Each of the 10 examples of missions in the previous Personal Strategy edition has at least a main activity that is core to the contribution these people make in their professional context:
Everyday I’m finding (…) solutions (...);
Everyday I’m offering support and expertize;
Everyday I’m (…) offering (…) answers;
Everyday I’m creating the conditions (…);
Everyday I’m (…) setting directions (…);
Everyday I’m challenging the ambition and the mindset (…);
Everyday I’m striving to obtain (…);
Everyday I’m getting teams together (…);
Everyday I’m organizing (…) the work (…);
Everyday I’m sharing (…) knowledge (…);
Each of these activities need specific capabilities in order to happen, which makes them mission-critical capabilities - they are critical for the mission of the person.
Capabilities are abilities in a context.
They are usually a mix of skills, tools and the right setup in that specific context.For example, the capability of an organization to sell is a mix of:
The skills of the people involved in selling;
The tools they have for doing the sales-related activities;
The right organizational setup (e.g. proper customer segment; clear processes; good communication and mutual help among colleagues; a proper bonus system etc.).
Here are some of the mission-critical capabilities that can fuel the 10 missions mentioned above:
Finding (…) solutions → Capability: Problem solving;
Offering (…) expertize → Capability: Mentoring;
Offering (…) answers → Capability: Consulting;
Creating (…) conditions → Capability: Culture Design;
Setting (…) directions → Capability: Leadership;
Challenging (…) the mindset → Capability: Coaching;
Striving to obtain (…) → Capability: Negotiation;
Getting teams together (…) → Capability: Facilitation;
Organizing (…) the work → Capability: Work Design;
Sharing (…) knowledge → Capability: Explaining;
Using these examples
After identifying or refining your mission, ask yourself:
What are the critical few capabilities that help me make this mission happen? Which capabilities help me walk the talk?
Then check whether you’re investing enough in developing these mission-critical capabilities that help you walk the talk in those contexts.
As a personal example, having a mission centered on sharing knowledge, one of the mission-critical capabilities that I continuously develop intentionally is about explaining.
There are many facets to explaining, including explaining verbally, explaining textually, explaining visually etc.
This article is, for example, an opportunity to practice explaining by writing, while the diagram below is an example of explaining both visually and textually.
When it comes to developing my capability of explaining visually, it’s a mix of:
Getting better at it, developing my know-how and skills through learning;
Investing in the right tools, like Miro, Figma, icon sets, visual alphabets, game assets and others;
Fine tuning the right setup for the visual explainers, matching the format to the medium, and the type of metaphors, the level of specialized words, cultural references etc. to the audience;
Developing your mission-critical capabilities
After having clarity on which are the few capabilities that are critical to your mission, ask yourself:
How can I get better at this? Who and where I can learn from? Can I create more opportunities to practice the skills linked to this capability?
How can I improve the tools that I’m using for this? Are there better tools out there? How can I use these tools better or more frequently in my work?
How good is the setup for doing these actions? Can I improve or influence the setup so that it’s easier for me to use this capability and make it more effective? (note: the setup most likely involves the interaction with other people in the specific context - company, community, market etc.)
Enjoy developing your capabilities and walking the talk,
Bülent
As a strategic adviser and lifelong learner, Bülent Duagi works with Directors in 🇷🇴 Tech companies to help them make more impact with better strategic thinking - which usually translates to:
🧭 having a clear strategy that enables better and faster decision making;
🤝 organizing better to both run operations and implement strategy with the available bandwidth and budgets;
🚀 implementing strategic initiatives and programs in an efficient and effective manner, paying attention to the people side of change;
⚡️ intentionally developing proper internal capabilities that are sustainable in the long run.
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