“Oh forever’s a long time, but far from enough time, to spend with you” – Oh Gravity
In week 4 of the song and strategy series we are going to conflict with a song lyric. I know- a twist- you never know what you are going to get over here at OakLake Consulting.
I think it is a fair guess to say we have all sat in a room debating over a word or sentence in a communication or strategy. Words are important, but wordsmithing for hours does not bring the same business benefit as putting the energy toward deploying that same strategy.
While “forever” is an ideal and romantic amount of time to spend with your partner, it is quite the opposite when developing a future state.
Spending too little time can leave areas unclear and make it hard for employees to make decisions without management in the room.
Perhaps the bigger crime, though, is spending too much time on non-value-add activity like determining word placement and making it “pretty.”
My rule of thumb is 80%. Does it look polished? Are all the key elements in your future state? Then it is time to move to the next step.
This can be tricky and takes practice. This is also where it is helpful to have a facilitator in the room that understands this space so that you can focus on the business needs for the future state.
Please enjoy this week’s song which I frantically asked my husband to Shizam while watching Hallmark a year or so ago because I loved it so much. (The things we do for our forever:))