Strategic Storyline and Rules of Thumb are only two out of many activities that form the Complexity Manager's Compass for navigating in a complex world. For leaders and agilists.

1. 2017
Bernhard Sterchi
Orientation and Alignment in a VUCA World
Part of the Complexity Navigator’s Compass

2. agile or Agile?

3. Bernhard Sterchi
Context: Cynefin Framework and Compass
Overview

4. The Cynefin Framework
4
Dave Snowden/
Cognitive Edge

5. The Complexity Navigator’s Compass
5
FrameworkActivities Principles
Distributed
intelligence
Resilience
Small objects
Aligned
autonomy
Remove filters
Nudge for
emergence
Explore complexity
- exploit order
Make sense
Manage
constraints
Experiment
Manage
by vectors
Facilitate
recovery
Principles Activities

6. 2016
Bernhard Sterchi
Strategic Storyline
How to systematically manage contextual behavior in an
organization.

7. 7
coherent
signals from
management
STRONG
BRAND
consistent
customer
experience
consistent
values
purpose-
creating
storyline
clear
corporate
self-
image
consistent
staff
decisions

8. Typical Trade-offs

9. Strategic Storyline
9
1. What is happening out there?
‣ Customer need
‣ Competition
‣ Technology
‣ Regulations
2. What are we doing about it?
‣Our role, strategy, principles, priorities
‣Step
‣by step
‣from general storyline
‣to the example at hand
3. How do we tick in
order to achieve that?
‣Soft factors:
‣Competence
‣Mindset
‣Ways of working

10. Examples
10
Urs Berger
as CEO Baloise:
High Touch – High Tech
Jürgen Dormann
as CEO ABB:
Not a new strategy, but
better implement the
existing strategy
Carsten Schloter
as CEO Swisscom:
Compensation of core
business
Walter Kittl
as COO Siegfried:
Production accross sites

11. Now it’s your turn!
11

12. Strategic Storyline
12
1. What is happening out there?
‣ Customer need
‣ Competition
‣ Technology
‣ Regulations
2. What are we doing about it?
‣Our role, strategy, principles, priorities
‣Step
‣by step
‣from general storyline
‣to the example at hand
3. How do we tick in
order to achieve that?
‣Soft factors:
‣Competence
‣Mindset
‣Ways of working

13. Management by Rules of Thumb
Heuristics for mastering complexity
Bernhard Sterchi

14. Dealing with Human Complexity
14

15. Typical Trade-offs

16. Finding Rules of Thumb
1. Define the System in Focus
What are we talking about? Usually a recurring
situation that requires action. Collect some examples.
2. Options
What could you do? What else could you do? Collect
many examples of sensible action.
3. Choice
What would you do? Choose one or a few preferred
options.
4. Rule of Thumb
What would make that the right thing to do? Find the
underlying principle that guides people towards the
preferred options.

17. Generic examples of situations for
Time Out discussions
17
• (Shop): A customer walks into the shop with a broken product. The
guarantee has expired a month ago, but the customer was abroad. What do
you do?
• (Teamleader): The existing CMS (reporting system) is tedious to fill in, and it
does not match the actual processes and division of responsibility. But for
the moment it’s what we have, and top management is using it. What do
you do?
• (Expert): Something is wrong. If you fix it, it would be fast and you would be
sure it’s right. But it’s another team’s responsibility, and they have made the
mistake in the first place. What do you do?
• (Manager): One of your direct reports proposes a solution. You know it
could be much better. You don’t know all the details. Time is an issue. What
do you do?

18. Now it’s your turn!
18

19. Finding Rules of Thumb
1. Define the System in Focus
What are we talking about? Usually a recurring
situation that requires action. Collect some examples.
2. Options
What could you do? What else could you do? Collect
many examples of sensible action.
3. Choice
What would you do? Choose one or a few preferred
options.
4. Rule of Thumb
What would make that the right thing to do? Find the
underlying principle that guides people towards the
preferred options.

20. Want to learn more?
Navigating Complexity
June 6.-8. 2017
Saint-Paul de Vence, France
20

21. Bernhard Sterchi, Palladio Trusted Advisers, Gerbergasse 30, Postfach, CH-4001 Basel, +41 78 783 72 44, bernhard.sterchi@palladio.net, www.palladio.net