Do you find yourself getting started on a plan only to find it quickly gets derailed by unpredictables or minutiae. Or do you try to solve a problem only to find there seems to be no satisfactory solution. Perhaps you have a team that is underperforming and all your efforts to motivate them seem to fail. If you said yes to any of these questions then adopting an optimal effectiveness model will turn things around for you.
Optimal Effectiveness The Foundation of Great Outcomes
Optimal effectiveness is the process of achieving the greatest benefits for the most number of people using the least resources, in any given situation. Most people wouldn’t dispute that this is a good idea. However most people fail to realise the full potential of any given situation because they fail to place optimal intentions at the heart of their thinking.
Optimal effectiveness begins with setting optimal intentions that is to intend to create outcomes that create the greatest number of benefits for the most number of people using the least resources. Once your intentions are determined you then need to establish the most optimal strategies. Remember optimal is the best possible strategy given all the available resources. While both of these processes are quite simple to understand they require considerable critical thinking to pull off effectively.
OE a Way Of Thinking and Practicing Your Corporate Craft
Optimal effectiveness is a way of critical and strategic thinking. Asking yourself how can I solve this puzzle in the most optimal way possible given the available resources sets the tone and direction of your decisions and it does so in the most effective way.
Optimal intentions (OI) as the foundation of your thinking will massively improve your problem solving, the way you communicate, design and deliver projects many times over. It will help you find opportunities that others fail to look for. OI as a foundation in your thinking will most certainly improve your relationships your managerial style, your problem solving, your planning and much more. It will change the way you develop your teams and grow your talent for the better. Optimal intentions as the foundation of your critical and strategic thinking will see you becoming innovative and adaptable. All of which will improve your ROIs, savings, and productivity. OI is one of the key foundations that needs to underpin your entire executive skill set.
Optimally Effective Thinking Vs Inefficiencies and Other Drags on Success
We know a great deal of inefficiencies flow through organisations because key people don’t think effectively or teams of people have ineffective strategies. There is a maxim I follow and it is this, optimal outcomes are the result of optimal strategies and optimal strategies flows from optimal intentions. While this is easier said than done it is worth mastering. Very large amounts of money are saved when key people think effectively. Huge improvements in productivity will occur when teams of people think optimally. Profits will rise when the whole organisation is made up of people who think optimally.
OE the Heart of Constructive Critical Thinking
The simplest way of implementing the OE concept is to ask what is the best outcome for the most number of people using the least resources for this situation. Then start to formulate your ideas. Keep thinking about your ideas, critically assessing them until they meet the optimal effectiveness test. In circumstances in which you can predict the best outcomes then it is often helpful to determine the top 5 acceptable results and then reverse engineer the strategy.
Reverse engineering doesn’t work in situations of significant uncertainty or in situations where the most optimal outcomes are not predictable. In these circumstances we use an explore, improvise, adapt and progress strategy. In other words we experiment. However the principles of optimal effectiveness still form the basis of your choices even when using experimental methods.
Critically test Your Ideas
As you consider each possible solution it is vital that you put them through the optimal effectiveness test. In other words ask yourself the following question. Does this meet the requirements of meeting the best outcomes for the most number of people using the least resources for this situation. If it does or goes very close to that end then great. If it doesn’t then go back and think some more. If after you have been around the critical thinking loop sufficiently then it may well be that your idea is a optimal as it is going to get. If this is the case then run with it. BUT be sure to have done the critical thinking first.
Optimal Outcomes Need Optimal Strategies.
Once you have an idea of your most favoured outcomes and a number of acceptable alternatives you need to determine the most optimal strategy for delivering those outcomes. Optimal outcomes are delivered by optimal strategies.
With that in mind keep asking yourself is this the most optimal strategy or is there a better one? Keep testing your strategies against the concept of optimal effectiveness. If it stacks up great. If it doesn’t then try to think of a better way. I often ask clients to keep seeking simpler more efficient strategies. If you think you have a great idea find a simpler and better one.
A word of caution however. Constantly seeking to improve your strategies to be innovative and adaptable isn’t a justification for dithering and procrastinating, as postponing decisions may not be optimal. It is a cautious recommendation to keep learning and innovating.
Measure Monitor and Adapt Your Intentions and or Your Strategies Until you Get there
There is almost always an degree of uncertainty in any project or plan. With that in mind it is vital that you measure monitor and adapt your strategies as you role out your project. If it is possible and admittedly it isn’t always, then change your intentions or strategies in keeping with the concept of creating the most optimal outcomes. If you can’t change things once the boat has left the dock then it is necessary to make the best of the situation and plan to do it better next time. However if you take the time to do the critical thinking and strategic planning well project disasters should be kept to a minimum. The key however is to begin with the maxim
Optimal outcomes are the result of optimal strategies derived from optimal intentions.
Just some things to think about.
Cheers
Jim