Strategy, Strategy, Wherefore Art Thou?

Later this week the Government of Alberta will bring down it's 2015/2016 budget.  There have been more than a few trial balloons floated on both the revenue and expenditure side of the equation.  Public sector leaders have been anticipating budget cuts ranging all the way from 2% through to 10%.   When compared to recent years of increases, and further adjusting for inflationary pressures, the anticipated cuts are causing more than a bit of anxiety around what this may all mean.  This is even more true considering that up until this time public sector performance - whether measured by classroom size in schools, wait times in hospital emergency departments, or ability to maintain infrastructure - has been less than noteworthy.

The precipitous drop in the price of oil has seen similar drastic changes in the fortunes of many private sector ventures in Alberta and Saskatchewan (and Russia!) who are either directly involved in or provide services to the oil sector.  Literally thousands of employees and contractors have been let go while other vendors have been told to take substantial cuts in fees if they wish to maintain working relationships with their current partners.

Many of us have seen - and played a role in - this movie before.  In fact, if it were not for the tremendously negative impact it has on services and the many hundreds or thousands of individuals who are dislocated as a result, one might actually laugh and start making comparisons to movie sequels like Rocky (I, II, III, IV, & V).  At some point, it seems clear that there really is no longer a plot line but we feel somehow compelled to watch anyway and see how laborious the story can become.  For those of us who have lived this never ending story the humor works it way towards the dark and cynical side.  We laugh in order not to cry.  We joke if only to keep our sanity.

When I was in the public sector I was often fond of saying "Any fool can balance the budget, just don't provide any service."  My statement reflected my frustration as I perceived that outside of a set of fiscal parameters there was limited if any discussion of what underlying or foundational strategy "we" were being driven by or working towards.  At times it appeared that the only other "strategy" that we had in meeting our fiscal targets was to make sure that somehow no one became upset in the process of us taking significant resources out of the system.   I'm sure there are more than a few even more cynical and jaded pundits who would suggest that the public sector is not currently providing service regardless of level of financial resources being committed to it.  I believe that both perspectives come from the reality that while there has been a fiscal agenda in operation for several decades there has been no concurrent defining or overarching service strategy by which one could rationalize or guide fiscal decisions.  In many ways the tail has been wagging - and overpowering - the dog.

Make no mistake, there have been and are extensive strategic planning processes in effect and glossy strategic plans trotted out on a regular basis.  Unfortunately - again from my perspective - these efforts are defined by an excess of process, the use of elegantly crafted templates, and the next best-in-class graphics that belie a lack of grounding in honest assessments, true insight, and driving commitment to more than surviving the next fiscal year.  And whether we focus on the private or public sector in these down economic times our short-term focus, our willingness to shed our most valued resources - our people - seems at odds with the existence of any real long-term strategy.

Personally I would be more prepared to accept the current and pending cuts in the private and public sector if I could be convinced that there was in fact a real long-term strategy in play.  I further suspect that if there were a long-term strategy in existence, that the current downturn would at the very least entail more surgical precision in decisions being made to reduce body count in our organizations.  The boom and bust cycle that many organizations appear to go through - lamenting the lack of skilled human resources in one quarter or fiscal year followed by an unabashed eagerness to outdo one's competitors or counterparts in layoffs the next - only reinforces a cynical perspective on my part that "strategy" only exists as one more check box on a prescribed list of "management" things to do.

If service is really what our organizations - whether in the public or private sector - are all about surely we can lead better than what we have demonstrated over the past several decades.  If our most valuable asset in achieving our strategic directions are our human resources then surely we would undertake more efforts to preserve those assets.  The reality of thousands of layoffs in 2014 and more to come in 2015 suggest that we have not led well in the preceding years and have been guided by no real strategy.

The layoffs of 2014 and those pending in 2015 are akin to a ship on a storm-tossed sea.  We are just hoping to ride out another storm, lacking the foresight to have planned ahead, retained an experienced crew, and hoping that over the horizon we may find the next safe harbor.





 
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.