S12E07: Making time for strategy: Practical implementation strategies

An episode of The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast

S12E07: Making time for strategy: Practical implementation strategies

Today we wrap up this season, where we've been discussing Richard's new book, Making Time For Strategy. We review the big lessons every leader needs to take away and look at how to turn the ideas from the book into meaningful and sustainable change.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

  • Davina and Richard's reflections on the main messages we've covered
  • How to get a quick understanding of the #1 area you should focus on first
  • Three practical next steps to implement the book's ideas yourself, in your team, or across your business

"It's time to make some bold moves to free yourself up."

Click to Tweet

Resources/sources mentioned:

Watch

More of a video person? No problem.

You can watch this episode and discover more videos on strategy, leadership and purpose over on the Xquadrant YouTube channel.

Transcript

Davina Stanley
Welcome back. Davina Stanley here today with Richard Medcalf to talk for the last time in this series about Richard's new book, Making Time for Strategy and today, we wanted to tie some things together for you all and I think this is going to be fun. Hi Richard.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah, yeah, this is gonna be good. We get to kind of step back and think about what are some of the key themes and trends that are behind the book, and that he doesn't need to think about?

Davina Stanley
Absolutely, absolutely and so we've talked about this idea of tactics, influence, mindset, and environment, and your books got so much more to it than that but that being the acronym for time and your number one thing that you've talked about for a long time is this notion of the Infinity trap, and being hugely busy, is that the Genesis and the key thing that you want to fix to help people here is at the heart of all the problems. Tell us a bit about you?

Richard Medcalf
Yeah, I think the affinity trap is what I realized was happening to leaders. Every time I spoke with a consulting client coaching client, it was like, Richard, I need to elevate my focus if I'm going to multiply my impact. I'm stuck in the weeds and I realized that it was because of this infinity trap that we have stuff coming in all the time, in a way that never existed before. We haven't learned to deal with this. As I said, you know, you've got social media, you've got your, you've got your eCommerce accounts, you've got your you've got your streaming services, you're all these things, email messaging, there's no end to it and it keeps people stuck in tunnel vision and incrementalism and so if you want to break through, we need, we need to make time for strategy, we need to think about how do I get out of the office hamster wheel, which feels good, and I feel I'm adding value, but actually do those things which are a bit uncomfortable, but they're going to catapult me to a new place.

Davina Stanley
Absolutely, absolutely and one of the things that, that I loved that, when we spoke some time ago about some of the messages in the book before I read the draft, and you've emphasized this in the book is to focus on something you want to do rather than focusing on the things that you want to stop doing. It's a little bit like a child learning to ride a bike in coming up near a tree and thinking, Oh, my goodness, I mustn't hit the tree, it hasn't hit the tree. If we keep focusing on the things that we want to stop doing, and try or to reduce the amount of time we've been doing, then all we're going to do is think about them, we're not going to think about the things that actually, we want to do and we really want to, you know, add value on the left from your book, actually, Richard on in that regard just to show, it's a simple thing but you mentioned that you said spend the very beginning of your day whenever possible, on the thing that you really want to focus on and you know, Monday today in my timezone, that's exactly what I did, I spent the first hour and a half my day to day focused on my number one project and I have to say, it felt so so good.

Richard Medcalf
Does it get your day off to a great start? I think your point around focusing on yes, focus on these high value activities, gives it that emotional motional push that emotional job actually makes everything else easier but the challenge for leaders that I have is, what are you actually committed to? So I like to say mostly does it over obligated, under committed or obligated under committed? And so my point is, are you really committed to this next level behavior that you talk about? Are you really committed to getting our team to the next level? Are you really committed to building this new capability in your business? Are you really committed in creating time to think and strategize? Or are you actually committed to the way it's currently happening? Not dropping the ball on on these lower level tasks on so forth, not to say that you have dropped the ball but there's always going to be a bit of risk when you move and you start to delegate when you re re reinvent your success formula. What is it that you committed to? Is it performance in its near term? Or is it growth and impact? Which requires some investment?

Davina Stanley
Yes, yes. No, I like that individuals spreading themselves far too thin, or too often unpaid and feeling like they have to do everything rather than saying actually commit to and what am I actually actually going to get done? No, I like that. I like that and you talk sometimes about a net somehow feels maybe like a boat in a way but tiny improvements of moves, you talk about making some fairly foundational, but small shifts that are achievable and doable, that make a really big difference. If you'd like that ship that you turn by a degree and it goes a long distance, it makes a very big difference to the destination.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah, yeah, it's there's two things which are important to keep in mind. On the one hand, I want you to think boldly about your use of time, not just say, I've got one meeting, I can perhaps cancel by the two, significantly shift your focus your attention, the way that you delegate the way that you empower, what are the questions that you're considering and you need to also implement that often through tiny steps. Now, when we dealt with the CrashPlan, in the previous episode, they already said, like, let's see how bored we can go like in a short space of time to really clear the decks, because that's like a one off set of discussions that you can do but then when it comes to building the new habits, often incremental is best small, small, small improvements can lead to the big outcomes but I think where you do need to be bold is that sense of where am I trying to get to, and get really, really clear about that and also be clear about where's the resistance going to come from? This is a journey into discomfort. If you're not being given uncomfortable, then it's not going to happen. Right? We're in our comfort zone, that is the default inertia is the enemy and if we want to change, we're going to have to feel something that's just a little bit uncomfortable. Not quite sure. Is this going to work? And that's the edge and that's where the magic lies.

Davina Stanley
Yes, yes and that that feeling of discomfort? It's, it's uncomfortable, isn't it? And definitely something that we like to avoid discomfort with primed for it, aren't we? Yeah. Okay. So lots of fabulous things in this book, I can't recommend it highly enough having having read it, before you dive into some sort of next steps for people so they can learn a little bit more about how they can get a sense of where they're up to in this space and other things. Is there one more big takeaway that you'd like for people?

Richard Medcalf
Well, I guess one of them one big takeaway, I'd probably just try to summarize perhaps a couple of those key. The key distinctions that led me to write the book, and we talked a bit about some of these, but strategic time, it's so important, it's the number one thing that's going to determine your future because most people, they don't have time to think enough and so they keep doing the same thing and they get incrementalism, what I'm focused on here is it's not just about how to be a bit more productive. For me, the goal is that step change in multiplying or impact. So to do that, we've just talked about that there is an inner game thing here, right? There's a, it's about leaning into your, into your growth area, that thing which is not coming naturally to you, otherwise, you'd be doing it and so there's a whole range of things we could talk about there but courage is at the heart, right? Courage and contribution, instead of kind of fear, and all the people pleasing and worried about what people will think and when we get to fail. I think actually, when we get courageous and we get committed to biggest impact, then this stuff really starts to fly and it relates to us, and it also relates to the people around us. So this is a leadership challenge, right? When I first thought about the work, I was like, you know, it's making time for strategy, is it a bit to kind of get to tactical in the weeds but then as I realized this is not just a tactical issue, as we've been talking about, it's a deep Leadership Challenge talks about influence and it goes deep. It talks about the risks that we feel we are making or not the confidence though missing and it's not a check the box exercise and it has potential to impact how we lead results that we create, but also in the whole business and wouldn't be amazing if your teams you know, the leaders perhaps the you manage, they have the same approach to They're not just focused on the on on what's right in front of them, and on the day to day, but they're thinking about the same, how do I uplevel my team? Where do we need to cut back to reinvest in the next thing? And if you can create that loop for yourself and for your teams, and everything changes, and that's really, I think, wow, read the book.

Davina Stanley
No, fantastic and that idea of multiplying it further down from yourself to your team, and the team of teams as well, I think is where that multiplication can come from. No, that's absolutely fantastic. So on you're makingtimeforstrategy.com website, you've got a diagnostic to help people work out where they're up to. You've got a few other things there that you wanted to tell people about, what do you want to do? What do you want to share there?

Richard Medcalf
Well, yeah, so the first thing is, obviously, if you want to go deeper into this topic, then do it the book, it's pretty easy read lots of short chapters so that you can dive in when you're busy and if you're going to make an instructor makingtimeforstrategy.com, there is an assessment there a diagnostic tool, it will give you your scorecard from one to 100 of just going to where whereabouts are you on this journey and it will show you against those four areas, tactics, influence, mindset, environment. I'll give you your kind of detailed scores as well as the recommendation, well, where might you want to start? Perhaps it's actually mindset where you need to start or perhaps influence and you'll get that sense from doing it's just 20 questions or so it takes you just a few just a minute and I'll give you a bit of a roadmap for you personally. So that's the first thing I'd say, head over to makingtimeforstrategy.com and do that, and then read the book and then the question comes, okay, well, how do I actually implement this in myself and my team in my organization, and we know that we've all read lots of books, and we don't always get the full benefit of the book. Right? The information is one thing, the insights are one thing, but then the discipline to implement it in a busy life is another. So. So we've come up with three, three ways in which we can help individuals, teams and organizations and the first one is, is speaking, right. So it's either myself or some colleagues can deliver. They're making time for strategy keynote. So we can actually inspire the people around you in your team in your organization, to get out the weeds, and give them some practical tools to quickly make a difference. So this is really feeding your whole organization with some of the key language, we've talked about how language shapes culture and so just by getting the discussion going, I suppose somebody who's really must the topic, and then can see that into organization can be really powerful. So you've got a leadership event, a company, away day, or seminar, or even do lunch and learn then that spending an hour or so delivering the main messages could be a great way to start the conversation. So that's the first thing that keynotes. The second is the implementation program. This is something we're launching to actually and we've done this in various iterations in the past and then we've kind of updated the program based on the book and the extra insights that we developed in writing and researching the book and the goal there is to help you or people in your team free up that time five to 10 hours a week, you can decide what your level is. That's it set a goal, a concrete goal, and say I want to free that time up for strategic thinking and those projects that are going to lead to breakthrough results. I'm actually going to guarantee that you can deliver that, right because we know the process. We know what needs to work on inside of you. We know what you need to work on. Practically within an organization and if you follow that process, you're going to make this happen and so actually taking the books insights and structuring them into more They have a step by step process is really what that program is all about. So that's the second one, the implementation program and the third one is really designed for leadership teams, we call it the leadership team series. It's a set of 14 workshops, that actually helps your team have the important conversations needed to work and operate more strategically as a whole because at the end of the day, no organization can be healthier, or more strategic than its number one team and so if you're not working with your leadership team, collectively and individually, individually, in that strategic way, if you're not aligned around priorities, if you're not helping each other, free each other up from that lower level stuff, then it's really hard for organization to move forward.nd so we do an introductory workshop around the power of big time, you can even do that as a one off, just get the whole team really thinking about, is this important? How strategically are we currently operating? What will be different if we were to ask them to make some changes, learn about the methodology, get some quick wins, that's the first workshop and then what we do is we go into three other workshops. The first one is around helping the team align. So what are those strategic opportunities? What's stopping us? Right getting and getting clear? What do you want to free up time for? What are we not getting to as a team? And what is actually the deeper issue that's stopping us? Then we focus on the next workshop around how are we actually going to do this? So making the hard choices? What are we still going to say no to? How do we need to change and how we operate, build that implementation plan within the team? And the third workshop, or whether the fourth if you'd like in the whole series, is how do we actually then create the culture of focus? So its own as a team? How do we make it hard for a wider organization to think strategically? Or work on a breakthrough projects? How are we contributing to the noise of the distraction and the lack of focus, and help the team come up with some simple, effective ways to create a more aligned and focused culture within the organization. So really, what we're trying to do with these three areas is create something which works with the whole organization in the keynote, a deeper dive individuals and implementation program, and a deeper dive for leadership teams through the workshop series. So you don't have to do that you can read the book, get ahead and get your learnings from that and go for it but we just realized that often we read a book with me so busy, we know there's gold in there that we're not mining and so do you either try to do it yourself, fall off the wagon, perhaps get distracted? No, there's good ideas you should do, but you didn't do them? Or do you want to like highlight private trainer and get fit, right? Do you want to have have the infrastructure around you to make success inevitable? So that's really what we've tried to create with those, those three options.

Davina Stanley
Fantastic. That transition from knowing to doing is huge, isn't it? And it's often not terribly difficult to do the doing. It's just it, you know, reading an enjoyable book, we get so caught away with all of the ideas, don't we, that we forget to implement? So I think that's that's a fabulous suite of tools for everybody. So I think that's fantastic. I'm really excited to see how this goes for people and if people want more, it's makingtimeforstrategy.com. I can't recommend it highly enough. Yeah, go, go.

Richard Medcalf
Sorry for interrupting you. Yeah. So there's two links, right says makingtimeforstrategy.com and that's probably the best place to go. That you discover things. You can also go to the xquadrant.com website, you can go to services and then there's making time for strategy there and you'll see the keynote and the implementation, all those things there. I'll put it in the show notes as well but it shouldn't be too hard to find but I think if not read the book, I'd encourage you to read it. I mean, I've done this really the way of in a way of giving back, right? I've actually taking all the work that I've done with very high level leaders on this topic, and distilling it into something which is very affordable and getting into the hands of as many people as possible because I believe in this stuff. I believe we can change individuals destinies, fundamentally when we when we shift our mindset.

Davina Stanley
Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. No. Like I said, I can't recommend it highly enough and I think you've been very, very generous with the the stories and the ideas that you've put into it. So fantastic. That seems like a really great place to leave it. So great to be talking to you again about this, Richard and I hope everyone's found it really useful.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah, many thanks, Dav. I look forward to speaking to you on some future season of the podcast. We'll see what that's going to be.

Davina Stanley
Absolutely. Me too. Take care.

Richard Medcalf
Bye now.

**Note: This transcript is automatically generated.
Please excuse any errors.

Beyond the podcast...

Once you've subscribed to the podcast, why not go deeper and subscribe to the Xquadrant Insider?

This is our complementary email newsletter that focuses on multiplying value and impact at the intersection of leadership, strategy and purpose.  Originally designed for our private clients, we've made this available to a wider audience of high-achieving and purpose-driven leaders.


More from The Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast...

S13E37: “Impact investing is broken”, with Brett Simmons (CEO, Scale Link)

S13E37: “Impact investing is broken”, with Brett Simmons (CEO, Scale Link)

S13E36: Is your work interesting, or impactful? with Chintan Panchal (Founding Partner, RPCK Rastegar Panchal)

S13E36: Is your work interesting, or impactful? with Chintan Panchal (Founding Partner, RPCK Rastegar Panchal)

S13E35: How to harness purpose to restructure and grow businesses, with Andy Morris (CEO, Cirencester Friendly Society)

S13E35: How to harness purpose to restructure and grow businesses, with Andy Morris (CEO, Cirencester Friendly Society)

S13E34: How to use ‘story doing’ to create systemic change, with Marci Zaroff (CEO, ECOfashion Corp)

S13E34: How to use ‘story doing’ to create systemic change, with Marci Zaroff (CEO, ECOfashion Corp)

S13E33: Building an ‘impact’ brand (and culture), with Brad Flowers (CEO, Bullhorn Creative)

S13E33: Building an ‘impact’ brand (and culture), with Brad Flowers (CEO, Bullhorn Creative)

S13E32: Taking Silicon Valley thinking to healthcare, Anjali Kataria (CEO, Mytonomy)

S13E32: Taking Silicon Valley thinking to healthcare, Anjali Kataria (CEO, Mytonomy)
{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
>