Canadian Government Executive - Volume 23 - Issue 08

November 2017 // Canadian Government Executive / 15 Strategy A better approach: • At their retreat, executives identify on a single page: Point “A” and Point “B”, the strategic problems that must be solved along the way, causes, and rough-draft, incomplete solutions. • They then show their work to leaders 2-3 levels below, and ask: Did we get this right? If not, what do you see? Challenges? This is called “Catchball” like two groups tossing a ball back and forth. Senior execu- tives focus on the “Where we are going” and “What are the gaps” and the execu- tors focus on “How can we get there”. The benefits? A more-executable strategy with deeper ownership from the executors. 3. Make the Plan Visible and Create Routines It is hard to manage what you cannot see. Strategic plans are often buried on the in- tranet or in binders. A Crown corporation depicts its plan on whiteboards at multiple levels, from C-Suite to front line staff. Each level sees how it contributes to the top-lev- el priority, they make regular adjustments, and as they learn, performance improves. Once per quarter executives conduct what is called a “wall walk” to go, priority by pri- ority, through their plan to troubleshoot and adjust as a group. 4. Recognize true capacity and say “No thanks, not yet” to what does not fit I asked an ADM how many priorities his branch had this year. He replied proudly: “52”. I asked him if he could recite them. He paused, and sheepishly replied “no”. Given this, is it realistic for others in his branch to execute them all? With too many priorities, focus and effort is diluted and little gets done. A study of software coders shows what happens when humans take on too much at once and switch between high-focus tasks (context switching), otherwise know as “multi-tasking”. How do you say “no” to less-important priorities so that you don’t fall prey to this capacity drain, without alienating stake- holders who may own these priorities? By starting with the problems to be solved, instead of starting with solutions, groups typically reduce priorities, without hard feelings. Next, identify the “Must-do, can’t fail” / “Breakthrough” priorities, ver- sus “Should-do”, “Could-do”, “Do next year” and “Don’t do” priorities. To help groups understand how to nar- row their priorities, consider an exercise from Greg McKeown, the author of “Es- sentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”: during spring closet cleaning, how do you decide which clothes to keep and which to give to charity? Most people ask about each garment: “do I still like it?”, “does it still fit me?”, or “when did I last wear it?”. All good, sensible questions. But McKeown’s question is: “If I didn’t possess this exact garment, in its exact condition, how much would I pay to acquire it?” This question is powerful because it introduces the notion of scarcity: we only have so much money. Similarly, we only have so much time to implement priorities. Using a simple method to quantify avail- able and required capacity, most organiza- tions realize that they have been signing up for 100%-200% more than they realisti- cally have capacity to execute. By identify- ing the capacity price tag of each potential priority, executives more quickly come to consensus on which to keep and which to defer or abandon – and also address many execution challenges. 5. Adjust as you go A provincial Ministry of Health was able to reduce its number of top-level priorities fromover 30 to 18. A regulatory Commission reduced its priorities from over 20 to two. In both cases, they actually delivered on their priorities listed in the plan. Less over- whelmed, they were able to adjust along the way to deal with political and environment- driven change. A commercial Crown corpo- ration uses its quarterly review to re-assess capacity required, and where to redeploy capacity in order to focus on themost impor- tant priorities. Regular executive wall-walks are an efficient and effective way to check to stay on course, and to be nimble enough to adjust to unforeseen challenges and changes that will always be a part of public service. As a bonus, this sends a message of the importance of continuous improvement at all levels. C raig S zelestowski is the President and Founder of Lean Agility Inc. In his time as a Vice President at the Royal Canadian Mint, and later as an inde- pendent Lean Government facilitator, trainer and coach, he initiated and has led some of Canada’s most notable public sector Lean transformations. craig@leanagility.com