership (2^nd edition): Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty (p. 29). Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Kindle Edition.