3. It’s so hard for us
– & for our
colleagues – to
see the big
picture….&
especially to see
it through non-
library or non-
information
lenses.”
4. Today’s approach
§ Consider strategic contexts &
strategic thinking
§ Explore scanning & visioning
§ Apply some techniques
§ Share experiences & learnings
with each other & with some
who rock the boats
7. Begin to find clarity
• Identify 3 or 4 words or phrases
you feel are integral to each
of:
• Strategy
• Strategic thinking
• In 10 minutes, be ready to tell
us who is in your group, and
the terms your group used to
discuss these concepts
• Join 2 other people, any people
8. Preparing for
Significant Change:
§ Rooted in Trends &
Different Thinking
Willingness to Shift Focus:
§ Divest to Invest
Readiness to:
§ Accept the Implications
§ Reallocate Budget and
Priorities to Reflect New
Directions
Strategic contexts
9. “in making decisions, you may be at the
mercy of your mind’s strange
workings….”
Hammond, Keeney & Raiffa, The Hidden Traps in Decision Making,
Harvard Business Review, January 2006
10. The whole purpose of thinking strategically
is to define actions that are strategic.
Strategic “actions” focus more on ensuring
sustainability & success over the next 2 - 3 -
5 years, than about putting out fires today.
13. Critical Thinking
“ the intellectually disciplined process of
actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered from, or
generated by, observation, experience,
reflection, reasoning, or communication,
as a guide to belief and action.”
Cri$cal
Thinking
as
Defined
by
the
Na$onal
Council
for
Excellence
in
Cri$cal
Thinking,
1987
A
statement
by
Michael
Scriven
&
Richard
Paul
at
the
8th
Annual
Interna:onal
Conference
on
Cri:cal
Thinking
and
Educa:on
Reform,
Summer
1987}.
hHp://www.cri:calthinking.org/page.cfm?PageID=766&CategoryID=51
Last
accessed
May
31,
2009
14. Critical thinking is really about
§ Decision-making & problem-solving
§ Openmindedness
§ Productive dialogue
15. Good Critical Thinking
§ Raises the right questions – clearly & precisely
§ Focuses on the real problem or decision to
be taken
§ Gathers & assesses relevant information
§ Develops well-reasoned conclusions &
solutions, testing them against relevant
criteria and standards
§ Relies on recognizing & assessing
assumptions, implications, & consequencesR
18. Critical optimism
“when planning (we) cannot be, by definition,
pessimists. It just doesn’t go with the job. We’re
supposed to be defining the future, aren’t we? [...]
If we can’t see the world as a better place to live
in, than what chance does anyone else have?”
“History tells us that before great library can
happen, it first has to be a mission. And a mission
starts with a dream. As library employees &
advocates, we potentially hold enormous power.
And with it comes responsibility. Wield it
imaginatively and wisely. And optimistically.”
Richard Seymour, Optimistic Futurism in Interactions
19. Why?
• For our customers
• Designing meaningful services
• For our organizations
• Planning, negotiating, managing & relationship building
• For ourselves, and our professional credibility
• Aware & factor in our :
• tendencies & assumptions
• perceptions & selections based on conditioning, beliefs
and desires, focus, emotions
• reconstructive memory affected by time, what we want
to remember, and after-acquired information and
suggestion
• confidence in our knowledge & ability to reason
20. Wakes us up
“We’ve always” won’t move us
forward
“Naming” the process at first makes it
legitimate to:
Ø Challenge usual practices
Ø Rethink what has been thought
Ø Expand the emphasis from short-term
fixes to long-term
21. Surfaces our decision traps
§ Framing
§ Status quo
§ Anchoring
§ Sunk cost fallacy
Based
on
the
work
of
Michael
B.
Metzger,
Kelley
School
of
Business,
Indiana
University
§ Information
gathering traps
§ Overconfidence
bias
§ Availability
§ Confirmation
bias
§ Generalization
§ False cause
22. Clarify your frame
§ Your assumptions form your “frame”
through which you “see” the
situation
§ The questions we ask very often
determine the type of answers we
get So……..
§ Don’t accept the first frame – or question
§ “re-frame” or look at the issue from
different perspectives, particularly from
customer or stakeholder perspectives
23. Question your status-quo
§ Like it or not, tendency is
to perpetuate what we
already know
§ Psychologically risky
“breaking from the status
quo means taking action,
and when we take action,
we take responsibility, thus
o p e n i n g o u r s e l v e s t o
criticism and to regret.”
Hammond, Keeney, Raiffa
So…….
§ Focus on the goal & ask
how status quo helps move
towards them
§ Evaluate vs. all other
alternatives IN TERMS OF
THE FUTURE
§ Ask outsiders to review
your evaluations
24. Lift your anchor
§ What we hear or see
first influences our
subsequent thinking
§ Past statistics &
trends, an article, a
colleague’s
comment
§ The order in which
we receive info
distorts our judgment
So…..
§ Be aware
§ Find different starting points
§ As you gather other people to
discuss the issue, try to limit the
information you give them
§ Clarity your base assumptions
§ Keep coming back to the issue
on which you are focusing
25. Surface your costs
When you find yourself in a hole,
the best thing you can do is stop
digging.
Warren Buffet
26. Case study: after-action review
When have you taken a strategic stand?
Approached a service or operation
differently?
What did you learn? What worked?
What didn’t?
As a result of this, what is your frame?
What are your anchors?
What are your sunk costs?
27. A pessimist sees the difficulty in
every opportunity;
an optimist sees the
opportunity in every
difficulty.
Winston Churchill
Gap or green field?
28. Peripheral Vision
§ Process for building "vigilant
organizations" that are constantly
attuned to changes in the environment
§ Steps focus on improving receiving,
interpreting and acting on weak
signals from the periphery
Scope: limit
where to look
Scan:
with
intention
Interpret:
data’s
meaning
Probe:
some
data
Act: on
the
insights
George S. Day & Paul J. H. Schoemaker,
Harvard Business School Press, 2006
29. Trends
§ Capture, manage & use
§ Keep staff & Board or
influencers current, NOT just
at strategic planning time
§ Discuss implications
http://socialwisdom.ca
30. Sources of Ideas
§ Examine your skills & talents
§ Keep up with current events
§ Investigate other markets
35. • Take a wide scope
• Ask the right questions
• Scan different places
• Pay attention to signals
• Explore for more info
• Decide
• Act
36. Strategy needs to be experienced
“Beyond Strategic Thinking” Jeanne Liedtka, Darden School of Business,
University of Virginia, Rotman Magazine Winter 2011 p. 29+ (author of
Designing for Growth, 2011)
43. Case Study
1. Prepare your decision approach for either Case 1
or Case 2
- 10 minutes
2. Next, with your colleague:
§ Talk through your plan or approach with each
other
§ Advise each other on critical thinking decision
traps
§ Determine your anchors & assumptions
-- 10 minutes
44. Case one:
§ Your budget will be 10%
less for the next financial
year.
§ 80% of your current budget
is staff, 15% is content, the
other 5% is for various
administrative costs (travel,
training, phones, supplies).
§ Put together an approach
for making the decision of
how to work within this
budget.
Case two:
§ You have an idea for a
new service you believe
clients will value. There
isn’t any more funding
available and staff are
working at capacity.
§ Put together a plan for
making the case to
proceed with the service.
45. Case one:
Your budget will be 10% less for the next financial year. 70% of your current budget is staff, 15% is
content, the other 15% is for various administrative and operating costs (technology, training, phones,
supplies).
In 10 minutes, draft an approach for working within this budget.
46. Case two:
You have an idea for a new service you believe clients will value. There isn’t any more funding
available and staff are working at capacity.
In 10 minutes, draft a plan for making the case to proceed with the service.
47. Discuss with a partner for 10 minutes:
1. What surprised you when you had to think about critical thinking practices and avoiding decision-
making traps?
2. How did you “frame” the situation?
3. What assumptions were you making?
4. What anchors did you identify?
5. What will you do differently in making decisions?
6. How will you apply this starting now?
49. We can’t make decisions alone
or in a vacuum, nor can we
implement in the same way we
always have.
The decisions & problems we
face are increasingly complex.
50. Social Wisdom.ca
“Top five desired skill sets for digital strategist:
§ Facilitation; work with cross functional groups to create
alignment on objectives & plans
§ Influence & negotiation; articulate benefits & risks associated
with digital opportunities
§ Analytics; identify the insights that will contribute to a
balanced, thoughtful review of a business; distill intelligence
from data
§ Project management
§ Synthesis. [a rare skill]; synthesize activity, client needs or
discussions to distill to the most salient facts.”
56. Building the Future Workshop, June 6th, 2014
2 things I am going to do with this information, or as a result of our discussions today are:
1.
2.
I’ll do this by (date):_________________________
