If aligning strategy, organization and talent will deliver lasting results, then it makes sense to get on with the job of figuring out how to best link them together, right? Finalize a well thought through strategy, design an organization that supports the realization of that strategy and fill out the structure with the very best people. Done. Finis. Run the credits. There’s only one problem.

Changing business conditions creep up unexpectedly just like new opportunities peek enticingly around the corner. It doesn’t matter if these changes make you sweat or swoon. When change occurs, even the tightest connections among strategy, organization and talent may bend or break. It becomes the role of leaders to take action to ensure effective recalibration.

When leaders see what has come undone and then act to create or sustain the linkages, Shockproof Leadership is in play. Only leaders can align strategy, organization and talent. Understandably, some leaders end up sitting on the sidelines, feeling overwhelmed by change and complexity, wishing someone else would put the linkages back in place. But most leaders recognize the special role they play in helping people navigate complexity and pull together toward shared goals and meaningful results.

Polish Your Lenses

The starting point for leaders to ensure tight connections between strategy, organization and talent is learning how to use the Shockproof Lenses. These lenses provide a kind of super-sensing capability that makes it possible to keep the critical connections among strategy, organization and talent in place. Think of your experience at the optometrist office. If your vision is fuzzy, the doctor will move a series of lenses in front of your eyes, one piling on top of another until just the right combination occurs and “bingo”, you can see clearly the letter E. The Shockproof Lenses work in much the same way.

Leaders have a keen understanding of the inter-workings of each lens. They know when to best use a particular lens to zoom in on an alignment issue and are bold about bringing some or all of the lenses together to get ahead of potential breeches in the linkages. The Shockproof Lenses allow the wearer to apply multiple perspectives and see slight, yet potentially derailing misalignments in the business. In essence these lenses serve as a kind of ”third eye” that points to places where strategy, organization and talent need tighter connection.

Ironically, though most leaders say they value this kind of consciousness, many leaders forget to wear the Shockproof Lenses, or reject them all together. They are too busy to look carefully, or feel too time pressed. In the interim they miss details and nuance that add insight and meaning to their lives. Yet many of these people believe they are missing nothing. Nothing important, that is. They hire advisors, go to conferences, speak the buzzwords and play the part of business fashion plates. To the untrained eye, they seem to do all the right things. Yet very often they fail because they are not truly attending to the things that really matter. Locked in the pattern of seeing what they want to see when they want – or have to – see it, they may pretend to see at first, only to be outed when they walk into a wall or trip over the dog.

The Extra Power of Shockproof Lenses

Shockproof Lenses are essential in the quest for real alignment. You simply can’t align if you can’t see. It is a little like trying to thread a needle while wearing a blindfold. It can be done in the dark, but you’ll do it with a lot less grief by making sure you can see.
 These Lenses – Systems, Value, Change, Interpersonal and Self-Awareness – enable Shockproof leaders to maintain the alignment between strategy, organization and talent.

You will gain a deeper appreciation for each of the Shockproof Lenses and how they are valuable to leaders who wish to improve strategy execution within their organizations in this blog series. Keep in mind that the Lenses are not meant to stand-alone. Imagine if you had the ability to see what was going on around you with the human equivalent of a photographer’s panoramic, zoom, and telephoto lenses. You would see better and see more, at the very least. In the same way professional photographers first see the shot they want to take and then use various lenses to take the perfect picture, leaders use the Shockproof Lenses to first discover a new insight and then leverage the insight to help align strategy, organization and talent.

The Systems Lens: Do You See What I See?

The “Systems” Lens provides leaders with a wide-angle, panoramic perspective that helps them to see the dynamic relationships and connections that exist among business units, functions, processes, technology and people inside the organization and with external stakeholders (i.e., suppliers, customers, communities and regulators) Leaders who are comfortable using the Systems Lens are not surprised by the layers of complexity that exist within their workplaces. The Systems Lens is important to leaders who want to create and maintain a shockproof organization. It helps them understand what is going on around them. There are fewer surprises when a change in one part of the business causes a ripple effect elsewhere. Rather than being overwhelmed by the dynamic relationships and connections among people and processes, the Shockproof leader who looks through the Systems Lens has a more complete view of the environment. By approaching problem solving with an enterprise-wide lens the leader remains curious as he or she gathers new data and gains new insight. This patience helps the leader sidestep the trap of believing that past practices and conventional ways of operating will always serve the business well in the future.

Three Focal Points of the Systems Lens

Looking through the Systems Lens, leaders:

Seek to understand the relationships that exist among people, processes and organizations.

• Value diverse opinions and fresh insight about how things are connected.
• Pay attention to how assumptions shape perceptions.

Look ahead and outside the business; consider not just “what is now” but also “what could be in the future.”

• Monitor industry trends and pending changes that will impact how the business operates.
• Expect future social, environmental, political/regulatory) shocks to the business and 
minimize their disruption by preparing accordingly.

Know how to zoom “in” as well as “out” to solve complex problems.

• Recognize that problems can sometimes be better understood by examining the parts, versus the whole.
• Balance the insight that accompanies zooming out with the clarity that accompanies zooming in.

This is an excerpt from Chapter VII
 of Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success (Deb Jacobs Hamby, Garrett Sheridan and Juan Pablo Gonzáles)

Learn about how the other four Leadership  Lenses can help you become the leader you seek, in future Chelsea C-Suite Solution blogs.