What is Deliberate Disproportionate Energy and Why is it so Important?
In my 20-plus years as an organisational development and effectiveness leader, I’ve found it’s rare to come across a business with a shortage of ideas.
Whether it be how to drive greater team engagement, refine work processes, set KPIs and commercial goals, or bring a new product to market, it seems every person and their dog has an idea about ‘how things could be improved around here’. This usually then translates into a 1-3 year business plan that incorporates most (if not all) of these good ideas for people to execute on top of their business as usual activities. What’s more – clients are usually so excited by these projects that they set out to commence them all at once.
In principle, this is great! Who doesn’t want to work for a team or organisation that is enthusiastic about and committed to ongoing improvement? However, where I see most clients run into trouble – whether they be small, family-owned businesses, large multinationals, or anything in between – is the lack of effective prioritisation. Or, as I like to refer to it, Deliberate Disproportionate Energy (DDE).
The concept of DDE is built on two key philosophies:
1. Not all good ideas are created equal; and
2. The business benefit derived from one fully implemented idea, is better than that from ten partially progressed plans.
An organisation’s excitement to launch all ideas all at once often results in a scattered approach, where company focus, time and resources are stretched beyond sustainability. This means that projects are frequently left unfinished, benefits are left unrealised, and people are left disheartened by the lack of meaningful progress. These dimensions of an inability to focus and weak business plans are two of the core reasons cited in The Founder’s Mentality by Bain Consulting (a highly recommended read, if you haven’t already!) as to why only 1 in 9 companies achieve their 10 year growth goals
DDE serves as the antidote to this undesirable yet common scenario that many organisations find themselves in, and is a key philosophy that we here at Telos Asia Pacific adopt in all business and strategic planning with our clients.
How do we do this? Through realistic, practical and outcome-focussed discussions to identify the relative potential benefit of each project and prioritise the most value-adding ideas. We also spend a little time on effective sequencing of the work. This approach results in a shorter, more focussed, and aligned list of priorities to which the business can reasonably and sustainably dedicate appropriate energy. Parking the less value-adding activities and deliberately expending effort where it most counts not only ensures that work gets completed, but it also drives a culture of progress, achievement, completion and success. In addition to helping people feel more positive and connected, this ultimately results in better business and organisational outcomes for all.
So, the next time you embark on strategic and/or business planning, we would encourage you to employ DDE. In a global context obsessed with new ideas and innovation, let’s not forget the critical success factor of implementation.