TWENTY QUESTIONS FOR DILIP MUKERJEA: QUESTION 10

[continued from the Last Post]

Question #10:

Let’s say we are prepared to pump $100,000 cash to engage you to do a consulting assignment on creating a learning ecosystem in a school, or $250,000 cash on developing an innovation landscape in an organisation. What do we need to do immediately? Can you outline some important steps on how you would execute this project? When do you think we can see some tangible results?

DM:   The timeline for different projects is a variable, but your question is valid. The CEO has to be involved and I would first help him or her with the vision, and intermediate goals, for such a scenario. Desired winning outcomes must clearly be declared at this stage. I would then set a deadline, and ensure that it is adhered to, without ever compromising quality. This calls for attributes of visionary leadership, and I would help leaders at all levels of the enterprise to ensure the success of such a venture. Parallel teams, with varying domains of expertise, would need to be set up to ensure that synergies remain on track. A Strategic Visioning Lifescape would be crafted to ensure that it is being plotted on, in real time, to monitor and measure advances, wherever feasible (allowing for the truth that not everything is measurable). Thus, a preliminary immediate agenda would include:

· doing the metathinking right, by setting the vision, crafting the Lifescape, and assembling the personnel

· instituting plans of action, in parallel, to ensure a blend of analysis and synthesis skills are in force

· lines of reporting must be clear, with an open-door policy…all egos must be parked in the shredder!

· resources such as time, equipment, money, people, skills, are to be mapped, and deployed to suit…

· tangible results will first be observed in a behaviour change of the people involved in the project

· feedback loops must be monitored for any aberrations in performance…

NOTE 1:

Strategic thinking has two major components: insight about the present and foresight about the future. Visual thinking is the process that stimulates both of these by helping us link our intuitive sense of events in the world with our intellectual interpretations. Visual thinking is the key to strategic thinking. I would ensure that visual thinking immediately becomes part of the organisational learning culture.

NOTE 2:

Open-book accounting, with transparency at all levels, must be available to everyone, so they can stay in sync with the progress of the project. Or else: sync or swim!

[to be continued in the Next Post]