Zooming In and Out

Peter Winick here with Thought Leadership Leverage —

How are you wired?

Left brain or right brain?  Innovation versus execution? Process or people? Strategic versus tactical?
Many of these concepts are positioned as either/or behaviors or default types of people, teams, and organizations.

There are dozens of tools and hundreds of books to help determine your dominant style.
Every one of them makes the case for why their model or view of the world is the better mousetrap.
Each supported by research and case studies backing their argument.

Given all the information out there, it should be pretty easy to determine how one needs to think and act to succeed, correct?
Not really. Is the difficulty in choosing correctly relative to the situation? Somewhat.

We swing like a pendulum when analyzing and solving business issues.
We go into “strategic planning mode” for a while, then dive into mastering new tools or technologies for a bit.
Once we’ve done that we may launch an employee engagement program — it’s all about the people, right?

And then we dive into six sigma or process improvement for a while and those programs yield some impressive results.
The soup du jour method of running a business isn’t really viable or sustainable, although it may be fun for some.

The authors and thought leaders that have the ability to zoom in and zoom out are the ones growing their business; they are the ones making a difference. Business is dynamic.

Choices that you make are rarely permanent and ought to be reevaluated, tweaked, and modified as your circumstances change.
The market changes, clients demands and needs change, technology changes, cultures morph and evolve — and you have to keep up.
Constantly revisit what you’re doing and ask yourself if it is still the best way to accomplish your objectives.

What is challenging for many is that we all (as individuals, teams, and organizations) have our default tendencies.
Some are visionary and future focused while others are more oriented towards execution and implementation. We prefer to stay in our comfort zones whatever they may be.

If you’re a tactical/execution/operational zoom in type, try zooming out for a bit. If you’re a big picture, strategic thinker, future focused type, zoom out. Spend some time drilling down on tactics and process.

There is never one right way to achieve a goal or objective and alternative view points, ideas. And concepts are needed today more than ever.

Do you zoom in or zoom out?
Share your experiences in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe to Thought Leadership Leverage for more great content. Thanks.