If you’ve ever been to Thailand, you will have probably heard the phrase “Same same but different”, which loosely means something is similar to something else, but different. I remember it well as the name of a fabulous restaurant on Koh Lanta Yai, and I was reminded of the phrase and that wonderful place by a recent blog post.
For a long time, I’ve bemoaned the misuse of the word strategy, where having one is so often considered the key to success and lacking one the obvious reason for failure. How often have you been asked “what’s your strategy?” or been told “what we need is a good strategy”. A strategy is the “how”, so unless you know the “what”, it’s pretty pointless.
I recently saw this post by Brian de Haaff at Aha! that spends nearly 1000 words explaining the difference between strategic thinking and strategic planning, which makes you wonder, why do we need so many words to explain something same same but different like this? The post makes a very important point right at the start: Goal first. But that introduces another word that is open to multiple same same but different interpretations. Should a goal be measurable, or aspirational?
Ah, I hear you say, objectives are measurable, as defined by the well-known SMART acronym. But many objectives are subjective, with no specific measures, and are perfectly acceptable as objectives, such as “be more customer centric” or “carry out rigorous performance reviews”. According to Paul Marsh at Personnel Today, SMART objective setting is not working and 86% of performance objectives are not SMART.
A lot of the problem, I think, is the same same but different meanings we associate with the words goal, objective and strategy. We all have our own interpretations and so you either end up with misunderstandings, or having to spend 1000 words explaining things. How can we overcome this?
Knowing your words’ worth
In my experience, you can achieve much greater clarity and understanding by changing the choice of words. It might seem trivial, but it isn’t, as using the right words to communicate, with clarity and precision, what you need to achieve, is invaluable. As a side note, I’m a stickler for using words correctly, summarised succinctly by the observation on my desk which says “Good grammar: the difference between knowing your shit, and knowing you’re shit” and incidentally, a topic I intend to write more on shortly.
I think it’s incredibly important to know your words’ worth. So instead of goals, think about motivations. Doing that immediately makes it clear you are striving for something to aspire to without a need to be specific and quantifiable, although of course, motivations can have also those attributes.
Instead of objectives, simplify it to just measures. That old adage, if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it, holds true, and so by talking about the measures you want in place that will be motivational if achieved, you drive people to really think about what matters, whether for them or for the organisation.
And instead of strategy? How about methods, which is a much less confusing and misinterpreted word than strategy. Document the methods you will use to achieve the measures to support your motivations.
Motivations, measures and methods
OK, documenting your motivations, measures and methods doesn’t sound as exciting as having a new corporate strategy, or using strategic thinking to come up with strategic objectives and a strategic plan to achieve your goals. However, I’ve used this approach successfully, both for performance reviews and for creating business plans, and it really helps to crystallise your thinking. So when you are next asked to come up with your new strategy, perhaps following the Covid-19 crisis, take a step back and think about your motivations, your measures for success, and the methods you will use to achieve that success. And this applies whether you are doing this individually or for an organisation, whether in work or seeking a new challenge.
Am I over-thinking this by trying not to be same same, by being a bit different instead? I welcome your thoughts!
Terry Lawlor 