I recently finished Holocracy by Brian J. Robertson and one of the metaphors he uses in the book is that business strategy should be like riding a bicycle. Good strategies adapt and adjust based on member and community needs, kinda like how we adjust balance and speed in the moment while cycling.

Nobody designs a bicycle, picks a route, determines the pace, and then sets out to ride that bike in that way along that route without adjusting (imagine designing a mountain bike and riding it down a well-groomed dirt path only for the terrain to transform into pavement … and it’s a race).

Whether organizations create three year plans or annual business canvases, very few organizations build agility and ongoing adjustments into their strategic plans.

Continuing with the bicycling metaphor, cyclists are more capable of adjusting their pace, balance, and effort when their bike is well maintained and their knowledge and skills are up to speed.

After all, strategies are designed and executed by people using tools to navigate known processes and unforeseen challenges and opportunities to achieve a goal or deliver on a promise, so strategic plans must account for ongoing investments in tools as well as upskilling of people (so that they can use existing and emerging systems, programs, and equipment).

When I shared the above picture with my teammates at work one of my awesome colleagues, Tanis, offered a counterpoint to the idea of balance (and strategy or progress) requiring momentum: “I get it and I mostly agree, John. But don’t we need to rest, too?”

We can’t just keep riding a bicycle (obviously), so the ongoing adjustment of resting (or perhaps stopping something that isn’t working) should be incorporated into business strategy. Factoring in solutions and mitigations for burnout and building in tactics for folks to recharge and reconnect make bike rides and bringing ideas to market more effective, efficient, and enjoyable.