A couple of weeks ago, I collected around 100 windfall apples from the yard and disposed of them in the garden waste bin. The back yard looked neat once more. I felt like I’d accomplished something; it was ‘done’.
Today, there are another 100 or so apples on the ground. So that’ll be another big chunk of my day gone; gathering and disposing, in readiness for the garden waste collection tomorrow.
What I should be doing, of course, is collecting them up more frequently - keeping on top of the problem.
The same is true of the garden as a whole. Spending ten minutes every day pulling weeds and deadheading flowers is what actually keeps it looking good. The dramatic monthly overhauls just make me feel productive while missing the point entirely.
We're obsessed with the big reveal moment - the reorganisation, the new system launch, the culture change initiative - but transformation isn't an event, it's a practice.
The businesses I work with that succeed with their strategies are the ones that have embraced an "Always-On Strategy." Instead of waiting for quarterly reviews or annual planning sessions, they're constantly making small adjustments, testing assumptions, and adapting to what they're learning.
As a fractional Strategy Delivery Manager, organisations bring me in to help them practice continuous strategic adaptation. I'm not only supporting the delivery of the strategy, but also the measuring, monitoring, reflection and adaptation - little and often - to increase the chance of success.
Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is stop planning the revolution and start practicing the evolution.