Decisions vs. Actions

Maybe it’s just us here at For the Love of Systems, but life and the world in general are a little extra at the moment. And that little bit of extra can burn through A LOT of our capacity on any given day.

So, we’re experimenting with new twists on several old techniques like batching, time-blocking, and pomodoro to see if we can iteratively hack our way to greater capacity (or at least better efficiency). By combining them with a framework we’ve adapted that separates tasks/actions from decision making, we’re trying to set up our days for maximum capacity.

The image above represents the four layers of a business’s operations: Vision, Strategy, Management, and Implementation. These layers are found in every department of a business, from Sales to Accounting.

It all starts with a vision, and then a strategy is developed to bring the vision to life. The action steps of the strategy are then implemented, and those actions are managed and organized with respect to the strategy.

Dividing the four layers of business operations through the middle is something we call “The Burnout Line”, and the more times you have to cross The Burnout Line on any day, the more likely you are to feel burnt out.

In the layers above the Burnout Line (Vision and Strategy), decisions are made. In the layers below (Management and Implementation), actions are taken. Decisions and actions require different types of thinking and utilize different areas of our brains. Switching between the two quickly is incredibly taxing on our capacity.

To avoid crossing the burnout line constantly, we’re dividing up our responsibilities so that actions and decisions are handled in separate time blocks or work sessions. 

Greg and I have a quick 7:30 am leadership meeting every day where we attempt to make as many decisions as possible, and other decisions are made during our weekly leadership meeting. That leaves the rest of our workday for taking action.

With capacity at a premium for us these days, we’ve leaned hard on this understanding to rethink how we’re delegating responsibilities to ourselves and to our Marketing + Ops Coordinator to ensure that no one is crossing The Burnout Line–or at least not often. 

And we’re using our Delegation Planner to help us decide who does what in our business, and if there is anything else that we can/should delegate. 

It won’t fix all of the things happening that are extra, but it will at least help us preserve some capacity so we are more easily able to ride the waves.