Solving Difficult Problems
Posted By Rob Millard - 0 Comments -
I'm busy reading Solving Tough Problems
, an excellent little book by Adam Kahane. Kahane was the architect of the Mont Fleur Scenarios that were developed in South Africa in 1992, just before the formal end of apartheid, to develop a range of possible views on South Africa's post-apartheid future. The proponents of the exercise were the then still black liberation movements, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC.) The books covers far more than just scenario planning, though. (Important though scenario may be as a tool in the strategist's toolkit.)
Written by a man with a background solidly in the world of physics and the "one right answer," Solving Tough Problems describes Kahane's gradual realization that there are very few absolutes in today's world and simple solutions are usually ... wrong.A "sound-byte" :
"Most of the literature on strategic planning falls into 'the rationalist school' which codifies thought and action separately. The tacit underlying assumption is that there is one best solution, and the job of the strategist is to get as close to this as possible, within the limited resources available. The strategist thinks on behalf of the entire organization, and worls out an optimal strategy as a process of searching for maximum utility among a number of options. Having decided the optimal way forward, the question of action (known as "the implementation issue") is addressed."
As Kahane points out, the (somewhat unlikely?) assumptions underlying the rationalist school are:
- The future being predictable
- No interference from outside
- Clear intentions that can be formulated up-front
- Implementation follows formulation (therefore thought can be independent of action)
- Achieving full understanding throughout the firm, both of what the strategic objective is and of the plan to achieve it
- Reasonable people can be counted aupon to behave rationally and do reasonable things
Would these assumptions be safe, as a foundation on which to base the future of YOUR firm? If so, please contact me: I'd love to write it up a case study. If not, then an authoritarian, rationalist approach to strategy is nothing short of dangerous!
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