Strategies

Strategy is a big word. Well, it isn't that big, but it can be very complex. But as you expect from us by now, we like to keep things simple. We've looked at why your team exists and what it wants to achieve. This week we look at how it will get there.

What is Squadify Connects?

Punchy, actionable insights and tips to make the life of the team leader a breeze.

[00:00:00] Pia: Strategy is a big word. Well, it isn't that big. And it can be very complex though. But as you expect from us by now, we like to keep things simple. We've looked at why your team exists and what it wants to achieve. This week we look at how it will get there. I'm Pia.

[00:00:19] Dan: And I'm Dan, and this is Sqaudify Connects.

[00:00:22] It's worth saying at the outset that strategy can be a high. Highly sophisticated part of a team's work and a part of clarity. People have defined it as the path to your goal, your chosen path strategy is choice, et cetera. That's all true. And that high level strategy has definitely propelled many organizations to great success.

[00:00:44] Pia: But our experience is that teams really do need to keep it simple. Think of your strategies as three to four main points of effort that will help you to achieve your goal. These should involve a number of people in your team and should not be totally functional. As soon as you define one of your strategies as sales, you are in danger of leaving that to the salesperson, which is not very collaborative.

[00:01:12] Dan: Absolutely. And building these collaborative pillars is actually another crucial way to keep your team members working together as a team. If you think about the work you've done so far, you set shared goals. you've had, you've got a shared clarity. There's no point going off now and executing separately.

[00:01:30] So how do you come up with these strategies? Now, you may be a strategic genius or you might have one on your team and be able to just identify the strategies you need. However, we found a very pragmatic approach. Here it is. Ask your team to write on a post-it note virtual or real every action that you need to do, to achieve your vision. People absolutely love this. Uh, you know, we've all got a list of things to do in our heads, and out it comes. You'll have loads of, loads of loads of input, loads of content. Then what you do is you together group them or clump them to use a very technical term into categories. You may need to keep trying until you get to five or under. And finally you just name them, give them a good name, and you've got your strategies.

[00:02:13] Pia: So you won't be surprised that is your experiment for this week. So let's run through it again. One, a post-it note, virtual or real for each action. Two, start grouping them. Again, this can be a team task. You'd be surprised how things work when everyone swarms around on this. Three, come up with a smart name for each one.

[00:02:36] Dan: And finally, just check that the strategy you have are genuinely going to involve a number of people in your team. We'll talk about roles next week, but working on these strategies should be part of everyone's job.

[00:02:47] Pia: We hope you've enjoyed the Sqaudify simple approach to the sometimes complex subject of strategy. Enjoy getting your strats in place and we'll see you next week for the last in the Clarity on a page mini-series. See you then.