Want to know if you and your Leadership Team are focused and aligned? Here’s a tool to help you do it. Next time you meet give each of them this 6 Questions document and exactly 3 minutes to complete it. If everyone’s answers are similar (yours included), then your team is focused and aligned. Good job. If not, you’ve got work to do. The answers to these 6 questions are the foundation of your strategic framework.
Keep this in mind: If you and your Leadership Team are not focused and aligned, there’s no way your entire team will be focused and aligned.
WHAT TO DO:
1. At your next Leadership Team meeting give everyone the 6 Questions document. Let them know you have no expectations. Give them exactly 3 minutes to complete it.
2. Discuss your answers as a team. The purpose is not to judge but to understand. Did everyone answer all the questions? Were the answers similar? If not, why?
Is it your organization hasn’t determined the answers or that your team doesn’t remember them? If your team simply doesn’t remember them, then at the very least you’ve got a communications issue. And maybe an alignment issue – the answers haven’t been translated into how you actually run the business. If you haven’t determined the answers, then you’ve got a strong case for starting a Strategic Management Process.
Here are other resources you may find useful:
Learn: The Triumph of Strategic Management over Strategic Planning
Do: Strategy is a Process, not an Event
3. Make it an expectation that each member of your Leadership Team can recall the 6 answers at a moment’s notice. As a team, discuss how you’ll make that happen. For example, you might discuss the answers at the start of every Leadership Team meeting. Collectively agree and then take action.
