strategic thinking skills: seeing tomorrow... today

Designed and Presented by Dr. Cal LeMon, Executive Enrichment, Inc.

SHRM of Greater Kansas City

You have just been talking to a foreign exchange student about some of the games you played as a child. This person has only been in the United States for three weeks.

The two of you have been sharing the unique differences between your cultures when it comes to playing games. In passing, you mention one of your favorite back-of-the-school-bus pastimes: Rock, Paper, Scissors. The foreign exchange student is having trouble understanding both the process and principle of this bit of childhood trivia.

After some prodding, you agree to instruct this student in the fine art of Rock, Paper, Scissors. What would be the first step to instructing this person who knows nothing about Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Your HR Strategic Challenge

Business and other human endeavors are also systems. They, too, are bound

by invisible fabrics of interrelated actions, which often take years to fully

play out their effects on eachother. Since we are part of that lacework

our-selves, it’s doubly hard to see the whole pattern of change. Instead, we

tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts of the system, and wonder why our

deepest problems neverseem to get solved. -- The Fifth Discipline

Problem First System You Would Use

1. Your car will not start.

2. You are coming down with a cold.

3. You are taking a hot shower and the water turns ice cold.

New procedure or product introduced

Increasedinternal or externaladvertising--a lotof workplaceexcitement

Increasedrevenues

Increase # of staff

New competition

“Make your numbers”-- less time for “people”

More management/less leadership

Push harder

1. We keep repeating the same unsuccessfulsystems…because they offer us “safety.”

2. Smart-risk-taking is the leadership skill most promoted and the least rewarded.

3. Exhaustion is a wonderful excuse for remaining disengaged.

4. Money gets the qualified staff in the door but it does not keep them there.

5. “Personal mastery” is possible for everyone.

Personal mastery is the (1) disciplineof continually clarifying and

deepening our personal vision,of (2) focusing our energies, of

(3) developing patience, and of (4)seeingreality objectively. As such, it

is an essential cornerstone of thelearning organization -- the

learning organization’sspiritual foundation.

The Fifth Discipline

Your HR “Affect” Realities

We do not repeat

behavior unless it is rewarded.

How is “high turnover” rewarded in our organizations?

How do we rewardantagonistic

relationships between labor and

management?

People do not leave a

company, they leave a

manager.

-- First, Break All The Rules

Our analysis suggests that how people feel about

working at the company can

account for 20-30 percent of business

performance.

-- Primal Leadership

Percentage of workers

in America who believe their

managers act with honesty and

integrity, according to a survey

conducted for Age Wave and the

Concours Group:

36%

Percentage who believe that

management cares about advancing employee skills:

29%

Your “New

Normal” HR World

Throughout the world there is a

sense of momentous change taking

place -- change so vast in scale that we are barely able to

fathom its ultimate impact. Life as we know it is being

altered in fundamental ways. -- The End Of Work

Throughout the world there is a

sense of momentous change taking

place -- change so vast in scale that we are barely able to

fathom its ultimate impact. Life as we know it is being

altered in fundamental ways. -- The End Of Work

More than 800 More than 800 million human million human

beings are beings are now now

unemployed unemployed or or

underemployeunderemployed in the world.d in the world.

More than 800 More than 800 million human million human

beings are beings are now now

unemployed unemployed or or

underemployeunderemployed in the world.d in the world.

Today, less than 17%Today, less than 17%of the workforce isof the workforce is

engaged in blue collarengaged in blue collarwork.work.

Today, less than 17%Today, less than 17%of the workforce isof the workforce is

engaged in blue collarengaged in blue collarwork.work.

“Machines are the newproletariat…The working

class is being given itswalking papers.”

-- Jacque Attali

“Machines are the newproletariat…The working

class is being given itswalking papers.”

-- Jacque Attali

“EconomicDarwinism”“EconomicDarwinism”

Your HR Strategic

Mind

““Nothing is more Nothing is more dangerous than an dangerous than an idea when it’s the idea when it’s the

only one you have.”only one you have.”

--Emile Chartier--Emile Chartier

Deconstruct (take apart) your

organization and then put it back together so only the parts that add profitability and build a sense of spirituality

survive.

Deconstruction begins with a

willingness to let go of the familiar

Deconstruction begins with a

willingness to let go of the familiar

When providers and users of When providers and users of information can deal with each information can deal with each other directly, intermediaries other directly, intermediaries

often become obsolete.often become obsolete.

When providers and users of When providers and users of information can deal with each information can deal with each other directly, intermediaries other directly, intermediaries

often become obsolete.often become obsolete.

When everyone can communicate richly with everyone else, the narrow, hardwired communications channels that used to tie

people together simply become

unnecessary.

When everyone can communicate richly with everyone else, the narrow, hardwired communications channels that used to tie

people together simply become

unnecessary.

So the greatest threat to newspapers

is not the introduction of a new medium, but the slow erosion of advertising

dollars.

Eighty-seven Percent of all reservations for

Southwest Airlines are made by passengers on

line.

Your New HR

Workplace

How the Mighty Fall by

Jim Collins

How the Mighty Fall by

Jim Collins

Hubris Born of Success

Undisciplined Pursuit of More

Denial of Risk and Peril

Grasping for Salvation

Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

Leading Your HR Strategic

Plan

Systematic Structure

Patterns Of Behavior

Events

Systematic Structure

Patterns Of Behavior

Events(Reactive)(Reactive)

(Responsive)(Responsive)

(Generative)(Generative)

The systems in your

organization that continually

produce predictable problems

The learned behavior and

attitudes of staff who have been taught there is

safety in mediocrity

Organizational atrophy

and apathy

STAGE ONE1. Is my management staff comfortable with our present rate of growth?

2. What was the last “big hairy audacious goal” we set for our dealership group? Did we meet that goal?

3. Is my leadership team ready to “play” with new ideas for our future?

STAGE TWO

1. “Our organization is known for our ________________________________.”

2. “Ten years from now I would like to use this word _______________ to describe our organization.”

3. “We could grow this organization beyond our present expectations if ______________ would change.”

In the box below write a number that best

represents the percentage increase you want to see in your net profit 10 years

from today.

STAGE THREE

List below the “systems” in your organization that

will have to be changed or

eliminated in the next two years to achieve the net

profit goal you have set in Stage Three.

STAGE FOUR

LeMonAide for Your Leadership

The future is unforgiving for those who choose to ignore it.

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Continuing Education Programs Provided on CD

To order a copy of any CD, go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the SHOP

OUR STORE option.

Skills to Say What You Want to Say

Skills for Increasing Sales

Skills to Verbally Defend Myself

Skills to Find My Next Big Idea

Continuing Education Programs Provided on CD

To order a copy of any CD, go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the SHOP

OUR STORE option.

Skills for Fighting Fair

Skills to Motivate the Stuck, Entitled Employee

Skills for Prioritizing My Chaos

Skills to Work With a Whiner