I enjoy consuming lots of audio during my travels, the most recent of which was the latest installment of Chris Brogan’s Podcast on Stitcher. On the show, he did a delightful interview with two winsome ladies who have started a new health and fitness movement around the idea that you need to do what you can when you can, and set aside the delay we all incur waiting for the perfect time and circumstance. They have written a new book and coined the term WYCWYC, which is (of course) being used as a hashtag, as well.
This phrase resonated with me around the body of work I do with clients on finding the Right Project, Right Team and Right Plan to move from the murky middle to action on their growth agendas. It turns out you need to do these three things in the right order (with the right ingredients) to not only get the results you’re looking for, but to avoid wasting large amounts of time, cash and resources on the wrong program.
There is a shadow side of developing powerful growth programs, which is the pattern some firms get into of cycling endlessly and iterating on perfecting projects before they build an execution framework and put their hard won insight to work on behalf of shareholders. The truth is that no project plan survives its first contact with reality, so how do we form a powerful program and not get caught up in pre-program validation?
The powerful part of blending these two analogies is that being able to #WYCWYC assumes we have a useful task that we can immediately take action upon when a gap in our day occurs. In health and fitness we all have a pretty well-developed framework of what this looks like: eating vegetables over carbs, getting portions back in scope, taking a 15-minute walk rather than waiting for time to do the two hour run, and so forth.
In building growth programs, there are also some core requirements that need to be met, but they are less well known than the diet and exercise rules cited above. By unpacking Right Project, Right Team and Right Plan, we can then use an intention for action to move us from perfectionism to progress.
So, what are some basic requirements in a growth program in each of the Right Project, Right Team, Right Plan areas that will allow us to have an investable program? Secondly, how can we make use of incremental moves to nudge us toward our goals?
Right Project
Go and See: Knowing that great projects are built on actionable insights, make it a point to experience the customer’s space, with the people who actually do the work, at the time it’s being done. When I was working with a telecom team, we couldn’t understand why the quarterly update process was constantly being done incorrectly by the customer’s IT team. By sitting with them during the process, we realized that we had embedded many critical decisions in the upgrade, that due to the sensitive nature of the system, was being done at 4 am on a weekend. By not taking this into account, we exceeded the cognitive ability of the customer when they work in the early morning hours, compared to our team who was working on it during prime business hours. When we made the changes, the install rates shot up and reliability improved.
Immersion: A key member of my strategic planning team made a point to never waste a layover while traveling. Knowing that insight is developed by associative thinking, she would rent a car and see the area whenever presented with a gap between flights. In doing this, we were able to pick up on several local emerging trends that allowed us to improve our forecasting tools into a global core competitive advantage.
#WYCWYC action points:
- Get out of your office – The next time you are near a customer, take time to stop by. Ask for a walk through, visit your product in action and see where it leads.
- Bring in some fresh eyes – Conversely, bring a trusted colleague from outside your industry to your operation, walk them through and go out for lunch. You’ll be surprised what you learn.
Right Team
No matter how good your project is, if you have the wrong team structure and chemistry, you will not achieve your goals. To be successful, you need to have the right skill and temperament mix, the right access and the right levels of influence and authority. For a more complete overview, check out my series on building teams that deliver here.
#WYCWYC action points:
- Consider everyone’s view – One of the most counterintuitive things I have learned from experience is that people underestimate the positive benefits of the “curmudgeon factor.” Every organization has an experienced individual they have stopped listening to who is retained for their intimate knowledge of legacy products and services. Having coffee with them and running ideas by them can be very insightful, and while you need to have a high filter for their criticism, when they say “that just might work,” make sure you take notes.
- Listening for what’s not there – When a team gets stuck, one of the first places to look is for a missing voice. The missing voice is evident in the symptom present, such as an overwhelmed team that needs a practical strategist, a team that is missing deadlines, or one that needs a ruthless closer. The next time you have five minutes, make a list of teams you are on, and what the symptoms are telling you about the makeup of each one.
Right Plan
For the right plan, we look toward items like a very clear mandate, the use of lean principles, removing risk before investing in scale, and a plan that’s outcome oriented and not path specific. A great plan assures an outcome that harnesses the great work of the team to the benefit of the customer (and ultimately the stakeholders of the firm).
#WYCWYC action points:
- Leverage – Take a moment and reflect on work that you or a team that you are on is doing and ask yourself if it’s resulting in the benefits to the firm that it should. If not, where is the slippage or lack of connection? No one wants to be the home run hitter on a team that’s in the bottom of the division standings; it takes a great coach to land the full value of a team. What one conversation could you have today that would be a step toward full leverage for your group?
- Eye on the Prize –For projects in motion, have a moose hunt. Get away from the fray, and ask yourself the question, “what hard thing is not being spoken” by our work group. Left unattended, teams move towards safety, which usually means toward areas that don’t drive positive change. Help your group to “put the moose on the table,” and watch the team’s energy and engagement soar.
If you have a project that’s hung up in validation cycle and would benefit from a more incremental approach, let’s talk. You can reach me via email. Or, give me a call at 847-651-1014.
