Clarity

Words that Matter: The Definition of Strategy

/ lesliesnavely / Leave a comment

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Maybe it is a pet-peeve, but one of the things that bugs me the most at work is the misuse of the word strategy.  As per Merriam-Websters, the short definition of strategy is a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time.  In my experience, people in a business setting throw this word around in ways that isn’t helpful.  The misuse of the term drives confusion within their working team.  Here are five of the ways I heard this week alone, where strategy was used in a way that wasn’t what the person speaking intended.

1.  “You need to be more strategic.”  This week I heard one of my managers give this feedback about their direct report.  Having been on both sides of this conversation, I find this one of the most confusing pieces of feedback that you can give an individual.  To have a skill in strategy, my perspective is that it means you can develop and execute plans that aid the achievement of your long-term goals.  This leader didn’t mean that, although that may have been valide feedback as well.  What they truly meant was, this person doesn’t think big picture and thus the work that they are doing isn’t aligned with our strategy.  Be confusing the words, how is the individual on the other side of the feedback expected to know what to work on to improve the skill?

2.  “We need a strategy.”  This week at work, I heard this phrase used in a way that wasn’t clear.  I hear this as “we need a careful plan to achieve our goal.”  The problem is that the individual wasn’t talking about the plan, they were talking about the goal or the objective.  If you mean, “we need a goal” then say it.  If you ask for a strategy, you are asking for a plan to get the goal accomplished.

3.  “That is not strategically aligned.”  I love this statement as long as it is used with accuracy.  It truly helps an organization stay focused on the plan that they have created to achieve their goals.  That said, I heard someone use this during this week at work when what they were really intending to say was, “I am not aligned with our strategic plan.”  A small difference in words, but if they would have said this instead we could have more easily discussed and resolved that problem.

4.  “We need to be more strategic and less tactical.”  If you look up the word strategic in Merriam-Webster, a synonym is tactical.  All of these words come from military history.  Tactics are specific steps taken to achieve a military strategy.  Usually when people use this phrase in business, they mean that the broader plan isn’t clear but we are executing a lot of specifics.  Often times, saying this is an attempt to pull a team out of the specifics for a moment in order to reasses the broader plan to ensure that it is the right plan to meet the goals of the organization.

5.  “Our goals need to be more strategic.”  Goals or objectives are where you are aiming.  By definition, goals cannot be strategic, as the strategy is the plan it takes to achieve these goals.   Often times when someone says this phrase, what they are truly saying is that they don’t believe that the current goals are the right goals for the organization.  If that is what you mean, just say it.

None of these ways of using the word strategy or strategic are bad, as long as when said, it is what you truly mean.  Let’s not use the word to cover up what we truly mean and our organizations will continue to be more productive than they are without effective clarity.

Commitments: The Pursuit of Clarity

/ lesliesnavely / Leave a comment

The power of clear thoughts, words and writing.  As a marketer,  I have built my life’s work about making words (amongst other things) work to drive a purchase or a response.  That said, almost every day I feel as if I learn about how to make my words more effective.  Much of this learning comes through the pursuit of clarity.  In every facet of my life, clarity is critical and difficult to achieve.  As a constant learner, I feel like it is something at which the learning will never end.

In marketing:  Often times when we are working hard so create the most effective marketing, we miss the obvious.  You can get too close to the work, review the copy too many times, overthink the headline, or forget to look at the marketing exection with your customer in mind.  Just this week, I was looking at an email campaig where we were trying to be too cute with a headline, and it just wasn’t clear.  A lack of clarity is often driven by not stepping back and looking at your work with fresh eyes.

In leadership:  My most difficult work experiences have been times where I wasn’t being clear to my employees.  The worst of these has typically been whe an employee is underperforming, and I needed to let them go.  This is never a situation you want to find yourself in, as either a leader or employee, but it happens.  The first time I had to do this, I thought I had been explicitly clear with the employee both verbally and in writing of the gaps in their performance.  The day came that I was going to fire them.  They were shocked, angry and sad.  Angry and sad were to be expected, but SHOCKED?!?  We had been having conversations for going on six months about their lack of performace.  I was taken aback, and decided to just ask why they felt so surprised.  Verbatim…”You never told me that wasn’t doing what you wanted me to.  Isn’t that unfair?”  Ugh.  Despite my best attempts, and even a belief that been clear, I hadn’t.  A lack of clarity is often driven by not confirming that what you think you said was heard.

In being a mom:  The power of words.  In no place in my life is this more apparent than with my two year old Matthew (and prior to him, Katharine).  Matthew is learning words everyday, and it is so refreshing to be able to communicate with him.  Only a short 3 months ago, he was getting frustrated all the time because despite what he was thinking, he couldn’t form the words to tell us what he wanted.  Now, the smille on his face when he tells a little joke, or can tell us he loves us.  Priceless.  A lack of clarity is often driven by not understading each other.

In being a wife:  In my life, everything seems to be planned.  So, a moment without a plan typically means something is wrong (unfortunately!).  One morning as I was running out of the house to work, I yelled back to my husband, “You are picking up the kids from school, right?”  To which he responded with, “I can’t, I have an appointment.”  Unfortunately, I didn’t hear him.  I had asked a question without listening for the answer, and thus our kids were awaiting a pick up at daycare with no parent headed that direction.  After a few calls from the teacher, we got it figured out.  But, a lack of clarity is often driven by not listening.  Particularly detrimental if you were the one who asked the question to gain clarity (and when your kids end up stuck at daycare!).

So, the pursuit of clarity is my commitment for the week.  In the way that I communicate and in the way those around me commuicate with me.