Good frameworks are a valuable help in daily business. They support thinking and talking with colleagues about important topics.
I have collected my 15+ most valuable frameworks for strategy, leadership, personal mastery, and product management and will share them continuously on this blog.
Today, I start this series with framework No. 1: The Executive’s Trinity
Source
The Executive’s Trinity has been developed by Stephen Bungay. You can get more information about it on Stephen’s blog or in his book ’The Art of Action’.
Category
Leadership
What it is all about
Any leader has three tasks to fulfill.
First, a leader has to give direction. This is done through defining a mission and strategy as well as designing a corresponding organization. The leader has also to make sure that the direction is communicated to the organization. The first task is mostly intellectual.
Second, the direction must be put into the heads and hearts of the people. The leader has to translate the direction into tasks people work on. Equally, he has to take care of group dynamics and the growths of individuals. The second task is about people.
Third, the leader has to ensure that things get done. Therefore, resources must be organized and allocated. In addition, progress should be measured such that the course of action can be changed if necessary.
Why I found it valuable
In management literature, people mostly talk about management and leadership. They forget the third dimension that is equally important for any executive: directing. This is addressed in the trinity.
Previously, when somebody asked me what leadership means, my answer was: people, process, goals. It is only through these three levers that you can have impact as an executive. Those three levers correspond to the dimensions of the trinity which are much better formulated.
Relevance for product management
The tasks in product management can also be described through the trinity’s lenses. A product manager has to define the product vision, strategy, and roadmap. This is directing. Team and stakeholders have to be on board as well. So a product manager has to pay a lot of attention to people and the human dimension. Lastly, product managment is always about trade-offs and the allocation of resources. Product success must be monitored and course of action has to be adopted accordingly.
Caution: don’t fall in love with a framework. They support, not replace thinking. Frameworks always have a point of view on reality. There are other views as well. Stop using a framework if it doesn’t help to create insights.
