Leadership Thinking and Doing Series

Taking Strategic Action with Wisdom

We began the blog series for leadership thinking and doing with a focus on the importance of iterative phases of engaging multiple perspectives and  thinking and reframing, establishing direction and purpose, designing action plans, assessing alternatives, take action, and evaluating results and then looping back to repeat in cycles of continuous learning.  Continuous learning is an integral process in leadership thinking and doing.

When faced with problems or needs, most people want to take action – action to fix problems, actions to implement new programs, or actions related to new policies and laws. Taking action is seen as powerful and assertive.  Often action occurs without much thinking or evaluation of alternatives, which may have its merit in terms of serendipity and spontaneous emergence.  However more often than not, action without thinking or strategic intention is prone to failure.   

Two types of failure are common, 1) going in the wrong direction and 2) not adapting or taking corrective action. A third error is not taking any action at all – essentially paralysis due to fear of the unknown or making a mistake or failing

Starting in Right Direction

It’s not easy to know what is the right direction to take to deal with any problem, issue or opportunity, since it is often the loudest or most powerful voices that control ‘action decisions’. In organizations, executives determine direction based on their pre-conceived notions of what is wrong or what they view as a favourable action. Following are some steps to address this.

1. Check your biases, especially if you think you are an expert.  All executives, professionals and other leaders have biases which can influence pre-conceived notions, so first step is to recognize your biases and seek information from multiple different sources.  
2. Gather data from multiple sources, not just the data that confirms your biases but data from sources that challenge your initial assumptions. Discern the difference between urgent data and action vs important data and action.
3. Establish a transparent goal or outcome.  Know what you want to accomplish, as Steven Covey (2014) said, “plan with the end in mind”. It may be about task completion, changed problems, new processes, people satisfaction or new relationships. Is there congruence between what you want to accomplish and what others want to accomplish?  In today’s work of leadership, incongruence between what you want and other stakeholders want can lead to conflict, lack of trust, failure of actions taken, and even reactions that go in the opposite direction. Secrets and hidden agendas rarely work in the long run. 
4. Develop action plans with pros and cons. Likely, a primary plan will emerge quickly based on an analysis of the pros and cons.  Be sure to use your data. Be sure to notice the risks or potential difficulties. Consider draft contingency plans, especially when there are significant barriers to plan A.  
5. Communicate plans and promote.  Good ideas and actions gain traction and acceptance when they are communicated fully to other stakeholders. Promote the plan. Make sure it is understood, which may require different forms of communication to different groups of people. Have conviction. Be open to questions and criticism. Strong plans can easily withstand criticism. 

Adapting and Making Corrections

The communication and promotion processes become the foundation for getting feedback about what is working and not working. If you have communicated what you are trying to accomplish, then there is no possibility of feedback and correction.  Is there acceptance by stakeholders?  Is there action happening, as you desired?  Most importantly is the need to have an attitude of adaptation and being open to change. This requires flexibility, patience and humility. Avoid locking your ego into only one course of action.  Initial actions are likely to need corrections almost immediately. Establish sources of genuine feedback.  Ask of everyone, what are we learning? What is working or not working?  Getting feedback should be encouraged and a high priority, just as one would do when traveling to a strange country. Given the likelihood that a plan will need adjustment, it is wise not plan too rigidly. You may wish to establish an action plan that involves stages and outputs or outcome milestones, with subsequent actions based on the accomplishments of initial steps.  Re-examine your old data based on new data. Corrections are of two types a) adjustments to processes that do not change the overall direction and goals, and b)  changes to the goals or the action plan that fundamentally change where you are heading and trying to accomplish. Small adjustments to processes and activities should happen rapidly by people on the ground but the big changes to the goals and ultimate direction of the initiative require consultation and acceptance by other stakeholders.    

Avoiding Paralysis

Over planning can led to paralysis due to a fear of failing or of making mistakes.  When feedback that leads to corrections and adjustments in an action plan is judged as failures or mistakes, individuals are often blamed and seen as incompetence.  In such an environment, there is a tendency to either rigidly plan or to simply become paralyzed.  Doing nothing become the safest course of action in environments of blame and judgement, often revealed in endless planning meetings that lead to little action implement.  To avoid paralysis or endless planning with little action, an environment of learning and creative encouragement need to be promoted, especially by those in power positions.  Encourage action, identify what’s not working and reward corrections to reduce fear of failure and paralysis.  

Action with Wisdom

In final reflection on the features and steps in implementing strategic action, we put forth wisdom as an overarching principle. Just because one can accomplish certain actions, doesn’t always make them ‘right’.  Notable are the thoughtful words of scholars Mckenna, Rooney and Boal (2009,  178-180)) who define five basic principles of wisdom  which are based on practices of thinking, reasoning and intentional planning but grounded in values of humaneness, virtuousness and aesthetics. Principles are:  

• Wise leaders use reason and careful observation.
• Wise leaders allow for non-rational and subjective elements when making decisions.
• Wise leaders value humane and virtuous outcomes.
• Wise leaders and their actions are practical and oriented towards everyday life, including work.
• Wise leaders are articulate, understand the aesthetic dimension of their work, and seek the intrinsic personal and social rewards of contributing to the good life.

Much can be said about wise decisions based on context and the mission of the organization or community (a topic for another blog post).

Previous posts in this series:

Leadership Thinking and Doing Series: A Beginning
Leadership Thinking and Doing Series: The Discipline of Thinking from Multiple Perspectives 

References

Covey, S. R. (2014). The 7 habits of highly effective families. St. Martin's Press.

McKenna, B., Rooney, D., & Boal, K. B. (2009). Wisdom principles as a meta-theoretical basis for evaluating leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 20(2), 177-190.

Quansah, E. and Hartz, D.E. (2021), "Strategic adaptation: leadership lessons for small business survival and success", American Journal of Business, Vol. 36 No. 3/4, pp. 190-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJB-07-2020-0096

Ramalingam, B., Nabarro, D., Oqubuy, A., Carnall, D., & Wild, L. (2020). Principles to guide adaptive leadership. Harvard Business Review.