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Letters to a Young Manager


The Big Rocks, #291
LTYM > Strategy



Dear Sophie,
***
To make the point of the fieldworker as our #1 customer, I recently told Steven Covey's story about the rocks at the NetHope Summit in Kenya. [1]

To paraphrase the parable:

A teacher placed a large jar on the table in front of the classroom and proceeded to fill it with large rocks.
"Is it full," he asked the class.
All the students said "yes!"
He then took a carton of gravel and added it to the jar.
"Is it full," he repeated.
Becoming more wary, half the class said yes.
He then took a carton of sand and added it to the jar.
"Is it full now?"
None of the students raised their hand.
The teacher added a pitcher of water.
"Now?"
"Yes."
"So what’s the moral of this story," he queried?
"That there’s always room for more," some asked [2]?
"No," he said;
“The point of the experiment is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never fit them in."

So I challenged the NetHope group: as you go out and visit field programs this week, and meet people who work here in Kenya and East Africa, ask yourself one question: What are the big rocks?

This is first and foremost a strategy question. It is impossible to be strategic without being absolutely clear who your primary client is and what are their top needs. These are the "big rocks" that must go into your strategy before the other things. So choose carefully, and hold the other things at bay until you get this right.
***
Regards,
Ed
________________________

[1]Stephen Covey story: First Things First, Simon & Schuster, 1999, pp. 88-89.
[2]That may be our “normal” answer in nonprofit organizations; everything can fit under the umbrella of the good! (see "The Big Umbrella" story.

Takeaways:

To be strategic, you need to put the big rocks in first

Discussion Questions:

1) What are the Big Rocks in your department? in your organization? In your life?
2) What are you going to move into first place? Second place? Third?

For Further Reading:





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