wayfinding

No Perfect Brackets; No Perfect Plans

100 million NCAA March Madness collegiate basketball brackets are filled out yearly, and they cannot correctly select all the winners. How do we expect to predict our organization’s future if we do not have the benefit of professional analysis and endless metrics? Are we so confident in our ability to forecast the future that we can write strategic plans as if we are completing a winning NCAA March Madness bracket? We might get some themes right, but the odds are against perfection.

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Footprints

What message do our footprints represent? Are we setting a path for others to follow? Do we intend to seek sanctuary and obscure our tracks? Might we follow the crowd and tread on historically worn trails? Is it possible to inspire those who follow?

It is easy to think of our footprints as follow-through. The activity has been completed, and we do not witness our tracks unless we commit to pivoting to observe our path. It is usually in difficult terrain that we might commit to a review of the terrain we have previously traveled. The propensity of time, our focus is only forward?

When do you consider the topography already covered? What is the lasting impact of your completed work?

Unfinished Business

My board term is concluding, and there is an opportunity for contemplation. What was completed, what was learned, what was overlooked, and what was left unfinished? Surprisingly, the unfinished business has my attention. Did we keep the organization in flight and positioned to fulfill its mission, or did we lose track of the navigation and propulsion resources?

There will be unfinished business; the question is, is it the work that matters or a list of emergency repairs?

Double Click

What topic would your team double-click on to investigate in more detail? If you preserved 15 minutes at the end of a team meeting and took a poll of the agenda items covered (or perhaps topics left off the agenda), which would the group expand upon?

How might an agenda support curiosity over performative habits?

Nothing

If I post no insights today, are you the reader and I the contributor, like passing aircraft in the sky? Each is headed on our own itinerary but missing the chance to share a ride report on what lies ahead. When do you choose nothing, and when do you choose to share something?

Greenland

Flying over Greenland and the name generates more questions than clarity. Which names make you ponder their genesis?

We Are Watching

When hosting an event with twelve thousand skiers from multiple countries and endeavoring to enforce the rules, you might need to make the consequences visible; otherwise, some participants might think the regulations are optional. Remember, you protect an asset (scenery and natural setting) that makes the event remarkable.

Your Target

Is your team aligned with your preferred target? Even biathletes occasionally shoot at the wrong target, aiding their competitors and suffering the penalty for their own results.

Your Finish Line Might Differ

Competition provides a framework for scoring and usually consists of a start, middle, and finish. When we compete, we understand the expectations. If we assume an infinite mindset, we may advance a cause for a leg of the journey but ultimately not serve long enough to see the enterprise reach the finish line. In reality, the finish line is often stated in our cause’s vision. Finishing means fulfilling the vision and probably requires substantial course adjustments and/or the realignment of the organization. Staying in the race may be the most formidable work.

Useless Unless Checked

Your best tool left behind, no matter how integral, is valueless. Checklists matter and might change the outcome of your work. Atul Gawande’s Checklist Manifesto provides powerful insights into developing a culture that thrives under an agreed-upon protocol.

What-if-concepts

Empowering those who inspire so they excel at the work that matters.