21,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Ten skills for agile leadership Complex challenges are all around us--they impact our companies, our communities, and our planet. This complexity and the emergence of networks is changing the practice of strategic management. Today's leaders need to understand how to design and guide complex collaborations to accelerate innovation and change--collaborations that cross boundaries both inside and outside organizations. Strategic Doing introduces you to the new disciplines of agile strategy and collaborative leadership. You'll learn how to design and guide complex collaborations by following a discipline of simple rules that you won't find anywhere else. * Unleash the power of true collaboration * Learn and master the 10 skills of agile leadership * Apply individual skills to targeted situations * Introduces a new discipline of leadership strategy Filled with compelling case studies, Strategic Doing outlines a new discipline of leadership strategy specifically designed for open, loosely-connected networks.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 320
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
COVER
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
OUR PROMISE
WHY ARE WE CONFIDENT? THE BACKSTORY OF OUR WORK
OUR CURRENT WORK
YOUR GUIDES FOR THIS BOOK
WHY THIS BOOK?
OUR CREDO
POSTSCRIPT
NOTE
Chapter 1: YOU ARE HERE
THE CHALLENGES WE FACE
WHAT, EXACTLY, HAS CHANGED?
THE S‐CURVE
THE CHANGES WE NEED TO MAKE
NOTES
Chapter 2: CREATE AND MAINTAIN A SAFE SPACE FOR DEEP, FOCUSED CONVERSATION (SKILL 1)
DEEP CONVERSATIONS
FOCUSED CONVERSATIONS
DEEP, FOCUSED GROUP CONVERSATIONS
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS CONVERSATION GUIDE
NOTE
Chapter 3: FRAME THE CONVERSATION WITH THE RIGHT QUESTION (SKILL 2)
ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP: ONE QUESTION, MANY ANSWERS
APPRECIATIVE QUESTIONS
DEVELOPING QUESTIONS TO FRAME CONVERSATIONS
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS QUESTIONER
NOTE
Chapter 4: IDENTIFY YOUR ASSETS, INCLUDING THE HIDDEN ONES (SKILL 3)
ASSETS
GUIDELINES FOR IDENTIFYING ASSETS
HIDDEN ASSETS
ASSETS ARE STARTING POINTS
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS INVENTORY TAKER
NOTE
Chapter 5: LINK AND LEVERAGE ASSETS TO IDENTIFY NEW OPPORTUNITIES (SKILL 4)
LINKING AND LEVERAGING ASSETS TO INNOVATE
LINKING AND LEVERAGING ASSETS FORCE US TO THINK HORIZONTALLY
DEVELOPING YOUR ABILITY TO THINK HORIZONTALLY
GUIDING A GROUP TO THINK HORIZONTALLY
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS CONNECTOR
NOTE
Chapter 6: LOOK FOR THE “BIG EASY” (SKILL 5)
DECISION‐MAKING METHODOLOGIES
THE 2×2 MATRIX
DEALING WITH DOUBTS AND DOUBTERS
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS PRIORITIZER
Chapter 7: CONVERT YOUR IDEAS TO OUTCOMES WITH MEASURABLE CHARACTERISTICS (SKILL 6)
GREAT IDEAS LIE BELOW THE SURFACE
THREE QUESTIONS TO ASK
MEASURING
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS DREAMCATCHER
Chapter 8: START SLOWLY TO GO FAST – BUT START (SKILL 7)
LAUNCHING YOUR LEARNING
QUALITIES OF A GOOD STARTING PROJECT
KEEPING THE TEAM ON TRACK
WHAT NEXT?
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS EXPERIMENTER
Chapter 9: DRAFT SHORT‐TERM ACTION PLANS THAT INCLUDE EVERYONE (SKILL 8)
SHARED LEADERSHIP
ACTION PLANS FOR SHARED LEADERSHIP
MICRO‐COMMITMENTS BUILD TRUST
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS DEAL‐CLOSER
Chapter 10: SET 30/30 MEETINGS TO REVIEW, LEARN, AND ADJUST (SKILL 9)
LEARNING LOOPS
BUILDING NEW HABITS
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS CONVENER
Chapter 11: NUDGE, CONNECT, AND PROMOTE TO REINFORCE NEW HABITS (SKILL 10)
NUDGING
CONNECTING
PROMOTING
PUTTING THE SKILL TO WORK: THE AGILE LEADER AS CHIEF DOING OFFICER
Chapter 12: TEN SKILLS. GOT IT. NOW WHAT?
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: STRATEGIC DOING
USING STRATEGIC DOING AS AN INDIVIDUAL
USING STRATEGIC DOING IN A SMALL GROUP
USING STRATEGIC DOING WITH A LARGE INITIATIVE
FINAL THOUGHTS
LEARN MORE
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: YOU ARE HERE
CHAPTER 2: SKILL 1
CHAPTER 3: SKILL 2
CHAPTER 4: SKILL 3
CHAPTER 5: SKILL 4
CHAPTER 6: SKILL 5
CHAPTER 7: SKILL 6
CHAPTER 8: SKILL 7
CHAPTER 9: SKILL 8
CHAPTER 10: SKILL 9
CHAPTER 11: SKILL 10
CHAPTER 12: TEN SKILLS. GOT IT. NOW WHAT?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
INDEX
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1940s organization chart.
Figure 1.2 Network structure.
Figure 1.3 Apple iPod network map.
Figure 1.4 S‐Curves.
Figure 1.5 The people in a network.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 A 2×2 matrix.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 The Four Questions of Strategic Doing.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
viii
ix
xv
xvii
xviii
xix
xx
xxi
xxii
xxiii
xxiv
xxv
xxvi
xxvii
xxviii
xxix
xxx
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
27
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
53
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
65
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
103
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
115
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
147
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
“Over my 50‐year career as a transformational change facilitator, I've witnessed the acceleration of the speed and complexity of organizational adaptation. This book is the best consolidation and codification of best practices for [a different approach to strategic planning and implementation] that I've seen. [The authors] make the Strategic Doing methodology clear and provide a manageable roadmap that makes the methodology easy to apply…just in time to address the largest speed and complexity challenges mankind has known.”
Bob Sadler, CEO of Sadler Consulting, executive coach and authority on change leadership and executive presence
“Don't even bother reading all those other books on leadership and strategy. I know because I've written a number of them. Strategic Doing is THE source to understand how leadership and strategy are changing in this age of speed and complexity. What makes this book more important are the ten practical skills that you and your colleagues can learn to become masterful at leading in a disruptive age.”
Jay Conger, chaired professor of Leadership Studies at Claremont McKenna College and author of The High Potentials Advantage
“Over the past 30 years, I have been traveling the world for 60 Minutes. One trend is clear. The challenges we face are growing in complexity. The best way to address these challenges is through human ingenuity unleashed through collaboration. This book illuminates that path. Recommended.”
Bob Anderson, producer, 60 Minutes (CBS)
“After 12 years in public office, working on the complex, systemic, and interwoven challenges of poverty, crime, health disparity, and economic development, I can say that our nation desperately needs the guidance provided by Strategic Doing. At a time of global change and national strife, the lessons in this book not only provide a path for multiorganizational success, they represent a practical, nonpartisan formula to preserve our American democracy.”
Lawrence Morrissey, mayor, Rockford, Illinois 2005–2017
“Ed Morrison has mastered the art of making progress happen in a complex, change‐resistant world. Now he and his colleagues have assembled decades of hard‐won lessons into an easy‐to‐assimilate book – which is great news for every enemy of chaos, confusion, and inertia.”
John D. Donahue, faculty chair of Harvard's Masters in Public Policy program and author of Collaborative Governance
“If you want to do something to make your community better but worry, ‘I'll need a grant' or ‘I'll need a powerful board of advisors,' stop worrying and start doing! Strategic Doing requires no money, no powerful CEOs, and no one's permission. It's a simple‐to‐understand process that any group can use to take the resources they have and launch innovative and impactful projects. I use it with my clients and am consistently blown away by what people like you and me can do with Strategic Doing.”
Rebecca Ryan, futurist, economist, and author of Regeneration: A Manifesto for America's Next Leaders
“When our foundation was looking for a tool to offer to the rural communities we serve, Strategic Doing emerged as the right vehicle. The agility of the process enables a group of 5 or a group of 50 to bring forth an idea, divide the workload, determine the feasibility, and when appropriate, foster the implementation. Our communities have been encouraged by increased participation in civic activity from a broad spectrum of ages.”
Betsy Wearing, coordinator of Communications, Programs, and New Initiatives, Dane G. Hansen Foundation
“An important evolution is taking place among US land‐grant universities.…The learning, discovery, and engagement taking place on our campuses today is now pointing us to new approaches to the economic challenges facing society. This valuable book builds on that tradition through the new discipline of Strategic Doing to achieve higher and more productive levels of collaboration.…Anyone interested in solving such problems more effectively, faster, and more collaboratively will find this book a welcome treasure.”
Martin Jischke, former president, Purdue University
“This is a book about Strategic Doing. It not only consolidates years of real experience but is also written in a style that is fully consistent with the title: action focused.…Because of the integration of the broad base of experience with the science of ecology, cybernetics, and complexity, this book shows a depth beyond expectation, considering how hands‐on and practical this proven approach is.”
Peter Robertson, executive lecturer and research fellow, Nyenrode Business University (The Netherlands)
“Applying deep underpinnings in social science research, Lean/Agile experimentation, and refinement through rigorous practice, the Strategic Doing founders have created a framework to define and execute strategy for our time.…This book is for anyone or any organization that wants to tackle a ‘big hairy audacious problem’ with effective, complex collaboration. “
Patricia Sheehan, Agile Transformation lead and coach, AstraZeneca Agile Centre of Excellence
“Strategic Doing is the most impressive and effective way to get things done in our community. It allows everyone an opportunity for input and provides clarity of vision, mission, purpose, and tasks upon which we have all agreed. If we continue to work together, there is no limit to our achievements.”
Macke Mauldin, president, Bank Independent
“As someone who leads a complex organization, I am always looking for new approaches to how I work. Learning to be proactive and truly collaborative is what the Strategic Doing method has taught me. Strategic Doing is not just for the workplace but can easily be applied to all areas of life that involve people coming together for a common goal. These are simple and well‐supported skills that anyone can employ in their work and life to make a tangible difference.”
Stephen Jennings, senior vice president, Rady Children's Hospital; executive director, Rady Children's Hospital Foundation
“The challenges we face today – in our communities, in the economy, and in society as a whole – are far too complex to be ameliorated by the same simple approaches to planning and implementation that we've used in the past. This book provides a road map to the future of strategy, and to a better world.”
Jim Woodell, former vice president for Economic Development and Community Engagement, Association of Public and Land‐Grant Universities; convener, Collaborative for Insight and Impact
The convergence of the physical and digital worlds, especially in manufacturing, presents unprecedented opportunity for the creation of transformational value. With all the chess pieces on the table, there are a seemingly unlimited number of opportunities.…[L]eaders need the skills and insights presented in this book. Strategic Doing should be required reading for every leader charting a pathway forward.
Don Cooper, vice president, PTC/Global Rockwell Alliance
“Strategic Doing is a straightforward vehicle to get to a decision and action, very quickly, with busy people. In an era where diversity and collaboration are critical to success, it can be done quickly and efficiently.…It is time tested, and I recommend this book with enthusiasm!”
Charles Van Rysselberge, president (retired), Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Charleston (South Carolina) Chamber of Commerce
“Speed and agility are hallmarks of successful companies. In the world of software engineering, agile methodology and design thinking have become ubiquitous tactical systems for getting to better results in less time when faced with complex challenges. Yet, a gap remains between this agile methodology at the tactical level and the way leaders often think in setting direction for their organizations. This book addresses that gap and should be required reading for every organizational leader.”
Kenneth Johnson, CEO, Blue Sentry Group
“For those involved in strategic planning and management across corporate, government, universities, and community organizations, Strategic Doing provides three key advantages. It addresses the fundamental flaws that have emerged in the application of traditional strategy and planning within a whole new environment. Secondly, it provides a simple, logical, low cost, and low risk way of getting the right things to happen quickly and – thirdly – it works!”
Emeritus Professor Michael Hefferan, University of the Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia)
“After 30‐plus years as a leader in the hospitality industry, I've realized collaboration is a much‐needed skill that is often challenging to implement in a fast‐paced service environment. As the founder of a company with completely remote‐based employees, clients all over the world, and multiple projects happening on a daily basis, learning the art of collaboration is something that is crucial to our success – yet something not taught in most workplaces or universities. [T]his book is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in business, or, for that matter, in life today!”
Caryl Helsel, founder and CEO, Dragonfly Strategists
“Today's communities, geopolitical regions, economies, and societies face many highly complex challenges. Effective solutions to these challenges require that the leaders of organizations charged with addressing them – be they educational, governmental, nongovernmental, or private – must work across traditional organizational, cultural, and geopolitical boundaries. Strategic Doing, with its ten skills to developing effective networks, is a much‐needed ‘perspective changer’ on strategy and leadership.”
Vic Lechtenberg, former provost, Purdue University
It doesn't matter the context in which you are operating, whether you find yourself in a corporate, government, or nonprofit space – if you're bringing twentieth century solutions to twenty‐first century problems, you will not have the agility to effect meaningful change. Strategic Doing is a twenty‐first century solution. This book provides the reader with a set of practices for tapping into the resources of loosely connected networks and helping your organization move forward quickly.…Change is the new constant. This book will help you successfully embrace that change.
Will Samson, Organizational Change Management, General Dynamics Information Technology
“Everyone agrees that complex problems require complex solutions.…How ironic is it that the answer to this collaboration‐complexity nexus is something very simple: the ten skills of Strategic Doing. Strategic Doing takes an asset‐based approach. However, the identification of assets is a hollow victory if those assets are not mobilized. It provides the skills to catalyze this mobilization, leading to two important outcomes: problems are solved and the human capital of the participants is simultaneously enhanced. Can there be a better win‐win scenario?”
Sam Cordes, professor emeritus and cofounder, Purdue Center for Regional Development
“As many warn that our technology might serve to isolate us, the authors offer real, all‐hands‐on‐deck hope: a daring and wonderful proposition for us to work and think together – and accomplish things others might once have deemed formidable in the extreme.…I like to tell kids they can build a better future, and paint a portrait of what that could look like, but they are actually charting the course, a way to get there. For all of us, I hope the world listens and does likewise.”
Noah Knox Marshall, author, Dax Zander: Sea Patrol
“Dealing with intractable challenges in your family, organization, or community? Look no further. This book, replete with clear guidance and real‐life examples, shows you how to work with others to implement practical solutions that transform big wishes into reality.”
Eleanor Bloxham, founder and CEO, The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance
“[Our] manufacturing ecosystem is much stronger and much more collaborative as a result of the skills taught in Strategic Doing. Montana's successful entrepreneurs depend on agile strategies where all manufacturers collaborate for mutual benefit. It is great that these skills are being brought together in this important book.”
Paddy Fleming, director, Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP)
strategic doing
TEN SKILLS FOR AGILE LEADERSHIP
EDWARD MORRISON, SCOTT HUTCHESON, ELIZABETH NILSEN, JANYCE FADDEN, AND NANCY FRANKLIN
Copyright © 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 646‐8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762‐2974, outside the United States at (317) 572‐3993 or fax (317) 572‐4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e‐books or in print‐on‐demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Morrison, Edward, author.
Title: Strategic doing : ten skills for agile leadership / Edward Morrison [and four others].
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018060350 (print) | LCCN 2019001681 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119578406 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119578611 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781119578666 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Strategic alliances (Business) | Business networks. | Public‐private sector cooperation. | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HD69.S8 (ebook) | LCC HD69.S8 M673 2019 (print) | DDC 658.4/012—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018060350
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © David Allen Moss
This book is dedicated to the remarkable Strategic Doing community that now stretches across the globe. You inspire us.
FOREWORD
I've been waiting for this book all my life. Strategic Doing answers so many questions I have on how cultural organizations can band together to be part of the solution in addressing society's most complex issues.
I was a witness to and participant in this approach when I met Ed Morrison in Youngstown, Ohio, working with a group of socially committed citizens, each determined to work to reinvigorate a once‐thriving community. In one short hour he had each of us identify and unlock our assets, come up with a plausible group plan, and determine a course of action moving forward, agreeing to meet again 30 days from that moment.
Now we have the book that details 50 years (between its five coauthors) of work, showing how Strategic Doing has been catalytic in revitalizing communities, cities, industries, and sectors all across the country.
Strategic Doing is precisely what we need at this moment. In a fast‐changing world, filled with disruption, with institutions not equipped to absorb or deal with the pace of change, here is a way of thinking and acting – an agile strategy that makes collaboration take place at the necessary speed for social good.
Yo‐Yo Ma
December 31, 2018
Arlington, Massachusetts
INTRODUCTION
Long before Flint, Michigan faced a water crisis, residents in the most distressed neighborhoods of that city confronted another challenge: teenage homicides. In 2010, a record 66 people were killed in Flint, a city of just more than 100,000 – mostly young African American men (for comparison, the national homicide rate is 4.9 per 100,000). Tendaji Ganges, Bob Brown, and Kenyetta Dotson came together with their Flint neighbors to pursue a traditional approach to addressing the problem: they applied for a federal grant. When their grant proposal was turned down, they decided to explore other options. Using the skills outlined in this book, they began building new networks to reclaim their neighborhoods. These leaders, joined by a handful of others, began focusing on the assets they had within their own networks to come up with new solutions to the challenges of youth violence. When the water crisis hit Flint a few years later, this new network of civic leaders committed to Strategic Doing1 did not focus on protests (although as individuals, each of them participated in events and made their voices heard). Instead, they organized food trucks to bring fresh fruits and vegetables into their neighborhoods. Why? Because fresh fruits and vegetables mitigate the impact of lead poisoning. They did not wait around for others, and, most importantly, they were not paralyzed by a lack of funding. As one of the leaders later put it, “Strategic Doing broke our grant addiction. We thought we couldn't do anything without a grant.” Bob Brown, a member of this Flint core team, explained it this way: “Strategic Doing gives us the power to change our lives, our neighborhoods, and our communities.”
We will explore the remarkable story of these leaders in Flint later. Let's now turn our attention to Elizabeth Taylor, who manages the Space Biology program in NASA's Division of Space Biosciences. She focuses on guiding NASA's research investments to explore the impact of microgravity on fundamental biological processes. She is part of a team faced with the challenge of developing scientific and technology foundations needed to support safe and productive human exploration of space. The team's work focuses on cell biology and animal research. In addition to managing these programs, Elizabeth and her colleagues face challenges in building collaborations with the Human Research Program in NASA, which focuses on managing human space travel. Both the Space Biology Program and the Human Research Program are part of NASA's Division of Space Life and Physical Sciences. Like most government bureaucracies, the scientists and engineers within these two programs know each other, but collaborating is difficult: everyone is busy, and the pressures to perform are relentless. No one has enough time. So, when Elizabeth was given the responsibility of convening both the Space Biology Program and the Human Research Program to look for points of intersection and collaboration, she turned to Strategic Doing. Over a couple of days in Northern California, using the skills outlined in this book, she and her team guided conversations that led to the identification of a number of opportunities for complex collaborations, as well as taking the first steps in those collaborations, all in the matter of a few hours.
Now let's turn to the challenges faced by one of the nation's premiere aerospace and defense companies interested in securing new contracts with the US Navy. The Department of Defense recently introduced a requirement for its program managers to embed predictive maintenance in critical equipment systems, to increase operational readiness and reliability while reducing ownership cost and equipment downtime. At its simplest, predictive maintenance (also called condition‐based maintenance, or CBM) means that there is a system in place that predicts machine failures before they happen.
Like all companies that compete on innovation, this firm is often faced with the “buy, build, or partner” choice when making strategic decisions about technology development. “Buy” was not an option, as a CBM solution was not available “off the shelf.” “Build” is becoming harder for American defense contractors; recent changes to defense acquisition rules are squeezing out resources available for research and development, making that alternative impractical. Partnering was the best option. The company needed to identify technology companies capable of providing this expertise, rapidly perform a due‐diligence assessment, and engineer a complex collaboration with these companies to generate a proof of concept. Using the skills outlined in this book, the company convened a series of four workshops engaging 90 companies, forming a collaboration to begin building a CBM solution. The CEO of one of the small technology companies involved in the process declared in the wrap‐up meeting, “I've worked with large companies trying to do open innovation, but the Strategic Doing process is unique. This is the most clear and concise open innovation process I've seen.”
Compare these examples to the meetings, planning processes, and committees you've found yourself on lately. Are you satisfied with the effectiveness of those gatherings, or do you feel like your time is too often wasted, important issues go unaddressed, and there's little follow‐up? You may even be in charge of the discussions, and you too are frustrated.
OUR PROMISE
The issues faced by these teams are, on the face of it, quite different. Your own organization's concerns are probably different still. And yet, a common thread runs through them – the need to find new ways to work together to tackle big challenges. This book will explain how we can navigate the world of complex challenges by strengthening our shared skills of collaboration. To most people, collaboration is just a word tossed around all too quickly. After reading this book, you will see that true collaboration runs much deeper than that. It is a set of ten shared skills that we call Strategic Doing. Anyone can learn these skills. We've taught them to (among others) scientists, engineers, business executives, high school students, healthcare practitioners, community activists, university administrators, local government officials, start‐up entrepreneurs, and workforce and economic development professionals. We will explain these skills and illustrate how each of them is used as part of effective collaboration. We will also provide you with some background on the research that supports each of these skills.
Each of the skills on its own can make a tremendous impact on the effectiveness of the groups you're already involved with. Beyond that, they can be assembled into a process for building a complex collaboration from the ground up. You will see that although the skills may sound simple, they are not easy. Mastering the skills takes practice.
There is one more catch: in our experience, we've found that no one is really good at all ten skills. That is one reason, among others, that you need a diverse team to tackle a complex challenge. We'll have more to say about this in the closing chapter.
WHY ARE WE CONFIDENT? THE BACKSTORY OF OUR WORK
What makes us so confident that we can deliver on the promise we are making to you? To answer that question, we need to tell you more about how Strategic Doing came to be. Strategic Doing began in a parking garage in Oklahoma City in 1993. Back then, before the bombing that made the city famous around the globe, Oklahoma City was facing down a decade of stagnation. Oil prices had collapsed, and the city had yet to recover from a serious banking collapse a decade before. The Oklahoma City mayor, Ron Norick, and the Oklahoma City Chamber were busy planning a major renaissance through a multimillion‐dollar infrastructure investment, called MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects). Funded by a sales tax increase, MAPS generated over $400 million to build nine projects, including an arena, a renovated convention center, and a baseball stadium.
Investments in infrastructure, although needed, are not enough to turn around an economy. Only when the private sector has enough confidence to invest can a city's economy prosper. But how does a city trigger private investment? At the invitation of Charles Van Rysselberge, then‐president of the Chamber of Commerce, Ed Morrison went to Oklahoma City to answer that question. He began work on a strategy for the Chamber (which at the time was located within a concrete bunker of a parking garage). Charles and Ed assembled a small core team of entrepreneurial civic leaders. The team included Clay Bennett, who later became a major force in moving an NBA basketball team from Seattle to Oklahoma City, and Burns Hargis, who later became president of Oklahoma State University.
A seasoned economic development consultant, Ed was arriving fresh on the heels of a number of engagements using traditional strategic planning models. He was increasingly convinced that these approaches, which relied on a costly linear process of analysis and execution of plans laid out many years into the future, simply did not work (for reasons we explain in Chapter 1). To complement MAPS, Ed proposed a new and (until then) untested approach. He suggested that the Chamber think of their strategy more like open source software development (a discipline that was then just emerging): a continuous iteration of experiments to figure out “what works” – what is now called an agile process. Ed's core team came up with seven strategic initiatives, all designed to leverage additional private sector investment in the city. They called this portfolio Forward Oklahoma City: A New Agenda.
In trying to adopt this new approach, the central problem faced by the team turned out to be this: How do you design and guide complex collaborations in open, loosely connected networks when no one can tell anyone else what to do? Developing a new way of working together as they went, the first sprouts of success in Oklahoma City began to appear in about three or four years – including a hiatus of a year or so in the immediate aftermath of the 1995 bombing. By 2000, the combination of MAPS and Forward Oklahoma City had triggered an additional $403 million in private investment, including $27 million in technology‐based companies. Today, Oklahoma City has a dynamic economy, and the Chamber is continuing to build out new initiatives based on these original principles.
Here's one other metric of their success. In 1993, the only hotel downtown, the Medallion, rarely had more than a handful of guests (indeed, on some days Ed was convinced that he was the only guest in the only downtown hotel in the capital of Oklahoma). At night, downtown streets were too deserted and dangerous for a guest to venture out to find the one or two restaurants that might be open. The historic Skirvin Hotel, boarded up, served as a reminder of economic collapse. If you had asked civic leaders back then what should be done with the Skirvin, the dominant opinion would have been, “Tear it down.” Now, fast forward to today. Oklahoma City has 18 downtown hotels, and the Skirvin has become a crown jewel.
In 2010, Derek Thompson wrote a column for The Atlantic, “Why Oklahoma City Could Represent the Future of America.” Could it be? Perhaps. There's no question that the experiment worked and that Ed's core team contributed significantly to the city's rebirth. The six members of the team mobilized the assets in their networks (more about this later) to power Oklahoma City's transformation. By relentlessly focusing on collaborations to leverage private investment, the team led by example. The lesson Ed took away from Oklahoma City was clear: an entirely new strategy process needs to be designed for open, loosely connected networks. Modifications in traditional strategic planning simply do not work.
Throughout the 1990s, Ed continued to experiment. In a large‐scale set of experiments over six years, he applied this new approach to distressed rural communities in Kentucky. Here, the problem was different. J.R. Wilhite, then‐head of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, wanted to develop collaborative investments in these distressed communities, but he did not have the resources to invest in an extensive strategic planning process for each community. To meet the challenge, Ed built on the lessons of Oklahoma City and designed an agile strategy process that involved a series of two‐day strategy workshops with community leaders in distressed counties. First, Ed worked with J.R. to assemble a core team of economic development professionals from outside the community. Then, during the first day in the county, the team fanned out and conducted a series of one‐on‐one interviews. The team then came back together in the afternoon to distill what they had learned. In the evening, Ed took these insights and drafted a “strategic action plan,” which the team then presented to the community on the second day. Through these discussions, they made quick modifications. Once everyone was in agreement, the Cabinet charged the community leaders with the responsibility for implementing the strategic action plan and scheduled a six‐month checkup to measure progress. This new approach to strategy proved to be remarkably successful: 18 of the 23 distressed counties made measurable progress.
A third early experiment took place in Charleston, South Carolina in 2001 with the launch of the Charleston Digital Corridor. Using lessons from both Oklahoma City and Kentucky, Ed helped Ernest Andrade formulate the early strategy for the Corridor. Ernest, a city employee, thought that Charleston was not doing enough to support high‐tech, high‐growth companies. He wanted to design the Charleston Digital Corridor as a new type of accelerator. There was only one problem: Ernest did not have many resources. Although he had strong support from the mayor, he began with (literally) only a logo. Despite these modest beginnings, Ernest was able to build a vibrant ecosystem by following the principles of Strategic Doing. Relentlessly building new collaborations and focusing on “doing the do‐able,” Ernest has been able to build a globally recognized high‐technology ecosystem in Charleston.
By 2005, his experiences had convinced Ed that a new approach to strategy was possible, and he moved to Purdue University to continue to mature these ideas. There, he met Scott Hutcheson and the two of them went to work on a project that Scott had landed for the university. Purdue had received a $15 million three‐year grant from the US Department of Labor to experiment with innovations in the workforce development systems in the Indiana counties around the university. The region was one of 13 regions funded across the United States. Workforce development is exceptionally complex: a number of different actors are involved, including workforce development boards, community colleges, four‐year institutions, high schools, and, of course, employers, current employees, and students just entering the workforce. Using the skills of Strategic Doing, Scott and Ed assembled a core team of six people and began to build a network of collaborations with the region.
They treated their investment funds much like a venture capitalist. They invested in collaborations that had good prospects for being replicable, scalable, and sustainable, using a phased investment process to nurture successful collaborations. When the federal government tallied the results from all the regions, Purdue's approach generated returns far in excess of the investment made (we'll describe more about this initiative in Chapter 7).
OUR CURRENT WORK
These experiences were the beginning of Strategic Doing. Since then, our work has accelerated and we've worked with companies, groups, and organizations in many areas of the country – a number of which you'll read more about later in the book. We've developed a set of executive education offerings, taught by a team of Strategic Doing practitioners from around the country, using an interactive, simulation‐based approach. And we've begun teaching undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue how to collaborate. While teachers of all levels regularly ask their students to work in groups, most students have never learned how to do so effectively – nor do their instructors really know how to teach these skills.
Our work is not limited to the United States. Beginning in 2014, organizations in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Europe began connecting with us, and we began traveling abroad to share the lessons we are learning about how to design and guide complex collaboration. We've been excited to see that although the national or cultural context does make a difference in how the conversations are shaped, the basic skills needed for effective collaboration across networks are the same. Meanwhile, the demand for new ways of working together keeps growing. Over 3,000 participants from 145 countries signed up for our first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) last year.
