Strategic Doing Cycle

I like the concept of Strategic Doing to drive transformation in a complex environment, developed by Ed Morrison at Purdue University. He established it based on insights from networks of people solving problems together to transform local communities. It’s also shown success in agile business contexts, where hierarchy has become ineffective in setting and delivering strategy.

It’s built on appreciative framing a strategic conversation and alternating thinking and doing and asks:

1. What could we do? How could a better future look? In one community, instead of asking “what is causing youth suicide,” they asked, “how can our youth move happily through the neighborhood?” It’s about clear, measurable outcomes.
   
   
2. What should we be doing? With many opportunities, what are we trying to achieve? I like the Big Easy tool. It taps into the network’s intuitive wisdom by plotting their assessment on two scales of 1-5 on How Transformative, and How Easy.
   
   
3. What will we do? It’s selecting the pathfinder project(s). What is a good project that starts the journey in creating a better future?
   
   
4. What’s our 30/30? This is about defining what needs to be done in the next 30 days by whom, and what we learn from the past 30 days.

Is Strategic Doing something to think about or try doing?