STRATEGY SESSIONS #19
 
BUSINESS STRATEGIES VERSUS PERSONAL STRATEGIES

by Dr. Steve Payne

 

This blog isn’t about business strategy.  Instead, I have been discussing strategic thinking and decision making for major career and life challenges.  There are at least a few important personal occasions when more serious strategic analysis, such as I’ve been recommending, could be valuable and worth your time and trouble.  Examples might be the choice of an educational path after high school graduation, an initial career choice or a later shift in occupation, and retirement concerns.  Obviously a major life choice would also be to start a new business or become some type of entrepreneur.

Those interested in starting a new business are usually counseled very early on that they need to prepare a business plan.   This document provides essential information to potential partners, investors, bankers, and others.  Developing this document forces the potential entrepreneur to cover a lot of ground and address issues that he/she might otherwise ignore or neglect.  The business plan communicates key aspects of the strategy that the entrepreneur will be pursuing.  Many internet sites are available to help individuals who do not much experience in writing business plans.  One source is the U.S. Small Business Administration.  Similar to other recommended approaches for writing a business plan, this site describes the major parts of the business plan as follows: 

An executive summary appears initially as a short overview of the business plan as a whole and the company goals.  This is followed by a section of the plan that covers what the company will actually do, how it differs from others, and the markets that will be served.  Next research is given on the industry, market, and competitors for this undertaking.  The remaining sections of the business plan address choice of an organizational and management structure and human resources, service or product line information on potential customers and how they will benefit from this line, sales and marketing strategy, funding needs and requests for the venture, and revenue and financial projections for the future.  An appendix provides information on licenses, leases, legal requirements, etc.  Business plans such recommended by the SBA and others might cover over thirty or more typed pages.

I’m introducing this overview of a business plan for an entrepreneurial pursuit for only one reason.  If those involved in entrepreneurial activities are expected to take the time and effort to develop and communicate such an involved plan, why should other important personal challenges and choices such as higher education, career, and retirement be handled almost casually and without any strategic analysis and planning?  Aren’t these decisions as important?

 

Although I’m not suggesting as detailed analysis and planning be spent for higher education, career, retirement and other personal challenges, I do believe that the fairly simple four-step process that I’ve recommended can be quite useful for many people.    Among questions to be answered in developing educational, career, or retirement strategies are production, marketing and financing concerns.  For example in the case of the third concern, what forms of costs and revenues might be expected in pursuing a particular strategy?   Internal and external analysis (steps 1 and 2) should provide information to answer these basic issues and help in mapping out actual strategies to pursue.

STRATEGY SESSIONS #18

ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND STRATEGY

by Dr. Steve Payne

 

Step 2 in the strategic planning process that I’ve been trying to explain involves gaining increased knowledge of external markets and opportunities.  A part of practically any organization or marketplace is its political nature and functioning.  Some organizations and markets are more heavily politicized than others.  It is important for effective strategists to understand the political nature of organizations and markets.

In using the term “organizational politics,” I mean how organizational members communicate or share useful information with each other.  Useful information or expertise is often a scarce resource and an important source of personal power for individuals in organizations and markets.  Heavily politicized organizations have communications networks through which certain people within these organizations gain valuable or “inside” information of which others aren’t even aware.  

In my early organizational experiences, it was interesting to observe how young people entering an organization were often fairly aware of or almost completely ignorant of the political culture of these organizations.  Some were very aware of the existence of office or organizational politics, and yet their “gamesmanship” tactics displayed misunderstanding and inappropriate responses to the political culture that actually existed.   Others claimed little or no interest in organizational politics, and they did not see within their own action or habits any political orientation.  However, their communication preferences in how and with whom they actually shared information made others form quite different impressions.

Textbooks on strategic planning and decision making in business seldom describe the importance of political networks within organizational cultures.   The strategic planning process that is described or recommended in these textbooks often ignores the presence and sometimes powerful force of political realities.

Step 2 in the recommended strategic decision-making process is an assessment of opportunities and threats that might exist within groups, organizations, and markets.   An assessment of an organization or market that does not include some appreciation of its political nature and functioning can be a very flawed assessment of its potential to meet personal values and goals.  I remember encountering a young woman about five years after her graduation who was waiting on tables at a local chain restaurant.  Knowing that she had a great undergraduate record and had obtained an impressive entry-level position at a very well-known corporation, we asked why she had left that company and her much higher salary there.  She told us that her personal values turned out to be a “poor fit” for the heavily politicized and stressful culture of the company.  She was working in her home town for a short while before reconsidering what she really was looking for in her career and next job.

Many organizations have been described as having toxic environments or cultures that can cause managers or employees to suffer long-term mental, emotional, and physical health problems.  Toxic work environments can be those that are actually abusive or merely those that demand a style or type of behavior that does not fit particular individuals.  Many employees cannot cope with a heavily politicized political culture in a work organization.  This may be due to a lack of certain interpersonal or political skills or just a preference for more open and straight-forward communication patterns.  Self-knowledge and early recognition of particular organizational characteristics can inform better strategic choices of organizational membership.

STRATEGY SESSIONS  #17

PERSONALITY AND STRATEGY

by Dr. Steve Payne

 

I’ve discussed the importance of step 1 in a strategic decision making process -- gaining greater self-knowledge.  This includes understanding our personal goals or objectives, as well as moral values, tastes, capabilities, and dispositions.  Dispositions or personality characteristics can differ greatly from person to person and really influence strategic choice and implementation of strategies chosen.  Below are some basic aspects of human personality that seem worth considering in gaining greater self-knowledge.

The term “locus of control” refers to assumptions that a person has concerning personal control of his or her fate or destiny.  Those with a strong “internal” locus of control believe that they have much personal control of their life consequences, while “externals” perceive that outside events, forces, and individuals largely control their personal fate.  Most individuals think that both internal and external forces shape their personal destinies; however, individuals often lean more toward one of these two extremes than the other.   Effective strategists usually believe that they can strongly shape their fates through their greater knowledge of influential external forces.

Humans have many needs and motivations, and individuals differ in the strength of particular needs.  Psychologist David McClelland identified three particular and important types of needs (achievement, affiliation and power) that can differ greatly among individuals.  Achievement or a sense of accomplishment is a powerful need and motivator for many, and individuals have many different career and life paths along which they can fulfill this particular type of need.  The need for affiliation or social belonging/identity is also very important for many, and this need can be fulfilled in many different employment and life contexts.  A need to have and use power obviously motivates many as well.  Other or related needs that can vary greatly among individuals include desire for fortune, fame, and helping others (altruism).

Other personality dimensions that have been identified and might be investigated in a quest for greater self-knowledge include the following tendencies:

* extraversion vs. introversion (Do you enjoy and seek social occasions and encounters or do you prefer being more of a loner?)

* conscientiousness (Are you more of a procrastinator or fairly zealous in following up on commitments and responsibilities?)

* openness to experience (Do you often seek new challenges or prefer routines or previous experiences?)   

* judgmental orientation (Do you quickly or commonly make judgments about people even without knowing that much about them or are you slow in making such judgments without a lot of evidence?)

Among personal characteristics is intelligence.  Traditional measures of intelligence focused on forms of cognitive ability.  More recently emotional intelligence has been identified and studied.  There are many types of skills, whether cognitively or emotionally based, that can be helpful or critical for certain occupations.

There are other personal dispositions or characteristics that I might easily mention, but perhaps I have provided enough examples for my purposes.  I’m not suggesting that people need to take an expensive battery or series of personality tests/inventories.  Most of us already have some self-knowledge of ourselves, but personality dimensions such as those covered here might be roughly evaluated.  We might use this list and a page or two of notes to describe ourselves.  Then we might ask three or four friends who would be open and very honest with us to verify our self-perceptions.  We might ask them, independently or without revealing our own self-perceptions, to describe how each of them views our personality and personal characteristics.