Reflections in Excellence

Strategic Paralysis: The Princely Dilemma (17 January 2002)

What happens when we are faced with a long awaited strategic opportunity? Do we recognise it and choose our time to act? Or do we reach a state of analysis so profound that it leads to paralysis of thought and action. Our history of decision making says a lot about our future.

Have you ever been in the situation where you have the resources available, know what to do, but you are uncertain whether the time to act is now? Opportunity presents itself, but in an all or nothing game the decision to proceed may risk more than merely the status quo. We ask ourselves the cost of action, but what can be the cost of failing to seize the day?

Sometimes the best outcomes are those that come from the opportunities we decide not to take up. But what of the situation where that decision point comes and goes, with no conscious action on our part? A decision not to decide is often equivalent to a decision to decide not to. A strategic opportunity may be lost, not through caution or prudence, but a temporary inability to undertake the strategic analysis required to make the right decision at the right time. Such is the fate of the organisation with 'strategic paralysis'.

We call this condition the 'Princely Dilemma', named after Shakespeare's Prince of Denmark, Hamlet. The famed 'To be or not to be' (3.1:58) soliloquy frames the crux of Hamlet's strategic question. On discovering that his father, the old King, was poisoned by the new King Claudius, Hamlet is gripped by grief and a solitary desire to avenge his father's death and restore the rightful crown. But his melancholic reflections so consume him that he becomes unable to act, to decide what to do, or to 'be'. While Hamlet is capable, he is temporarily unable. Hamlet's dilemma reflects the two elements at work in strategic decision making. The first is knowing what to do and the second is knowing when to act. Being able to recognise the right opportunity at the right time is a strategic capability that can be enhanced. This can be described as Strategic Excellence.

Organisations (and individuals) have the capacity for strategic analysis and decision making. The capability of looking forward, using the experience of the past and making strategic decisions based on reasoned analysis is inherent. It is should be used and exercised frequently with great skill, rather than lie idle. This is of course more eloquently said by the Bard himself through Hamlet's voice of self-reflection:

"Sure he that made us with such large discourse looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unus'd." (4.4:9.25)

Knowing intuitively when to step forward and when to step back is a valued leadership competency. However, can organisations or CEO's operate truly effectively where this intuitive ability is required to be solely exercised by one person for every critical decision? Such was the fate of Shakespeare's Kingdom of Denmark. The primary step in avoiding this and achieving strategic excellence is to know what is the aim that is to be achieved. The second is to recognise the moment to act when the opportunity presents itself (if it can not be created). Multiple scenarios are considered and the competing and balancing factors understood. With this process complete a strategic approach can be taken.

However, actually making the decision to act is never easy, even once the strategic focus is clear, as it is never a reality that we have unlimited information and unlimited time. In decision making theory there comes the moment of truth where an optimal decision can be made based on the information available at the time. Recognising this moment is the key. Identifying the strategic decision point before it is time to act resolves the dilemma.

Hamlet's character had wise counsel at hand, but his introspective reflection led only to a continuous cycle of complexity and doubt, allowing Hamlet no ability to move forward. In the words of literary academic William Hazlitt "He [Hamlet] seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect. When he is most bound to act, he remains puzzled, undecided, and skeptical, dallies with his purposes, till the occasion is lost, and finds out some pretense to relapse into indolence and thoughtfulness again." Can the same be said of our organisations, where in the past conservatism and risk aversion have become part of the 'pretense of thoughtfulness' and unfocussed analysis paralyses strategic decisions when we are faced with moments of truth?For organisations facing complex challenges in exceptional circumstances, whether it be rumour of a hostile takeover, a change in the external environment or the surprise actions of competitors, a structure to guide them to action provides the relief which Hamlet could not avail himself of.

For Hamlet the dilemma is resolved only when events over take him. Unnecessary and contrived conflict leads to a tragic final battle. Act V of the play ends leaving many casualties and no winners, much like any corporate merger borne of circumstance rather than planning. Resolving the Princely Dilemma is a skill that organisations who have Strategic Excellence exercise daily. For Hamlet, such organisations would be admired with the words "How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty, ...in form and moving how express and admirable…" (2.2:294). The capacity to not only make a decision to act, but to have certainty in that decision, and to know when and why requires a sophisticated process and conscious action. But then so does the ability to hold onto a princely kingdom.

William Varey, Executive Director,
Forsyth Consulting Group
www.fcg.com.au

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