May 2007 Deep Insights

Management practices tend to lead people to “stop talking and go to work” but they must be more versatile allowing “watchful talking” to be a part of work. The execution of a Strategic Plan is a universe filled with disruptive events. Such events may be relevant or irrelevant, complex or simple and they can support or derail a Strategic Plan. Whatever the event or combination of events, everyone involved must talk watchfully.

Asking specific questions against plan benchmarks is key to successful execution. Watchful talking is the art of using the answers to such questions to map the environment in which an execution takes place. What must be learned for our plan to work? What predictable events will occur in the short term? How will they affect the plan? Who will they affect in the plan? Who should we tell? The answers to such questions should result from looking at the environment as a whole, from inside and outside of the company. Connections should be drawn from large and small events, people and technology innovations, local and global economies, government regulations and/or proposed regulations.

While this first aspect of watchful talking protects day to day activities, future events must also be predicted to avoid impediments before they occur. Such future events are called watchful predictions and are a positive and useful by-product of watchful talking. People charged with execution gain an awareness of others’ environments from learning what events could cause impediments for them. Once determined, watchful predictions can trigger adjustments in the effected environment and allow a smooth execution. Forewarned by predictions, watchful talking will create necessary adjustments prior to derailment of a Strategic Plan.

Everyone must embrace talking at work in a way that enhances the execution of the Strategic Plan. Watchful talking is an art that leads to a structured mapping process for execution. As the mapping process unfolds, watchful predictions become self-evident; built from the plan’s environment as a whole. Watchful talking and watchful predictions are processes through which events are understood and execution altered for success.