Next week I’m running, with colleagues, the =mc consultancy skills programme. It’s full of cool stuff on innovation, strategy, financial analysis etc.

All the cool stuff is …cool. But the most important sessions in the programme, I think are on change.

And the more I help in change settings with NGOs the more I feel changes in organisations can’t happen without specific kinds of support- especially if it’s a challenging or radical change.

This blog explores how these roles might work in various settings (To find out more about the consultancy skills programme try http://www.managementcentre.co.uk/training_development_detail.php/43/Consultancy%20Skills%20Programme)

Managers and board members have a vital contribution in promoting and then maintaining the change. As part of this, they can take on a number of roles which may be different from those they normally play.

But how do you choose a role? The model I feel is most appropriate for change situations is one we’ve developed from an original idea of Dame Rennie Fritchie. The model argues that in any change process you need key individuals – senior managers, board members or even external consultants – to act in specific ways. These ways of behaving- roles- are based on a Wild West wagon train metaphor. The idea is that change – and particularly radical change – is like the Wild West during the colonisation period: huge opportunities and huge risks in a relatively unknown and fluid situation.

My seven change roles are: pioneer, scout, wagon trainer, sheriff, homesteader, medicine man/woman and hired gun. Below I look at each of these in more detail.

Pioneer: the pioneer is the person with the vision. This Grizzly Adams/Fennimore Cooper figure embraces risks and is determined to prove that the apparently impossible is possible … to head west, to reach the ocean, to travel upstream. They do the things that everyone else says they can’t do.

Pioneers have to be fantastically brave. They not only have to have strength of vision and intuition they have to be able to deal with hardship, difficulty and … scorn. Not surprisingly they’re often not good team players. Once they’ve established the change is possible, they want – and they need – others to carry it through.

Bernard Kouchner, who set up Medecins Sans Frontieres, was such a pioneer. Once it was set up he then left. He needed others to develop and deliver the result.

Are you a pioneer-in-waiting? Do you need a pioneer to achieve radical change in your organisation? Or do you already have an organisational vision to challenge the status quo and drive you towards breakthrough?

Scout: every wagon train needs a scout. The scout’s job is to go ahead of the main wagon train and identify various opportunities and threats, such as sources of water, robbers, possible floods, difficult terrain, etc.

Sometimes organisations need a scout to go ahead and find out what’s advisable and what is absolutely not. ‘Ahead’ in this sense can mean scenario planning, creating alternative options, or even just risk analysis. The current financial crisis facing many charities has led a number of them to hire =mc as a scout- working out what to if financial challenges become too great.

An outside consultant often takes on this role because they can bring a radical, disinterested view. It can also be taken by a new CEO or board member who doesn’t yet have the baggage of someone long serving, but does have the courage to sketch out possible futures raised by the vision of the pioneer.

The process of scouting is not an exact or certain science. But the key qualities for a scout are to be keen on risk taking, to have courage, to be able to operate alone and not feel isolated, and to have experience of other relevant situations to build on. Members of the wagon train have to trust the scout. But remember the scout can only report back what they’ve found, or their ideas. It’s then up to the organisation to sign up to a degree of risk they outline.

Does your change process need you to be a scout? Do you have the qualities to do it? Do you need someone else to check out the concerns?

Wagon trainer: every wagon train also needs a formal leader, aware of the responsibility vested in them, concerned for the overall good, and confident in their ability to complete the journey to a better future. This person is called a wagon trainer. Ideally the wagon trainer is taking a group of people on a trail that he or she knows well. You can trust a wagon trainer to lead you safely because they’ve done it before – maybe not over this exact terrain, but something pretty similar. What you’re getting with this person is experience. So an NGO may use a CEO or board member to guide them through a change that they’ve encountered in a previous position.

The key qualities, then, for a wagon trainer are essentially experience, experience, and experience. They also need a commitment to the safety and interests of the group, and the skill to know when to use a scout to check out the risks … A wagon trainer will generally take the safest option – the one that minimises risks. Note that you mustn’t confuse scouts and wagon trainers. If you are committed to having a wagon trainer, then make sure you’re getting real, relevant experience.

Sometimes your change similar to one someone else has already done. You’ve hired in a wagon trainer to repeat what they did elsewhere. So you need to merge as in the recent Age Concern/Help the Aged process- what could you learn from those who led the successful NSPCC/Childline merger?

Sheriff: often in the Wild West you need the benefit of a sheriff. This person is responsible for laying down laws or ground rules for the wagon train once it stops and sets up camp or stays in a town. In change processes, individuals may bring all kinds of wild and zany ideas to fruition. These may work at the time and maybe they’re appropriate. But people also need some stability and – after a period of dramatic change – to calm down a little and have some rules and structure.

The sheriff’s role is to administer ‘the law’ – the systems and structures that are necessary. They will also ensure everyone is treated fairly. The sheriff may have to do a number of things:

• keep the charity within the law – literally – in terms of things it does
• make sure organisational discipline is maintained
• act as a focus for dispute resolution

Key qualities for a sheriff are wisdom in applying the rules, a desire to avoid confrontation (but not afraid to do so if necessary) and a sense that they are a law enforcer not a law maker. It’s worth noting that when the sheriff and the CEO/chair are combined they sometimes confuse their will or opinion with the law …

We worked with a homelessness charity that had just lost its wildly charismatic – and disorganised – CEO after five years. Five years in which the organisation had grown, gained credibility, attracted good people … But it was not sustainable. The new CEO said famously ‘I’m not running a hippy commune here,’ and began to lay down the law in terms of systems and organisation. A painful process – but necessary.

Sheriffs are necessary to create some stability. Remember even in the wildest Wild West towns there had to be some laws and justice. Make sure it’s clear who is in charge of interpreting the rules and making sure things are interpreted properly.

Homesteader: the homesteader is the Jimmy Stewart figure who wants to develop the new community, put down roots and create long lasting infrastructure. They may not be the most exciting person, but they spot what works and build on it.

This is a key role once a new level of performance has been reached. You should think about employing the role of homesteader if what’s needed is a fulcrum for people to work round about, or to create enough structural stability to allow people to try for new performance goals.

Key qualities for a homesteader are a desire for stability, a skill in organising and shaping people’s energies, and a willingness to play by the new rules.

Homesteaders are often underrated in change processes. (And they may be opposed to the change initially.) But you should use them wisely to keep the real process of momentum going.

Who’s buying the cakes in your office and looking after morale?

Medicine man or woman: traditional approaches don’t always work and sometimes you have to try a bit of magic. (Remember Arthur C. Clark’s famous quote ‘Any kind of science, sufficiently advanced, looks like magic.’) The medicine man or woman provides this. They may be a consultant, a new board member with great fundraising contacts, or an innovative CEO with new ideas from outside the sector.  In fundraising it may be the digital media specialist with their promise of Apps and Tweets.

It’s worth noting that the new CEOs for MacMillan and NSPCC were both from way outside the UK charity sector- hired to introduce radical new ways to do things. Whoever they are, they have a secret weapon: a big idea or a new technique. And it is this that will produce results.

Medicine men and women can inspire people to produce extraordinary results. But they are, of course, fallible, and you need to be sure about the medicine man/woman and their idea. Whatever it is, they have to bring some ‘magic’ with them to give people confidence their idea or technique will work.

Key qualities for the medicine man or woman are charisma and self-confidence, a ‘magic bullet’ (real or imagined!), an orientation towards a practical outcome, and the ability to inspire confidence in others.

Hired gun: in the Wild West you occasionally need some muscle to do a dirty or difficult job. This is the Clint Eastwood character in every man-with-no-name movie. The hired gun is someone engaged specifically to weed out those who don’t want to – and won’t – sign up to the new breakthrough.

For this reason, the hired gun is generally an external consultant. Someone who can come in, identify key elements to be changed, and often the people to be fired or made redundant. They can have no friends.

Their strength is their ability to do, to drive through, a difficult job. Key qualities for the hired gun are clarity of purpose, ability to work in isolation and a clear analytic mind.

Think carefully about hiring the hired gun. It’s a tough role. But be aware of the challenges if you try to do it yourself.

When you lead your change process you may need to think about which role or roles you need to play. And how competent you are to play them. And make sure you also pay attention to the roles or responses that others display.

Collins defines great as “capable of making a significant difference and achieving sustainability.” The book is based on a study of long-term results in US for-profit companies. But at =mc we’ve been applying the G₂G learning to the not for profit sector in Europe, Asia and the US where it’s having a great impact. And in the next 12 months I’m running series of classes on the topic including a master class at the International Fundraising Congress in Holland  on how to apply G₂G to the world of fundraising and resource mobilisation. (To find out about the congress try www.resource-alliance.org/ifc)

The class is sold out. So this is not an advert. But I thought it would be useful to explain the ideas I’ll be pursuing in the class to see if they have any resonance for you.

In the class and this post I’m be addressing essentially a single question: “how can a good fundraising NGO become great?” Part of my argument is that if we are to genuinely address the challenges we continue to face- in poverty, natural disasters, inequality, human rights, and environmental degradation-we have to achieve greatness. And part of greatness involves raising much more money to address our organization’s missions in a sustainable long-term way.

As part of the class I’ll be unveiling the results of a research project comparing organizations and fundraising teams that have made the ‘greatness’ leap to those who did not. The data, I’ll argue, supports Collin’s thesis that “ greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance, but largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.” So the master class looks at how to make those conscious choices through three disciplines outlined below.

There are three practical discipline-based stages in the transition from good to great. I’ve outlined these below following Collin’s approach with the questions we’ll be addressing in the class and you might like to consider now as you read and reflect.

STAGE 1: DISCIPLINED PEOPLE

•Level 5 Leadership. G₂G organisations have Level 5 leaders. These leaders are ambitious for the cause, the organisation, the work—not themselves. They have the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition, while displaying a blend of personal humility and professional will. What does Level 5 humility mean for the ‘profession’ of fundraisers? Do you think you’re a level 5 leader? Do your colleagues think you are?

•First Who … Then What. G₂G organisations recruit a team to create greatness. Fundraising leaders need to make sure they have the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the key seats before they work out where to drive the bus. They think first about “who” and then “what.” In a fundraising market where everyone complains about skill shortages how do you get the right people on the bus? And where does this mean for the obsession with strategy rather than talent management?

STAGE 2: DISCIPLINED THOUGHT

•Confront the Brutal Facts. G₂G organisations engage with reality but have a visionary focus. They retain unwavering faith that they can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. At the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of their current reality. What can we really learn from visionary appeals like NSPCC’s Full Stop where mistakes were constantly made but then confronted and corrected?

•The Hedgehog Concept. G₂G organisations identify their core competencies and strive to be best in that. Greatness comes about by consistently applying a simple, coherent concept— a “Hedgehog Concept.” This model involves three intersecting circles: what you can be the best at, what you’re passionate about, and what drives your resource engine. Fundraisers spend  a lot of time pursuing the ‘new’ especially if it involves social media rather than focussing on core…what’s your core? What are you really good at?

STAGE 3: DISCIPLINED ACTION

•Culture of Discipline. G₂G organisations work in a systematic way. Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and take disciplined action is the cornerstone of a greatness culture. People operate with freedom in a framework of responsibilities. In a culture of discipline, people do not have “jobs” they have responsibilities. How do we create that disciplined accountability approach? What implications does this have for the NGO/charity culture of flexibility and loose management?

•The Flywheel. G₂G organisations build momentum over time. In building greatness, there is no single defining action, no grand programme, no one killer innovation, no solitary clever social media app. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond. How do you gain and maintain that momentum in your fundraising? How long can you wait for results- is the focus always on the short-term?

In the final part of the class we’ll be looking at how to build greatness to last though two other key concepts. One involves Clock Building, Not Time Telling. If we are to become really great at what we do we need to build culture and business models not dynasties.  We need to build an organizations that adapt through multiple generations of fundraisers, great ideas, or specific programmes.  And finally we’ll look at the importance of creating Innovation within Values. G₂G organisations are clear on fundamental beliefs and innovate within these. Everything else is up for challenge.

The diagram below illustrates the model. Let me know if you want to know more.

Sisyphus: Greek character doomed to roll a stone up a hill and then for it to roll down again

Sisyphus Syndrome

As a consultant I sometimes feel like a morbid ambulance chaser. I make a career from working with organizations with serious problems. Now some problems I don’t mind- we all make mistakes. But some organisations seem trapped in a Sysiphian cycle of not just making mistakes, but repeating the same mistakes again and again.

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• they make and have to undo poor senior appointments
• they embark on Quixotic ill-thought out campaigns
• they set themselves unachievable and un-credible service goals

I’m less keen on working with these organisations. They seem dispirited and are frankly dispiriting to work with. Yet other organizations can make mistakes, even lots of mistakes, and still produce outstanding results. I call these organizations ‘learning organisations’ and it’s a pleasure to work with them- there’s a sense of progress every time.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘learning organisation’ before. But what does it actually mean? For Peter Senge, who coined the phrase ‘learning organisation’ it means something very specific. He talks abut “the continuous testing of experience, and the transformation of that experience into knowledge – accessible to the whole organisation, and relevant to its core purpose” from ‘The Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation’ (Doubleday)

There are some key and challenging ideas present in that definition- it’s about constantly trying new approaches even when things seem to work, and turning that experience into something that everyone can use, with a very specific purpose- to deliver on the mission.”

(If you’re interested in Senge’s broader theories he expanded his ideas in a second book The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook – strategies and tools for building a learning organisation (Doubleday).)

So being a ‘learning organisation’ absolutely isn’t about having cool fun offices, or lots of training for staff, or formal policies for everything… and it’s never about having an online knowledge management system. (The last item can bring an organisation to its knees financially and intellectually. Somehow IT and learning hardly ever seem to match up in real life.)

Learning organisations are about cultures and a way of doing things that is empowering. And leaders can help create such cultures. It’s simple. But as John Kotter says in his quote- it’s not even about that most beloved of CEO projects… strategy.

“The central issue [for organisational success] is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems. The core of the matter is always about changing the behaviour of people and organisations.”

John Kotter, Professor, Harvard Business School

So how do you work at becoming a learning organisation? Here’s my checklist of five characteristics drawing on Senge’s work and my own thinking and experience. I’ve also added some examples of real charities working at becoming learning organisations.

• Do you continuously test your beliefs and experience? Specifically are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows – not just during challenging times, but also when things seem to be going well? What kinds of structures have you designed for this testing? When people raise challenges or even question received wisdom is there a tendency to “shoot the messenger”? To succeed in learning you have to be prepared to systematically and regularily test out every aspect of your operation- and that can feel very uncomfortable.

With Amnesty International’s Board and Senior Leadership Team I famously ran the world’s first Sacred Cow Bar B Que. This was literally a meal in the middle of  planning workshop. The deal was the participants only got something to eat if they listed on a post-it some fundamental aspect of Amnesty’s strategy they were prepared to review after lunch. They had to hand it over to the chef-me- to get any food. At first some people thought it was a joke. But driven by the smell of cooking- and an organized absence of any other nutrition- participants gradually came forward with ‘fundamental principles‘ they were prepared to at least challenge. As part of the process Amnesty re-examined its strategy of not taking money from governments, of not allowing sections to work on domestic human rights issues etc. And changes were made as well as principles re-confirmed. I’d recommend a Sacred Cow meeting once a year at least

• Do you review results? Learning organisations make sure they review outcomes and the processes that led to the outcome. Of course it’s often easier to review BIG issues. But a key factor in organisational learning is the ability to review all action in a systematic way that produces positive change for the next time- so creating a virtuous cycle. This involves the ability to analyse events and activities without seeking to attribute blame or praise. An additional payoff, if you run a ‘blame-free’ analysis, is that individuals are more inclined to ‘confess’ to mistakes and mis-judgements rather than defend themselves and their action.

When working with the British Red Cross on fundraising during the London Bombings in 2005 I came to understand the value of their wonderful ‘after action review’ process. It involves three simple questions being asked after any activity.

The Red Cross questions are in the box below. Notice the focus on facts rather than opinion. And notice especially the absence of a ‘blame’ question! ‘Why’ is a much more powerful interrogative than ‘who’ when you’re trying to create learning.

UNICEF use a similar technique of asking ‘why’ five times to get to a root cause of something. Try it with something as simple as: ‘Why was our meeting so disorganised?’ So ‘why’ might produce ‘because we didn’t have time to prepare.’ Another ‘ why?’ drives down to the next level of cause. ‘Because we’re understaffed.” etc.  Whatever your answer ask ‘why’ was that until you come up with a profound cause not a symptom.

• Are you producing knowledge? Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for turning data into effective action. This can involve turning implicit knowledge- stuff in people’s heads- to explicit knowledge- ideas expressed publically as a system. You’re a knowledge-creator if you feel as if what you know is qualitatively different – “value-added” – from the data you took in.

Knowledge -creation also involves consciously creating new capabilities. A good question to ask yourself is does your organisation show capabilities and competencies it didn’t have three years ago? Let’s be honest if you’re not producing knowledge then you’re probably relying on that hoary old stand-by of the lazy- ‘best practice.’ Usually ‘best practice’ means ‘what’s safe and used to work.’ It’s like trying to drive by looking in the rear view mirror- noticing where you’ve been and what the traffic was like. You also need to look ‘outside.’ Some of the best knowledge creation involves taking ideas and experience from one setting and applying it elsewhere for a completely different use

Sight Savers, one of my favourite innovative INGOs worked with McDonalds in India to help make their eye operations faster, more efficient and more quality standarised. They took knowledge from a completely unrelated field and turned it to their advantage.

Lepra used just used to deal with the challenge of leprosy. The bad news from an organizational sustainability point of view was that leprosy was being more or less conquered. However, instead of closing down, Lepra decided to identify its core competence as dealing with certain kinds of disease and now tackles TB and other infections relevant to its that fundamental transferable ability.

• Is the knowledge shared? Producing knowledge is great but it’s not enough. So a further key challenge is whether the learning is accessible to all staff and stakeholders. Here’s a test. Do you hear people walking around saying, “You know, I could have sworn we put out a report on this subject three years ago”? Are there manuals for elegant but unimplemented project management processes lying untouched? Does the central drive for your IT network have hundreds or maybe thousands of files- some important, some not- with impenetrable names like ‘finalreport.doc’? If you do maybe you could try some different ways to share knowledge.

Could you use storytelling as a way to share knowledge? One of my colleagues, Angela Cluff, is working with UNICEF internationally, helping them produce their global case for philanthropic support. UNICEF is, not unreasonably, an organisation committed to accuracy and transparency. However instead of the usual dry and schematic document explaining how worthy UNICEF and its work is they’re using stories and storytelling as a core technique to share ideas and principles across the organization and then with donors. (Note also how well this approach fits with UNICEF’s child-centric culture.)

• Is the learning relevant? Charities aren’t universities. They’re not there to create learning simply for learning’s sake. (Though that’s not a bad thing!) To be accountable charities have to demonstrate the relevance of the time and resources they invest. In some organisations training and development is seen essentially as a perk- a way to reward and motivate staff. In my view that’s not enough.

Equally don’t simply screen out training in new ideas or techniques simply on a short-term utilitarian basis. Ask yourself is this learning aimed at developing or defining how people can contribute to organisation’s core purpose? Can people make use of it if not now then in the long term? Will it help us deliver on our mission?

RNLI spends huge sums of money on training and development. Its learning centre in Poole is one of the best purpose-built educational settings I know. They have an enormous pool and wave machine in which they can literally create hurricanes to practice rescues in the most extreme conditions imaginable. That’s good. But what’s even better is that much of this training is directed not at full-time staff but at volunteers who’s contribution sits at the centre of RNLI’s ethos. It’s the commitment to volunteers at the highest level that distinguishes them as an outstanding learning organisation.

So how good are you?

All this is very interesting. But here’s the killer question. How do you score on these five dimensions? Give yourself a score from 1-5 on each dimension in the table below

OK now add up your score and follow my interpretation below

Score yourself

And if you have any examples of learning in your organisation or in others then let me know… I’d love to share them.

The Learning Leader- what do you in a crisis?

Challenging times- especially crises- are a great reality check for ‘learning leadership’- whether you model an adaptive and flexible approach under pressure.

The premise is simple when things go wrong and are at least partly out of their control then great leaders can show how quickly they learn and help their organisation to do so… or not.

As it happens I’ve recently undertaken several assignments with charities advising CEOs and senior managers where there were crises a financial scandal, a major redundancy programme, and a potential PR disaster. I’ve also watched on tv, like you, the response of BP and the US administration to the Gulf oil spill crisis. The simple principles below are based on reflections out of those manic professional and public days…

I’ve identified five mistakes wannabe learning leaders sometimes make especially in a crisis or under pressure. Also below are my possible learning-based alternatives to these mistakes.

1. Hubris over humility. When the plan runs on rails success seems easy. You can get lazy and even begin to believe  your own hype on how clever you are.. . the ancient Greeks called it hubris. In an odd way the sudden dramatic crisis is easier to deal with. It promotes a sense of “all pulling together.”

But be aware the crisis doesn’t always emerge fast and with a blue light flashing. You may simply sanction the equivalent of carrying on making the slide rule when the electronic calculator comes out. A contemporary example is being obsessed with your website when the world has moved onto mobiles. However, ‘blindsided’ is as much a learning leadership failing as ‘blind panic.’

Learning: Begin by accepting in advance things will go wrong or at best change dramatically. Have a plan. And have a plan B. Test the plan against all kinds of disruptive scenarios. If the plan can cope with the very unlikely it will ride out the possible. Tell people about the plan. Let people know that ‘crisis’- fast changing and risky situations are the new normal.

2. Pressure pushing principles. Sometimes leaders feel that they have to act quickly. (The recent BP oil spill is an example.) But if you don’t consider alternatives or seek other opinions from your key stakeholders what’s meant to be decisiveness can look like ignoring long-espoused core values about reflection, participation and engagement. The result is your ‘learning leader’ credibility vanishes and the negative effects are felt long past the crisis. The ‘cynics’ who always said it was just talk are seen to have been proved right.

Learning: Be clear on principles in advance and hold onto them throughout. The easy and seemingly pragmatic Faustian compromise can ruin reputations at a stroke. Also reflect before offering the instant yourself in a crisis- even if you think you do indeed know the answer. Let others help solve the challenge if you can. Or at least be seen to seek their opinion. You’ll look smarter- and they’ll feel smarter.

3. War Room Fever. Sometimes in an emergency the CEO’s office feels like a bunker or war room. Acolytes come and go. Minions sit outside waiting for a chance to report. Even once you are admitted to ‘the presence,’ the leader watches for tweets and texts and emails with one eye while looking at the current minion out of the corner of the other as they share their tidbit of info. People can feel like simply another data stream.

A bigger problem is that while there’s manic action inside the bunker, outside everything else freezes up. There’s a collective holding of breath since it’s deemed unwise to do anything without sanction. People feel disempowered. And you need more than generals to fight a war.

Learning: Keep big stuff close to you but make time to identify do-able tasks that give others the chance to take action. Notice quick wins when others achieve them. Make it clear there are areas still in their control. Pay attention to the world and feelings outside the war room. Above all create momentum in parts of the system. A general needs troops!

4. Communication chaos. In fast-moving situations, leaders can confuse the act of thinking with sharing ideas, logic or even decisions. They almost literally assume others know their decision processes and can read their minds. These amnesic leaders forget the importance of communicating regularly and systematically even if just to say, ‘nothing much has happened.’  In the chaos people make up information to fill the communication void. For employees and others it’s not clear what’s definite data and what’s random rumour. The result is confusion and unhappiness even when no one is trying to unsettle things.

Learning: Create a regular channel- even a simple intranet page- where people can find out ‘stuff’- and ask questions. Reply to any question within 24 hours. With information people can make good choices. Without information they feel panicked. (For all its failings- and there have been lots!- BP has recently tried to create a comms channel with eight live feeds to watch how oil spill rescue efforts are going http://bit.ly/9pWfNq.) Have the quote below tatoo-ed under your eyelids.

“If you think knowledge is expensive… try ignorance” Rosabeth Moss Kantor

5.  Responding to the ringing phone: when things are super busy it’s easy to pay attention to the loudest noise. So you as a learning leader may find yourself surrounded by the Casualties and the Cassandras. Casualties can be those who see their reputations or role being undermined and they want to complain loudly and often about this. Cassandras are those who are only too happy to explain how much worse the situation will get. They’re keen to share their doom-laded prognosis with you.
 Neither is a good focus for attention. You need to look out at the wider organisation.

Learning: First identify the key internal and external relationships you need to pay attention to and manage. Decide the ones that you must look after- and then delegate contact with the others to someone else. Take the pulse of the organisation as often as you can. Talk to ordinary people who run post-rooms, who clean toilets, and who speak quietly and don’t complain.

Get the Cassandras and the Casualties to talk to each other- ideally in a closed room!

As a ‘ leader’ you can model the learning behaviour you want and need best in a crisis. Or you can demonstrate that it’s really just a nice idea you read in a book somewhere. My advice is put the sentiment into practice.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt”

Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist, and author of The Art of War

I’ve been putting together a day on strategy as part of a series of seminars we’re running encouraging thought leadership in the not for profit sector. Each seminar has some outstanding speakers and concentrates on one of three key areas for charities and non-profits: change, strategy and innovation. (See below for seminar details.) Anyway my seminar efforts led to wider thoughts … so maybe it’s a good time to re-start the blog and share some ideas.

I’ve written lots about change in earlier blogs, so thought it might be interesting to think a bit about strategy in this one.

Let’s first deal with what strategy isn’t about in my view. The early concerns in a strategic process are often about what model or approach to use – so as a consultant I’m often asked is Scenario Planning ‘hotter,’ or funkier, or more up to date as a way to plan than the Balanced Scorecard? (Strategic planners are as trendy as any 15-year-old adolescent.) “Hot or Not?” isn’t necessarily a bad question. But that ‘which model?’ question is not where I encourage people to start – it’s the wrong question.

(BTW I’m so bored hearing people say they’re bored using PEST or SWOT. On day one at Harvard Business School you learn that PEST and SWOT are essential for your planning process – and you learn to do them properly. Strategy isn’t necessarily meant to be fun! And sometimes you have to do boring stuff to be successful. It’s like going to the gym twice a week – regular is better for fitness. For most organisations the strategic plan is like a crash diet – done in a rush to get ready for a big event!)

Anyway, my contention is your strategy will only work if you ensure that all parts of your organisation are fit and work together effectively towards delivering it – otherwise it’s just a paper ambition, a proto-plan. But how do you assess how well overall your organisation is positioned to deliver any plan? And how do you make sure you remain flexible and open to possibilities while ensuring you build on current success?

The first strategic challenge is not to choose a format or model to begin writing a plan but to really know – analyse – yourself and your organisation. This analysis helps you decide two things: where to focus your attention and how to remain flexible in what Sun Tzu elsewhere in The Art of War calls “the infinite variety of circumstances.” (These circumstances might range from the credit crunch to a new government or even changing beneficiary needs. Stuff happens.)

One useful way to consider the effectiveness and flexiblity of your current approach is the McKinsey 7S framework. Peters and Waterman, two legendary management consultants and authors, developed this model in the early 1980s. But despite being 30 years old it continues, in my view, to be a useful way to assess your strategic health. (So some things from the 1980s – though maybe not flares and Betamax – are still worth using!)

The basic premise of the Peters and Watermans model is that there are seven internal dimensions of an organisation that need to be aligned for success. These are based around 7Ss: strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, skills, and shared values.

Below I explore each of these factors  to help you understand your situation and gain that vital organisational self-knowledge.

Strategy:
By strategy Peters and Waterman mean the kind of plans you have and how clearly they are shared and understood across the organisation. In the seminar we’re running we’ll talk about the difference between Blue Ocean and Red Ocean strategy. Blue Ocean strategies are those where you either want to gain a significant competitive advantage – Red Ocean strategies are those where you have to work in a very competitive situation with other agencies – for example many organisations seeking shrinking government support. But the key metric here is to have a plan that can be understood and explicitly interrogated by key stakeholders.

Sightsavers International, led by the inspirational Caroline Harper, decided to make a plan that could be reproduced on one sheet of paper and shared around the organisation. They call it the SIM card. (We’re proud at =mc to have helped them with this.) To find out more about their ‘one page plan’ and how they shared it across the organisation and externally click here.

Structure:
Structure has a huge impact on strategy – especially through governance and management. Do you operate in a centralized way like Greenpeace International , enabling you to move quickly and in one key direction? Or do you prefer devolved accountability like ActionAid where decision-making is slower but inclusive? There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. And choosing the right structure is essential. Is your structure helping to drive success and balance, or holding you back, leading to infighting and stasis?

Systems:
Systems are about your business model. What’s your model and how is it managed and controlled? The CEO of Wal-Mart , running one of the largest and most diverse companies in the world, has just three key performance numbers delivered to him every day at 17.30 to tell him how the company is doing. Those numbers reflect the key systems he is responsible for. As managers we often have access to lots of data, but how relevant is it to our direct responsibilities? Too much data from too many systems – and too much monitoring – means you can end up  ’drowning in data’.  Do you know what the data you get means? Are you clear on what your key systems are and who needs to monitor them?

Style:
What’s the style of your organisation? And how do other people see you and your brand or style expressed – cool and relaxed like Google, or more formal and geeky like Microsoft? Style does set an important marker for substance. How approachable do you want to be to stakeholders? Some charities are keen to be, and to be seen to be, inclusive such as Macmillan Cancer Support. Others like the Royal Society accept that they are not inclusive but are about excellence and by definition, exclusion.

Macmillan Cancer Support undertook a major rebrand to re-imagine themselves as a more inclusive organisation. So their tagline became “we are Macmillan Cancer Support” emphasising the link between themselves, the beneficiaries and the donors.

Staff:

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great talks about the importance of “getting the right people on the bus.” By this he means that the key role of a leader is to select the best people to take the organisation forward and to keep them close and ‘onboard’. Are you clear who your dream team is? How do you make sure you attract and maintain the right people? And once you have them how do you continue to retain and develop them?

The RNLI hires outstanding people and then offers them the chance to take part in a demanding 3-year management development programme – based on the Kouzes and Pozner leadership framework – that builds their skills to a whole new level of performance.

Skills:

Linked to the issue of the right staff and managers is the skills (or competencies) of the organisation. What current competencies – skills, knowledge, and abilities – does your organisation have already? And what emerging competencies does it need to acquire to deliver on the strategy? Your competencies may not be as obvious as they might seem. Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney famously proclaimed that the company’s core competence was not making movies, or marketing but… ‘licensing’. So the production of films, cartoons etc. was simply seen as way to create intellectual property which others would invest in with low risk to Disney. (That’s why  to you need 7 dwarfs… for 7 licensing opportunities!) What are your key current competencies and which do you need to acquire to meet your strategy?

Comic Relief is a major UK charity with a range of competencies – from intellectual property such as the famous Red Nose and cuddly toy characters, to an ability to organise broadcast telethons exceptionally well. A key goal is to learn how to maximise the value of these different properties.

Shared values:
The final – central – S is concerned values or principles. How clear are you – and others – on your values? Values can dictate the kind of work you do, who you work with, and even where you will take money from – for example Amnesty International won’t take money from governments in case it compromises its independence and integrity. Some cultural organisations see public subsidy as fundamental to their business model. The challenge is you need to be careful these principles don’t become outdated or simply closed mindsets shutting off opportunity.

When the National Trust for Scotland recently went through a difficult restructuring they held a key conference for all staff called the Heart of the Nation, which sought to build on values as a basis for alignment.

The 7S model was, and remains, a useful tool to assess your readiness for strategy. Work your way through the ideas above. If you’re interested I’ve created an assessment tool online to help you establish your profile against the 7Ss. Fill it in and you’ll get an independent view on your readiness for strategy.

We’re also, as I said above, organising a series of Thought Leadership events over the next few months at =mc in London. To find out more click here.