{"id":1110,"date":"2025-11-19T10:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/?page_id=1110"},"modified":"2025-11-28T17:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:30:33","slug":"positioning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/people\/positioning\/","title":{"rendered":"Step forward, step back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull is-light wp-duotone-orange\" style=\"margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);min-height:50px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2138\" height=\"916\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-734 size-full\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people.jpg\" style=\"object-position:67% 33%\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" data-object-position=\"67% 33%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people.jpg 2138w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people-800x343.jpg 800w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people-1920x823.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people-768x329.jpg 768w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people-1536x658.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/people-2048x877.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2138px) 100vw, 2138px\" \/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-0 has-background-dim has-background-gradient\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(90deg,rgb(255,255,255) 34%,rgba(255,255,255,0.58) 65%,rgba(255,0,0,0) 99%)\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-cover-is-layout-1c6a4ab4 wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\"><nav style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600;line-height:1\" class=\"has-text-color has-base-color items-justified-center alignwide wp-block-navigation is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-navigation-is-layout-72be065f wp-block-navigation-is-layout-flex\" aria-label=\"People \u2013 Level 2\"><ul style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600;line-height:1\" class=\"wp-block-navigation__container has-text-color has-base-color items-justified-center alignwide wp-block-navigation\"><li class=\"wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/origin-and-culture\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Origin and Culture<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/personality\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Personality<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/work-gearing\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Work gearing<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-navigation-item wp-block-navigation-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__content\"  href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/leadership-styles\/\"><span class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Leadership styles<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h1 style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);margin-left:0;margin-right:0\" class=\"has-text-align-center has-link-color wp-elements-49031cb4b1744a129271dd1611534cc4 wp-block-post-title has-text-color has-contrast-color\">Step forward, step back<\/h1>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1436\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:600px;height:350px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Step-forward-step-back-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-dfcdd8d536ec7421eb80935f46029320 wp-block-paragraph\">Teams that don\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/team-diversity\/\">gridlock <\/a>each other have learned a couple of important steps. If we consider our examples of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-0741b70b9639c22e04a7ca89410295c8 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/bruce-the-challenger\/\">Bruce, the challenger<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-0baa203bbf5f334868b23617d6b3e7d2 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/melissa-the-helper\/\">Melissa, the helper<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-e94d7ce457dbde907e6eba7363ba9beb wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/brad-the-quiet-strategist\/\">Brad, the quiet strategist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-9b214da113d3c8740fbcebc672335510 wp-block-paragraph\">&#8230;when they come to understand that they can leverage one another, they can harness each other\u2019s skill sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-b56ade079c0a13c83c51928fca703bf1 wp-block-paragraph\">This is what we mean by \u201cstep forward, step back\u201d. Bruce is not always the best person to peak on everything, and he needs to learn how to make space for Brad, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-445321e5a2a1f0622c3b8622c80af657 wp-block-paragraph\">Here are some other pointers for making teams more effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-custom-orange-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-df1cbc1d608eec2bcd21c6ab625b7464 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Leverage different time orientations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some people are more future-orientated, some are more present-orientated, and some are more past-orientated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Allowing some people to think ahead about the issue, while others process those insights in the moment, and then allowing past-focused people to come back with reflections, will give a much more well-rounded perspective for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-custom-orange-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1db1a119fe30d313c5db2bfe5cb035d6 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Don\u2019t play people out of position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you send an operational person to a three-day strategy session, they\u2019ll probably feel like they\u2019re going to go mad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, if you let strategic people loose in process-orientated conversations, they are likely to make a hash of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Process people need to understand that, left unchecked, they will likely over-engineer processes, bringing things to a halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, it\u2019s about using the right skill set at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-custom-orange-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fd6f34e784b29e3bc1505b1962b37365 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. Get the order of skills right<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-84ba929dc74ef5560fde7829ca3901ef wp-block-paragraph\">There is a sequence to the kinds of <a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/leadership-styles\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/leadership-styles\/\">leadership skill sets<\/a> required on a project or during a business lifecycle. A lot of the time, visionaries bring in operators to help them get things done and only later realise the need for process in what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, as projects are operationalised, the people who are doing the work are not the ones who created the product or service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leadership-style.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1388 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leadership-style.png 1024w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leadership-style-800x800.png 800w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leadership-style-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Leadership-style-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is when the skill set of synergists is needed, both for how people are communicated with and for how the theory plays out in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also the realisation that the order of skill sets needs to change. Instead of visionary, operator, processor and synergist, the skill order should be visionary, processor, operator and then synergist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This results in a flow where the energy of the visionaries goes first into an analysis phase with processors before moving into operations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide glasses is-layout-grid wp-container-core-group-is-layout-086dc8cf wp-block-group-is-layout-grid\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover is-light has-custom-content-position is-position-top-center has-border-color has-accent-5-border-color has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"border-style:solid;border-width:2px;aspect-ratio:auto;min-height:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"687\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-1309 size-full\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/diving-mask.png\" data-object-fit=\"cover\"\/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-custom-orange-background-color has-background-dim-90 has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c05ca53 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"min-height:100px\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/team-mapping\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"687\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/diving-mask.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1309\" style=\"width:100px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-base-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-f0bbe49614450b2c806d9e3e1a70542d\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/team-mapping\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1106\">Team mapping<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>.<\/em>..<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover is-light has-custom-content-position is-position-top-center has-border-color has-accent-5-border-color has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"border-style:solid;border-width:2px;aspect-ratio:auto;min-height:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"483\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-1310 size-full\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/goggles-snorkeling.png\" data-object-fit=\"cover\"\/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-custom-orange-background-color has-background-dim-90 has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c05ca53 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"min-height:100px\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/team-diversity\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"483\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/goggles-snorkeling.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1310\" style=\"width:100px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-base-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-bbe343522c01f43f16f52a38fde0e305\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/team-diversity\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1108\">Team diversity<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>.<\/em>..<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover is-light has-custom-content-position is-position-top-center has-border-color has-accent-5-border-color has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"border-style:solid;border-width:2px;min-height:300px;aspect-ratio:auto;min-height:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"843\" height=\"410\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-1238 size-full\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles.png\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles.png 843w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles-800x389.png 800w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles-768x374.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px\" \/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-custom-orange-background-color has-background-dim-90 has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c05ca53 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"min-height:100px\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/positioning\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"843\" height=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1238\" style=\"width:100px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles.png 843w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles-800x389.png 800w, https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/swimming-goggles-768x374.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-base-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-f31a816d7f2ac77e1a3065b860f5607b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/people\/positioning\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1110\">Step forward\/back<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>.<\/em>..<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teams that don\u2019t gridlock each other have learned a couple of important steps. If we consider our examples of: Bruce, the challenger Melissa, the helper Brad, the quiet strategist &#8230;when they come to understand that they can leverage one another, they can harness each other\u2019s skill sets. This is what we mean by \u201cstep forward, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":312,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1110","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1110\/revisions\/1438"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/th1nk.co.za\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}