Easier Done Than You Think

Thanks to Jeff Cobb for pointing to a couple of our posts on his Mission to Learn blog. He was applying what we've been saying about strategy to the issue of experimenting with Social Media (since that's been the topic of the month over on the Acronym blog). Here's what he said about us:

Notter and De Cagna’s approach to strategy, at least as far as I understand it, is a much more iterative approach than has been used traditionally by associations or most other organizations. For organizations that want to successfully embrace social media, an iterative approach is essential. Start with a clear set of strategic assumptions and a commitment to learn, dive in and experiment with the social media tactics that seem to make most sense strategically, and then adapt strategy, tactics, or both as needed.

(I know--easy to write, much harder to do)

Amen, Jeff, except that I disagree with the last line. Okay, most things worth doing are easier said than done, but I don't think doing what you are saying is as hard to do as people think it is, particularly among associations.

That's why I have been trying to broaden what our "approach to strategy" is, because I think where associations get derailed is in where strategy and implementation overlap. They typically have not designed their organizations in ways that empower the kind of experimenting and (most importantly) learning you are talking about. My last post about the "empowered association" talks about that.

You will have to make changes in processes, roles, expectations, etc. if you want to have your people both run with new ideas AND tie the results back into ongoing conversations about strategy. But once you make those shifts, I think it's actually pretty easy to do. When people are not limited by the way things have always been done, I think you'll be surprised at how willing and able they are to have experiments and better learning conversations as part of strategy development and execution.

Comments

[Jeff Cobb]

Jamie--Thanks for dropping by to comment on Mission to Learn and for the mention in this posting. I agree that what I suggest is "not as hard to do as people think it is," but therein lies the kicker--changing what/how people think. In any case, I am with you in the effort to keep trying to make that change happen. --Jeff