Blog consistency is one thing I've not yet nailed.
The past month has been a blur of home and property projects with hard deadlines, the kids having two colds and an ear infection, my husband and I having a cold, my husband being randomly in hospital for a couple of days (he's ok now!), and through it all I've been running a Strategic Thinker Development Programme with an awesome bunch of developing strategic thinkers!
Don't you love it when deadlines double-up and home and work demands collide?? I've had to take this week for catch up, admin and recovery. In the middle of it all a few small but exciting and encouraging things have happened...
I've had so much joy doing the coaching sessions this week for the programme. It's my favourite part where I get to meet with the participants one-on-one for the first time since they've been through the majority of the content. Hearing their progress and aha moments in more detail, and seeing the light in their eyes and enthusiasm about their own growth, is just so special.
I've had some space open up this month which I've decided to use to invest in some business development. Some of it boring (to me) admin stuff, but things that will make life easier. And some more exciting things - planning ahead, which I love doing, and venturing into the world of my own marketing strategy. Scary, but exciting!
Finally, I got a wonderful testimonial from one of the participants on the programme I ran earlier in the year, check it out...
Testimonial
"The Strategic Thinker Development Programme was hugely valuable for me as it provided a clear process of how to form a strategy and also provided tools to reflect and think about complex problems differently. It is a practical programme that really helped me articulate strategic challenges, make decisions about how to respond, and design quality action plans to achieve the strategic goals. I highly recommend this programme to any aspiring Senior Leader or General Manager to get relevant, fact-based feedback on your strategic thinking ability, and to enhance your strategic thinking skills."​
As a result of my lack of consistency, this blog series on the 6 Capabilities is taking a little while! However, onwards and upwards so here goes the third one below.
If you missed the first two and the intro story of the 6 Capabilities, you can find them here.
Swimming amidst a little chaos
One of the ways I describe chaos in my programmes is 'the water we swim in'. In strategic spaces, chaos is the norm. If you're waiting for stability, you could be waiting a long time. Or you'll get there and think you've arrived, only to find the rug you were just starting to settle into is once again sliding slowly away, or maybe it is hastily whisked right out from underneath you.
Chaos is the constant change, uncertainty and unpredictability that we live and breathe as strategic thinkers. It creates the need for risk-taking, courageous decision-making (more on that in a future blog) and a continual, fluid and flexible thinking process that never stands still. Chaos also shines a spotlight on our own resilience, reserves and internal stabilisers. That's because it can elicit fear, which can sometimes be paralysing. Did you know that the human brain responds in the same way to uncertainty as it does to a known survival threat?
Chaos was one of the first capabilities to feature in my 6 C's model, and one of my early leadership and strategic thinking lessons. There is huge opportunity for empowerment in this area by simply being aware of and accepting the place that Chaos has in our present and future landscape.
Of course, the next step after that is considering our own relationship with Chaos, and how that might change. Deep breath - that's the hard bit, but it's by no means impossible with some courageous reflection and support.
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