Excelling in the Midst of Adversity (part five): Action as a Strategy

A collaboration between Chaordic Design and Estonian Life

This week’s theme is “Ac­tion.”

At Chaordic Design, we firmly believe in the incredible power and malleability of action, especially when it is paired with strategic planning, and well-timed execution.

Our mission is to help organizations and communities realize their inherent potential to innovate and thrive, and enacting their vision in the world – whether as an individual leader, small team, or large organization – is a direct component of that.

Action is necessary both in life and innovation, because it takes an idea and crashes it against the realities of the world. An idea, no matter how good, can exist in its perfect state in the vacuum of our thoughts, our company whiteboard or the back of a napkin, yet, it might be received quite differently by our end Users, or Clients who need it. Most innovators are fearful to share their idea in an ‘imperfect’ state, yet, it is this early discovery process that can be most valuable to us, and provide real-life feedback that can make a good idea truly great.

The key to strategic action in the discovery process is to ‘frame’ the idea for your target audience, both in language and story, so they can experience it fully and provide the most useful and accurate feedback. This strategic action is a small ‘test’ of your idea in the real world, with real people, and can be used to create future growth, inform small and large changes, and enable a dialogue with your audience.

Ambitious, strategic action can often be broken down into smaller steps, and therefore smaller tests, so that each component of action is easily implemented with your Users or Clients, so that you and your idea can feedback, test, revise, and thrive!

Taking ambitious action, no matter the limitations that exist, has always directed Estonian sports, particularly in relation to women’s tennis.

Before Estonia regained independence, professional training opportunities for tennis were extremely limited. Suitable pieces of equipment, including tennis balls and racquet strings, were difficult to obtain. It took another several years for coaching to become more widely attainable: for example, Evald Kree Spordimaailm was started in 1998. Countries like Canada or the United States had an advantage in that regard, but these athletes worked with what they had, tested their ideas openly, and got out on the court to practice. Anett Kontaveit, currently number 22 on the Women’s Tennis Association’s singles rankings, started training at the age of six with her mother Ülle Milk.

The success of previous tennis players triggered the further growth of training programs, so that Estonia is now regularly coaching women to play pro tennis. Kontaveit has spoken of Kaia Kanepi as having led the way for her. Those who have carried on the tradition after Kontaveit include Elena Malõgina and Katriin Saar. The action of previous tennis players has been tested, revised, and enabled tennis in Estonia to thrive.

Thinking about what you don’t have can become a reason to give up. It can distract you from putting in the hours of practice and preparation that are required to do great things. But it doesn’t have to get in your way if you break your action into smaller, more manageable steps.

As Kontaveit has stated in interviews with the press and at tennis tournaments, her victories show that it is possible to make it big in sports, even if you come from a small country.

Next week, we’ll hear from Talvi Parming, a teacher, facilitator of sports and outdoor activities, and a leader for the Estonian Girl Guides in Toronto. We’re excited to share her ideas about leading an active life, and we think you’ll enjoy it, too!

Anett Kontaveit.

Photo: Peter Menzel, used under a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 license