1
Map the Landscape
Start by zooming out: industry research, competitive analysis, emerging trends. Instead of simply analyzing your competitors to understand why they’re successful, map them to reveal the white space they’re missing. And as for the future: while no one can predict what lies head, extrapolating trends already gaining ground in other sectors is a good place to start.
2
Ask People Who Care
In confidential 1-on-1 conversations, gather the perspectives of people who know your organization best and care about it most. Get intimate with what’s really going on for your customers and prospects. Ask people from across functions, from leadership to those in the field, what really matters and what’s holding them back. Inside and out, engage your biggest champions and likeliest detractors, to bring both on board from the start.
3
Bring Your Leaders Together
Get your leadership team wrestling with the weightiest questions facing your organization: Who do we want to be? What do we need to do to get there? Envision different futures; consider contrasting scenarios; hunt the elephants in the room. The goal is for you and your team to make good decisions, fast – especially ones that have been a distraction for far too long.
4
Write and Revise
It’s only by getting your strategy down in black and white that you can start to see whether it holds water. Does it make sense? Is it really what you mean? Can you really commit to it? Is it ambitious enough? Rethink it, rewire it, reframe it, and revise it, over and over, quickly. Two or three drafts is not enough for something this important.
5
Make Sure It Works
Double-check to make sure your strategy resonates with the people who will have to embrace and execute it. Do they see themselves in it? Does it make them nod? Inevitably, they’ll point out a few wrinkles. More important, they’ll be grateful you circled back with them. This doesn’t have to take lots of time to get right.
6
Launch Yourself Higher
Make some noise. Sell it to your Board. Roadshow it with your stakeholders. Unveil it to your employees. Share it with the world. From here, you’ll need the right habits to keep everyone on track, accountable, and moving upwards. Here we go!
Josh moves hearts and minds. He is so good at being able to walk into an organisation about which he knows very little, quickly understand what leadership is looking for, and then convene employees and others from different groups with widely disparate views. He then pulls all that together into something absolutely compelling. Andy Byford President, New York City Transit