A few years ago, I found myself working with a foodservice executive named Jeff. When we met, he was completely overwhelmed by his job and felt that he was unable to deliver on priorities. He spent way too much time in meetings, playing catch-up with his constantly overflowing inbox, and putting out fires—all symptomatic of struggling with strategic value .
To make matters worse, the people who reported to him felt like he was rarely available when they needed him. Unsurprisingly, he was discouraged and exhausted—and it showed in his lackluster work.
In his most recent performance appraisal, his supervisor noted, “Jeff needs to learn to be more strategic about the way he spends his time, and make better choices about the things he chooses to participate in.”
As Jeff and I discussed this, he nodded slowly in acknowledgment. “It’s not that I disagree with what my boss is saying,” he said. “I just have no idea what he means, or what I’m supposed to do.”
In other words, Jeff had no sense of his strategic value . He knew what he was good at but not how his efforts contributed toward the company’s most important goals. (This is a good place to note that “what I’m good at” is not the same as “my strategic value proposition,” though they may overlap.)
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To help Jeff figure where these two things diverged (and potentially, converged), I began by asking him a series of probing questions.
Creating Strategic Value : Asking Questions
First, I asked him to tell me a story that illustrated when he felt he was at his best: a day or an experience where he knew he’d made an important difference to the company. Jeff lit up at the question.
He told me about how he and his team had turned around a struggling customer relationship by resolving a tricky problem that no one else in the company had been able to work out. He said he felt proud of himself and his team and remembered thinking that he wished he had more days like that one.
I was heartened by his response. He was obviously energized by strong customer engagement . It was also clear that when he was passionate about a task or confident in his ability to deliver on a commitment, he could rise to the occasion. But his current role offered few opportunities to harness this passion.
My next question was about how he used his time. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the vast majority of it was being spent on necessary activities and even nonessential activities . Work that is “necessary” is anything that contributes to efficient company operations but doesn’t have to be performed at a level that would differentiate it from a competitor.
Hardware and software are good examples of things that are necessary; most established businesses don’t need the world’s best IT infrastructure, just a reliable system that ensures everyone can communicate easily and securely. Nonessential work is just as its name implies—nonessential to company operations.
Compare this kind of work to competitive activities and competition-enabling activities . Competitive work directly contributes to your company’s differentiators and capabilities, while competition-enabling work directly supports your company’s differentiators and capabilities.
Quote
“Strategy is figuring out what not to do.”
– Steve Jobs
When I asked Jeff what he thought prevented him from spending more time on the vital competitive and competitive-enabling activities we identified in his job, his response was, “Well, to be honest, there are a few of them that I’m just not that good at.”
Jeff had been avoiding the most important activities in his job and gravitating to the activities he felt he was really good at even though they didn’t add that much value. Though he meant to be helpful, he was ultimately being nonstrategic. He was operating on a short-term basis.
It’s human nature to want to spend our time on activities we know we’re good at. The problem was that Jeff had people on his team who were hired to do the activities he was doing. They felt frustrated and micromanaged. And the strategic activities that only Jeff could do weren’t getting done by anyone.
To help get Jeff back on track, I helped him to create a plan to build his skills in the areas he felt deficient. We analyzed his calendar, shifting his available time toward competitive and competition-enabling activities and away from the work others should have been doing.
After three months Jeff was already seeing a difference, and so was his boss. Slowly but surely, Jeff had untangled his strategic value . As a result, he was spending far less time dealing with urgent but unimportant tasks, focusing instead on efforts that a) directly contributed toward his company’s long term strategic goals and b) truly required his unique skill set.
The professional and personal benefits of this new approach were not insignificant. “I can’t believe how much more satisfied I am when I go home at the end of the day,” he told me.
Anyone can benefit from understanding the philosophy of strategic value creation . Whether you’re part of a small business or a large organization, offer products or services , or work at an office or remotely, being (properly) strategic is essential to success.
On that note, if you’re interested in assessing your own strategic value but not sure where to start, the two exercises below can be a very productive first step.
Strategic Value Exercise 1
Which of my competitive and/or competition-enabling activities are most critical to supporting my company’s strategic differentiation and capability?
For each activity you list in the table below, rate yourself in the Rating column on a 1-5 scale, 5 being extremely skilled, and 1 being insufficiently skilled. Then, in the Time column, indicate with a + sign if you are spending sufficient time on it, and a – if you aren’t.
Given the analysis above, which activities do you need to spend less time on in order to devote more time to higher-value activities? Which skills do you need to develop to make your best contribution to those higher-value activities and set the table for future success ? Limit yourself to one or two commitments to ensure you don’t get overwhelmed.
Strategic Value Exercise 2
In this next activity, we’ll identify and evaluate the health of your most important stakeholders. If your strategic relationships aren’t up to snuff, you’ll find it that much harder to fully realize your strategic value.
What are the five most important relationships (within or outside your team/department) that you rely on to deliver your strategic value? For each relationship, rate the current state of the relationship on a 1-5 scale, with 5 meaning the relationship is strong, trusting, and mutually beneficial and 1 meaning it’s under-established or there’s insufficient trust or connection.
What are the five most important relationships (within or outside your team) who rely on you to deliver their strategic value? Use the same ratings for each as you did above.
Which relationships need to be strengthened? What will you do to improve them?
Spend as much time as you need to complete these exercises. Being honest about how you perform in your role, the skills you bring to the role, and where you are spending your time (for better or for worse) will help you focus on the most competitive aspects of your job.
As you continue to uncover important insights about your work and your strategic value, your sense of your rightful place in your organization will only improve , leading to greater job satisfaction—one long-term strategy everyone can agree on.
Are You Creating Strategic Value or Are You Just Spinning Your Wheels?
Defining your role and the power of your strategic value within your enterprise can be a challenge. What is your energy best spent? How does your team benefit? Are you doing your job to the best of your ability?
Find out how to better develop and define your strategic value with the help of executive and leadership coaches at Navalent. Contact us today.