Ep 42 - Strategy During Chaos: Adaptive Leadership For Unprecedented Times

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Welcome to Thinkydoer Shorts where we embrace anti perfection

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and dive straight into the messy middle of strategy, leadership,

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and personal and career growth.

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I'm your host, Sara Lobkovich, creator of No-BS Objectives and Key Results.

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Host of the Thinkydoers podcast and I'm a strategy coach, big time goal nerd and

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board certified health and wellness coach with a focus on work life wellbeing.

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In the next few minutes, we'll explore a current topic or insight to spark

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your curiosity and provide you a pragmatic starting place to take action.

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Let's dive in.

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Hello all and welcome to this lo-fi episode.

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I'm sitting on my sofa recovering from the flu, But I didn't wanna

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wait to share this episode with you.

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I've been having conversation after conversation with clients lately about how

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to exist strategically in an environment that is as uncertain and chaotic as

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the one that we're all operating in.

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It's kind of the topic of the day I have clients dramatically impacted by tariffs

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and the news shifting and changing there.

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I have clients dramatically affected by spending in public health and

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education and by federal funding decisions that are being made.

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So in normal cycles, I'm often having the question from clients, how do we create

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strategic plans or strategic goals or operate strategically when we're in an

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environment that is constantly changing?

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but I'm usually hearing that from startup founders and solopreneurs

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as an objection to working with OKRs, where now every single one of my clients

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is impacted by the uncertainty of the environment that we're operating in.

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So I wanted to take a minute today to give you a sneak peek of some of what

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I'm gonna be talking about in an upcoming workshop called Strategy During Chaos

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that I'll be hosting on May 7th at 9:00 AM Pacific, and then again at 4:00

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PM Pacific to make it a little more friendly for my global time zone friends.

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If you'd like to join me for that workshop, it's only $19, and if a

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scholarship would help or you need a fee waived, just let me know.

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This is one where I might even just enable the pay what you can option to make it

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more possible for anyone to participate,

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because trust me, there is no shame in $19 being a barrier

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to participation at this point.

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I get it.

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But just in case you can't join, I wanted to share some of the key

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points right now here in this episode

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because all signs point to this kind of chaotic and rapidly shifting

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operating environment is here to stay at least for the next few years.

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So instead of creating strategic plans that are resilient from

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occasional disruption, now we're focused on creating strategic

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plans and creating strategic goals

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that are resilient for even persistent uncertainty that we're all operating in

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There are twin traps that apply in conditions like this.

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The behavior that I see is that folks tend to either shift into over planning

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mode or kind of abandon the hope of operating strategically entirely.

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When the world is uncertain, one of our instincts as humans is

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to focus on what we can control.

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And what we can control is our plans.

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We can control our plans about what we think we need to do or what we aim to do.

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And so a common response in a situation like now

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is that we try to comfort ourselves and give ourselves some

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clarity by creating detailed.

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Action plans and then adapting them as circumstances change.

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There's nothing wrong with that.

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We do need to do a certain amount of planning so that we're sure we're

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putting our effort into intentional

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activities that are designed to yield the results we need.

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But if you find yourself feeling like you need to revise your plan,

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every time you turn on the news,

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you may be spending time planning that could better be spent on implementation.

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This is one of the big benefits of working with objectives and key results when

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we have OKRs created, they help us make decisions about what to do because we're

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clear about what we're aiming to achieve

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So we can stay focused on the outcomes we're aiming for or the

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progress measures that we're aiming for without being as attached to

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the activities that we have planned.

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OKRs let us focus on the goal and remain flexible about our plans so they can be

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a bit of an antidote to over-planning.

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At the other end of the spectrum, I see people just completely abandon

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all hope of operating strategically.

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Sometimes we wind up in just a daily firefight of what's urgent, what's

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on fire, what has to happen today.

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And I'm a small business owner myself.

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I get it.

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Some days are like that.

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But as a habit, even when the world is changing quickly around us,

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it's still beneficial to have some sort of

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point on the map that you're aiming for in your travels.

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So.

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It may become harder to forecast your likely achievement on your strategy,

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but we wanna maintain our strategic plans and keep them current even if

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our ability to forecast is inhibited by how chaotic the environment is

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because staying focused on our strategy during wild rides like this also lets

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us capitalize on opportunities that we might miss if we're only focusing

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on the day to day and what's urgent.

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So those two completely reasonable, understandable reactions to

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operating in an environment that is impossible to forecast,

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don't mean that you're doing anything wrong, it means you're human.

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I can't help but make a motorcycle analogy here.

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If you've read Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist, you'll know

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survival reactions don't always lead to success in motorcycling.

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Skilled motorcyclists learn to manage our survival responses because

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our body's natural survival responses sometimes lead to conditions like

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putting too much input into the bike and falling down if we manage our.

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Survival reactions, we can make moderated choices

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that might yield better outcomes, and keep us upright.

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So we're gonna talk about just a couple of the

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methods I use for strategic resilience and basically managing

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those survival instincts when it comes to strategy and maintaining

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momentum during uncertain times,

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There are three steps I'm gonna share with you today, and the first one is to

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reconnect with your strategic anchors.

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If you are working with a strategic plan, that's a six or 10 or 182 page

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document, that's not the version of the strategy that you're gonna

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keep front of mind right now.

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If you're a regular listener and reader of my work, you're familiar

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with the Connected Strategic Stack and Connected Strategic one-pager.

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Now is the time to look at that long-term strategic plan and pull out your

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three or four or five maybe max

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strategic anchors that are the most enduring, the most important, the

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things that you really have to maintain focus on, no matter how chaotic the

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environment is that you're operating in.

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So this is just a distillation process and this is the exercise that we're

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actually gonna do in the workshop on May 7th, to help you either extract your

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strategic anchors from your existing strategic documentation or create

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them if you don't have them today.

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Identifying a really small number of strategic anchors.

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gives you a way to quickly refocus on your foundational direction

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When chaos disrupts your well-made plans.

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Step two is one of my favorite questions, and this sounds really

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simple, and that is to ask yourself what matters most right now.

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If we've got our eye on our strategic anchors,

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The question of what matters most right now lets us make

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near term decisions in alignment

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with our big picture direction that we know, because we're familiar

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with our strategic anchors.

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So when I say what matters most right now, that doesn't mean what's most

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urgent right now, although you might need to factor that into account.

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If the house is on fire, it doesn't make sense to be

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redecorating the second bedroom,

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but that simple question of what matters most right now when keeping

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in mind your strategic anchors.

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lets you transform, scattered and overwhelming thinking into some

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simple reminders for yourself

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of what it means to make progress and succeed right where you are today.

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The answer to the question, what matters most right now lets you make better

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decisions about how you choose to spend your time and invest resources.

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And helps you put more of your energy into focused progress that's

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in alignment with your strategic anchors, even if you have limited

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time to spend on what's not urgent.

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And then step three is everybody's got a to-do list.

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We're not gonna talk about to-do lists.

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Here I'm talking about the to done list.

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So instead of focusing on that to-do list, that just always gets longer.

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Once you have your strategic anchors clear and you've externalized your

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thinking about what matters most right now, then you can ask yourself,

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what can I get done and launched?

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I don't know about you, but there are plenty of times in my business

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where I've started on a project or an initiative and I've been working

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on it, and then circumstances in the market change and that

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product or initiative becomes irrelevant.

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That's normal.

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There's nothing wrong with that.

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But in times like these, there's an even stronger case for building in public.

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If you can get something pulled together and released that is timely

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and aligned to the current operating conditions quickly,

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most of us are gonna yield more benefit from doing a low fidelity, what can I

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get done and launched kind of approach.

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Then overthinking and overworking work, that risks just becoming irrelevant

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as the operating conditions change.

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So now is the time for quick launches.

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Building in public, I'm always an advocate of.

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When we build in public, we reduce the amount of time that we're

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overthinking and over planning, which AKA means we're anxious.

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We shorten that cycle as much as we can, so we can get something

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into public, into market, and start getting actual information

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or data on its performance earlier.

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Which lets us use that data and information we receive to inform

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how we iterate instead of relying on our own overthinking to try to

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iterate our way to successfulness.

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Focusing on what you can get to done and launched, built in public,

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getting something done and into the phase where you're getting real world

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feedback or data is gonna accelerate your strategic learning progress no matter

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how uncertain the operating environment.

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And the rapid iteration that's possible with building in public actually

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can create a strategic advantage during rapid change because you can

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be more relevant and responsive to exactly what's happening around you.

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You can be more relevant and responsive to exactly what your

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customers or clients are experiencing.

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There are a couple other elements to operating strategically during

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chaos that I'd love to share, but I'm just gonna be honest.

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I'm truly losing my voice,

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so I'll save the pieces on decision filters and creating clarity

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for teams during uncertainty.

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and I'll just share one last thought before I go today.

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If we're operating strategically, then we inevitably have a weekly or

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biweekly planning cadence or strategic check-in OKR check-in cadence,

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and for whatever reason, when things get chaotic, it's easy

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for those to fall by the wayside.

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In favor of that focus on the firefight.

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Maintaining your rhythm of business, though is actually really important.

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So your fundamental operating rhythm,

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I know it's hard when it feels like everything's on fire,

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but keeping your.

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Routines of operation going

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and having those weekly or biweekly check-ins serve as a reset.

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They give us an opportunity to pull our heads out of the firefighting we're

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doing and what's urgent, and remind ourselves of those strategic anchors

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and what's really most important.

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It can be tempting for those rituals of connection and alignment to fall off

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the calendar when things get chaotic.

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And this is your reminder to not let that happen.

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All right.

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There is a quick little framework for you to think about on how to

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stay your course and keep your focus on strategic achievement,

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no matter how chaotic the environment you're operating in.

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Don't forget if you'd like to join me for an expanded version of this,

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including workshopping your strategic anchors, you'll find information

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on how to register on my website.

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The easiest shortcut to spell is findrc.co.

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That workshop is actually gonna be followed by my Q2 No-BS S

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trategic Achievement Intensive,

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which takes place on May 15th and 16th, and that's two half days where

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we come together and develop your

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resilient chaos proof strategic plan

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through a series of structured exercises and supported coworking time.

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That intensive, has proven to be so effective and useful for

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clients, and I love hosting it so much that It is actually the only

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live experience that I'm hosting regularly and quarterly these days.

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It's the fastest possible way to learn how to create No-BS

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objectives and key results.

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But you don't stop at just creating your goals.

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At the end of the two day experience, you'll generate a behavior change

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plan to help you actually achieve the goals that you create.

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You'll find information about the workshop and the No-BS Strategic

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Achievement Intensive @findrrc.co.

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Oh, and I'd be remiss to not mention the print launch of "You

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Are a Strategist: Use No-BS OKRs to Get Big Things Done" is on track.

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So pencil in May 6th, which, oh my gosh, that's right around the corner.

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Where my new book will be available in print in hard back and soft back,

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and as many outlets where you buy books as possible.

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The priority one for me is bookshop.org,

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since they support independent and local bookstores.

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And if you can't wait, the ebook is available right now

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wherever you listen to eBooks.

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All right, friends, that's it for today.

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Stay in the loop with everything going on around here by

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visiting findrc.co/newsletter and joining my mailing list.

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Have questions?

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My email address is too hard to spell, so just visit findrc.co/contact

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and shoot me a note that way.

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You'll also find me @saralobkovich on most of your favorite social media platforms.

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For today's show notes, visit findrc.co/thinkydoers.

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If there's a guest you'd like to see featured on this podcast, drop me a note.

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And if you know other Thinkydoers who'd benefit from this episode, please

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share your referrals, your word of mouth, and those five star reviews that

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keep coming in are much appreciated.

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I am looking forward to the questions.

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This episode sparks for you and I look forward to seeing you next time.