Executive strategy sessions don’t have to be futile or unproductive. Yet, according to some sources, a significant portion of executives, potentially as high as 97 percent, believe that traditional strategy sessions are a waste of time.
But because of a whole host of factors — disruptions of geo-politics, AI transformation, executive-middle manager-and-employee conflict, and fears of global recession — there has never been a more important time for effective strategy sessions
I have run executive strategy sessions for more than 30 years, and I know they don’t have to be a waste of time. The secret I have learned is to make the strategy session relevant. This requires discussing key strategies, obstacles, new business disruption, AI transformation, workforce reskilling, and new products and services.
After the strategy session, it is essential to meticulously follow through on the decisions made. It also helps to have key milestones and measures to track progress and resources
Here are seven tips for running game-changing strategy sessions:
1 – Be clear about the purpose and objectives.
Many times executives know they have a problem from their operational metrics such as declining sales, poor manufacturing quality or customer service, or an empty product pipeline. Or they have become aware that a disruptive competitor is about to enter their market, or that a well-known competitor is about to release a cutting-edge product. But they don’t know what to do. Spending one or two days with colleagues determining the correct strategy and course of action can be pivotal for the business.
Start by understanding the purpose of the strategy session.
As you determine the purpose and objectives of your meeting, it’s critical to have the facilitator speak with the key stakeholders to gather their understanding of the issue at hand. Views of the problem may vary wildly from engineering to sales and finance to marketing. I find it helpful to ask the participants this question: If the strategy session is to be successful, what understanding and direction will we have as a common ground after the strategy session?
If the strategy session is to be successful, what understanding and direction will we have as a common ground after the strategy session?
It is also important to select the right location, I prefer a large conference room to comfortably accommodate everyone with breakout rooms close by.
Finally, communications about the purpose and expectations of the meeting to the participants and any pre-work are essential to having the participants show up with the appropriate mindset and energy level.
2 – Determine who should attend.
Many times too many participants attend a strategy session, and it becomes hard to have a meaningful discussion and set clear direction after the meeting. In addition, when people from multiple levels of an organization gather, politics and personal agendas may get in the way and stifle participation.
I find it helpful to start with the top level of the organization and when key information is required from internal or external experts to invite them in during critical times on the agenda. I suggest no more than ten participants to allow for meaningful contributions by everyone and maintaining a focused discussion.
Besides, technical experts or lower-level managers may be involved later implementing actions after the leadership team has reached a consensus on what needs to be done.
Be sure that those who are attending are 100 percent focused on the purpose of the meeting and are not distracted by the day’s emergencies. Have everyone put away their smart phones.
3 – Manage the group’s chemistry
Empirical evidence shows that teams with equal participation and empathy, who thoroughly discuss the data and alternative decisions, and trust reach better decisions than groups with dominant members and mistrust. This is particularly important when the business is facing new existential threats and opportunities or when new thinking and innovation is required.
So what is the chemistry of the group? Dominance from one or more members of the team can stifle critically needed information or ideas. Are there some participants that prefer to stick in their safe, functional areas and don’t participate, yet have valuable information to contribute?
Having the meeting facilitated by an experienced facilitator who can stimulate equal participation and keep the group moving forward on common interests is extremely helpful.
The facilitator will need to meet with the stakeholders beforehand and set up the expectations of the meeting to establish ground rules.
I find it helpful to involve external resources in strategic strategy sessions when the business is facing new threats. External experts can help the group guard against group think and can provide keenly needed insights.
4 – Determine the agenda, required information, and meeting process.
Many executives support the need for an agenda but don’t spend enough time preparing one. An excellent facilitator will help with this work. For example, each item on the agenda should clarify the presenter, time needed, and the purpose of the item. Is it a presentation of critical data? Is it a question-and-answer session? Open discussion? Brainstorming? Time for a decision by the leader, vote, or consensus?
For each item, how much time will be required? Will the whole group be together, or is it an item for work sessions and breaking out into small groups?
Also what group information or templates will be required? SWOT analysis? KPI templates? Anonymous digital voting tools? What information can be distributed to the group ahead of time to ensure all participants have the same necessary information?
Preparing a detailed agenda may be tedious. I find, however, that the more time put into the meeting’s agenda, the better the informed discussion of the meeting and outcomes.
5 – Set the roles of those attending.
As I mentioned earlier, it is critical to have a facilitator lead the meeting. And if you do use a facilitator, make sure the leader and facilitator are clear on their roles.
Having a facilitator frees up the executive leader to participate in the meeting without having to worry about keeping the meeting on the agenda.
Make sure stakeholders are clear about how decisions will be made in the meeting and by whom. The leader? Group vote? Group consensus? In addition, the facilitator will also want to speak to the leader and stakeholders about the facilitator’s role for keeping the meeting going, everyone’s full participation, and avoiding dominance.
Other key roles for meetings include a scribe who can track the key issues of the discussion, record questions that can’t be answered in the meeting, and note conclusions of the group, actions, and follow up items. The facilitator and scribe need to work well together to keep the meeting moving forward and on task. Finally, having a timekeeper, usually an executive participant, will help keep the meeting on time.
6 -Bring a Kool-Aid pitcher.
The trouble that many executive teams have at strategic strategy sessions is that it is too easy to say, “We already tried that” or “It didn’t work before”. They shoot down new ideas without giving them the consideration they deserve. Many times, unconscious biases also enter the picture.
The real focus needs to be on new information, threats, or opportunities. It may be that the idea that was once tried and failed may now work because of new technology. Or it may be that our understanding has improved. Either way, established senior teams need to avoid drinking from the Kool-Aid of implied group understanding (the term was coined after the Jim Jones Jonestown tragedy) and openly consider all creative ideas to win in the marketplace. Change is an enduring constant.
With several strategy sessions, I actually had Kool-Aid pitchers with tumblers on the conference room table. Whenever someone shot down an idea before the group could consider it, I asked them to drink from the Kool-Aid pitcher.
I actually had Kool-Aid pitchers with tumblers on the conference room table.
It became a norm from the strategy session, and the Kool-Aid pitchers became a fixture at other meetings.
7 – Close strong!
Now that you have had a satisfying one- or two-day strategy session, it is important to review the outcomes of the meeting, reflect on them, and put in place the governance of the group’s decisions. This is when most strategy sessions fail. Leaders simply don’t follow up rigorously enough.
At the end of the session, it is critical to review the group’s open items that require follow-up, the decisions that have been made, and future decisions to be made.
I find it very helpful to walk through each of these items in a closing session for the meeting that may take an hour. This includes taking time to set up teams to implement the strategy session’s decisions.
This is when most strategy sessions fail. Leaders simply don’t follow up rigorously.
Each will need an executive sponsor from the strategy session who will charter and shepherd the group, a team leader, and the team’s purpose. Scheduling the first meeting is also important. From there, the sponsor will need to work with the team leader to attract members, establish budget, actions, resources, milestones and measures.
Often at this stage, someone asks, “Is all of this follow up necessary? Our managers and employees are already busy!” I always welcome this question. It leads to a vital group discussion on the value of the effort and what other initiative may need to be delayed or cancelled to free up resources. This is a tough discussion, but it is necessary to give the organization the direction it needs on priorities and accountability to overcome the resistance form employee habits and your organization’s current way of thinking.
Closing strong includes two additional essential elements.
The first is planning what to tell the workforce. I recommend setting up a communication plan to tell the workforce the burning platform executives are taking on, the strategies and key action steps including the teams (and their executive sponsors) that were set up to implement change. Then promise the workforce ongoing updates.
The second element is a change management plan. Seventy percent of new strategies and change efforts fail. As Peter Drucker told Ford executives at lunch, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
McKinsey’s research has found that executives can have successful strategy execution and meaningful change with only seven percent of the workforce owning part of the change effort, at first. These organizations have twice the success rate as others, measured by total return to shareholders (TRS). Higher employee participation leads to higher TRS.
McKinsey views seven percent as a tipping point, not a destination. McKinsey’s researchers found that as employee involvement increased, the average excess TRS rose as well. Initiatives with seven to 13 percent participation showed double the returns (as measured by total return to shareholders) of those with lower participation. Those with 21-30 percent employee participation were nearly four times as successful.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”
But how do you get to the tipping point of seven percent of employee participation? This takes a robust and effective change model.
I have been a fan of the John Kotter eight-step change model and have used it successfully over the years. An overview of Kotter’s eight steps is highlighted in the graphic below. Note that the third step in his model is to create a guiding collation. But what are the characteristics of that guiding coalition?
In his book, Leading Change, Kotter writes that a guiding coalition team should have four characteristics. But he does not present research on how big the guiding coalition should be. Below are his four characteristics:
- Position Power. Have enough key players on board, especially mainline middle-managers (in addition to executives who serve as visible sponsors for the initiative), so the middle-managers cannot block the change.
- Expertise. Make sure the various points of view are represented — in terms of functional organization (such as engineering or operations), work experience, nationality, or any other relevant factor, so the guiding coalition will be trusted.
- Credibility. Have people with a reputation for honesty and competence so the initiative will be taken seriously.
- Leadership. Have proven leaders so the group’s recommendations will be taken seriously.
I have found in my implementation of change in large organizations that successful guiding coalitions grow with enthusiastic supporters as the change is launched, often with sub-teams in various departments.
Strategy sessions — when they are managed well — are an essential tool to get the leadership team and organization’s focus on critical changes that need to be made. However, a successful strategy session is only the first step. To prevent your organization culture from eating your new strategy, you must use a robust change management model.
Do you need an experienced facilitator for a critical strategy session? Contact me at VA@VictorHRSonsultant.com.
About Victor
Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic Human Resources Consulting and Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with organizations to transform HR and recruiting, implement remote work, and develop extraordinary leaders, teams, and innovation cultures. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Hack Recruiting: The Best of Empirical Research, Method and Process, and Digitization. He is quoted in business journals such as The Wall Street Journal, Workforce Management, and CEO Magazine. Victor has partnered with The Conference Board on innovation research. Subscribe to his weekly blogs at http://www.VictorHRConsultant.com