Big Audacious Thing

T. Benvenuto

At Unconstrained, we understand business is hard. We often compare it to a quest where you accept that the journey won’t be a piece of cake, you have at least a loosely defined destination and you expect to see beautiful views and perhaps encounter some challenges like poison ivy, bad weather, or wildlife. 

Stop the Stuff that Makes It Hard 

To help make business a little easier, we have been focusing a lot on traditional business practices that need to stop: 

• Wasting your attention on activities that don’t intentionally increase the flow of value here. 

• Getting distracted by incentives and big ideas from the government here and here. 

• Using traditional incentive pay to engage employees here. 

• Using the short-term effects of manipulation to get what you need here. 

• Reinforcing silo structures and mentality here. 

Now… we’ve got to stop sweating the small stuff. 

Consider a journey through a big, beautiful, lush forest. It’s peaceful. You’ve got some people coming with you, but you’re at the lead and they’re still a far way back. No one has been through this area before, so you’re pleased with yourself that you brought your Swiss Army Knife to cut away at some of the entangled vines as you clear a path forward. You notice in the mess of tangles some poison ivy and again, you’re pleased that you can pull your hiking gloves out of your back pocket and clean that ivy out of the way without harm. Eyes lowered, you’re focused very intently on what’s right in front of you so you can minimize any chance of itchiness for you and your team! You’ve got this! 

The Audacious Encounter 

Until you come face to face with that big audacious bear! Here we are at the dramatic moment when your quest’s challenges (poison ivy vs. bear) intersect, conflict, and add interesting intensity to your adventure. Eek! 

If only your head was up! If only you considered what possible BIG STUFF might end up on your path! Those hiking poles could have stayed home, and the bear spray and noise makers should have come along! Heck, it might have been better to have your fellow hikers just a tiny bit closer to you, perhaps chiming in with a bellowing a cappella rendition of 'Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, too! 

The Power of Audacity 

In business, leaders are constantly faced with dilemmas. Should they focus on resolving small, immediate problems, or set their sights on tackling larger, more complex challenges?? 

I must say, I have fallen into the resolving small problems pattern. When there’s a long list of things to tackle, I love seeing a lot of checkmarks for things completed! That’s one rationale. When I’m honest with myself, I acknowledge I’ve tackled those smaller things because the big one is anything but fun. It’s overwhelming, confusing, energy-depleting, messy, uncomfortable, and a whole bunch of other ick. Sometimes I don’t even realize the one I thought was the big thing was not. It was another thing that just hadn’t blown up yet. That’s working with your head in the sand. 

Let’s face it. There’s a compelling case for prioritizing audacious challenges first. Big challenges solved create big impacts. 

Impact 

When you find and focus on The Big One, it has the very real potential to expand your business, drive innovation, reshape an industry, and create a lasting impact! This is the visionary, pioneer and disruptor approach. This approach takes a long-term perspective. It is the same approach that highlights underserved areas or demographics, influences the optimal use of resources, and inspires brand recognition and loyalty. 

System Thinking 

So how do you determine what the big audacious thing is? With System Thinking! 

When you think systemically, you are crystal clear about how different parts of your business system interact with and influence each other. It’s a crucial skill for effective leadership. 

The Essential Dynamics framework is designed to approach the challenges faced by business. It is a framework for thinking through challenges AND opportunities at the societal, organizational and personal levels! It’s why I now prefer to take care of the big things first and worry less about the number of checkmarks on my long list. 

When you think of your business as a value creation system, you can identify the key components, processes and relationships that contribute to the delivery of that value. This is how you uncover critical challenges, even before you get caught by surprise in the middle of your forest. 

Essential Dynamics encourages a holistic approach with input from diverse voices and viewpoints within your organization. You get a better understanding of cause and effect by involving various stakeholders. And it urges openness, continuous learning and adaptation of new insights. 

Enjoy the Journey 

Business is hard. And yet we persevere for several reasons. 

On top of it all, stepping back from doing what you’ve been doing to take on a new perspective, although game-changing, can be very difficult to incorporate into the limited capacity you already have. It’s critical to step back. Step away from the day-to-day, turn off the noise, and work through the framework. Get clear on your value creation system, why it exists, what drives it, what holds it back, and what the people element needs from the system. It can be a tough slog, so if you want to enjoy your quest and have some help on your journey, consider incorporating a guide. 

#getaguide