Do You Need a Strategy Refresh?

There is no better time than the present to work on completing your strategy. You may have wanted strategy planning to nail down your work on core customer, brand promise or brand promise guarantee. You may need to review your core competencies and refresh the short list. Maybe you are getting close to reaching your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and need to envision a new one.

As many people continue to work virtually, it creates the perfect opportunity to set aside time and schedule a virtual planning session or two. Working virtually allows more flexibility by allowing you to break sessions into 4-hour increments, if desired, and you can schedule the work over several weeks.

I have led strategy and execution planning sessions virtually with clients, and it has been amazing how intimate and focused the sessions have been. All of the normal, daily distractions seem to fade away, and using Zoom or Teams has really kept everyone engaged.

It also seems easier than ever to schedule sessions as the virtual environment eliminates the burden and expense of travel for company team members that are remote.

I have repeatedly read and spoken with many business leaders who shared that they think there is a new normal going forward and think things will never be as they were before. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and it may require a hard look at your 3-5 year strategies. Some may still be viable, but there has been a shift in how services and products are consumed, so you may need to adapt or come up with new winning strategies. There are exciting, new ways to approach the market and fill emerging needs and gaps. There has never been a better time to do a strategy refresh.

We have developed some virtual meeting guidelines I would like to share as a gift. They help get the team ready for the virtual sessions and set the ground rules for how to have an effective session. One of things I believe really helps is to have two monitors available so that you can use the gallery view on your second monitor. This is one of the elements that make the sessions so intimate as you are seeing everyone’s faces and expressions close up.

So pull out your One Page Plan and look over it closely. If you find gaps or part of your strategy that needs to refreshed, get your sessions scheduled and go to work.

As always, plan and execute well!

— Alan