Monthly Archives: November 2008

Who is your strategy document for?

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If you’re a leader within a large organization, sooner or later you’ll need to develop a strategy — recommendations on how to respond to an event or take advantage of a change in the world. You’ll do some research, talk to people and think a lot.

When the vision is clear in your head, typically the next step is to get everything down on paper so your strategy can get vetted, approved and implemented. Here’s where everything slide sideways quicker than a Texas driver in an ice storm.

One Size Does Not Fit All

You need to remember that a LOT of people need to know about your idea, from the top executive to the worker who will eventually implement your vision. And they need to be treated differently. “Maximize shareholder value” might have meaning for the CEO but it sure sounds like vapour to someone who is working with customers all day.

But Everyone Loves a Story

Execs may claim to be all about the numbers, but they still need to get some emotional attachment before your big idea will really resonate. Storytelling, examples, pictures, colour all help spread your idea and make it stick with people, no matter who they are.

So what should I write?

If your idea is important, and it needs to spread, then you’re going to have to spread your idea many ways. Time to get over the false hope that a single document will inspire everyone in your company to see the light. Here’s some ideas on how to get different audiences to respond to your strategy:

  • You can’t avoid the standard documents: Execs probably require standard documents like business cases, standard item descriptions and presentation layouts. They’re not fun but they’re required. Do them.
  • Make it fun and make it real: Leave the business case in your desk and take a strong presentation on the road to talk to workgroups. Lots of colour, pictures, stories and a strong image of the future. You’ll gain credibility and some allies.
  • Give them something to share: An entertaining ebook that describes your vision and the journey to achieve it is a great giveaway to help your allies spread the word for you.

It’s worth it!

Sure, it’s a lot of work building a collection of documents and presentations to get your ideas across to a variety of audiences. But it’s a really big idea, right? Right? If it’s not worth the effort then you’re better off stepping back to the research / talking / thinking phase.

Photo by Noeluap.

Is that all there is?

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Has this ever happened to you?

Yesterday, about 150 corporate marketers trudged five blocks to the local hotel, went into the dull beige ballroom and sat in row upon row of hardback chairs for another “quarterly rollout.” We started with “the numbers” (three charts, small font) then list after list of what we did and what we’re doing next quarter. The call for ‘any questions?’ was met with silent stares. 90 minutes later we stood up, stretched, and trudged back to work.

Is that all there is? You get 150 people in a room to bore them to death? Honestly, a single slide with a picture, or colour even, would’ve knocked people out of their chairs. In this case, the only leaning forward was to look at a blackberry email.

It is so frustrating when people blow wonderful opportunities to inspire, delight and energize. Boring 150 people at a time is criminal, but how often do we do this in our small groups too? How many of your community meetings just drone on through the same agenda month after month? How many of us, in an attempt to include everyone, talk to noone in particular?

If you do this, even a little, please get help with your presentations. There are lots of good presentation examples available.

Photo credit: Stephanie Booth.

Worried about sharing your cool idea? Try a FriendDA.

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A recurring Triiibes mantra is “Ideas that Spread, Win.”  In fact, having a good idea spread is more important than getting credit for it. That’s a tough one for me, as much of my professional life is making darn sure my company’s secrets stay in the company and I’m afraid that attitude has leaked into my personal life too.   So I’ve been on a personal journey to share more ideas, more often, to more people.   Yet, it’s still a struggle, especially when it comes to new business ideas, like my bakery.

All of this made me very receptive to the ideas in this post. It’s from Rands in Repose, which is on the top half of my ‘must read’ list.

In this case, Rands comes up with an elegant, and possibly tongue in cheek, way to pitch your next great idea to a friend to get some feedback. It’s for those really good ‘uns — the Next Big Thing that you Actually Might Implement.

I’m in a 12 step program to help me freely share ideas, but what about you? Are you the type of person who worries about other people stealing your ideas? Then maybe a FriendDA is the tool you need!

A Must See video if we’re going to get along.

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Since August, I’ve been part of an online group of writers, marketers, thinkers and leaders led by Seth Godin. It’s called Triiibes.com but it’s closed to new members*, so no sense going there right now.

Much of the discussion on Triiibes lately has been the US presidential election. It’s easy enough to see why — it’s on a lot of people’s minds these days. But there hasn’t been any more common ground found in this group than with any other group of people I’ve talked with during this, or any other election season. Why is that?

Here’s a short video by Jonathan Haidt** that puts a lot of the election discussion into context. In the entertaining and ultimately hopeful presentation, he talks about morals as the reason for this polarity, and offers up ideas to find common ground even with moral differences.

Video Link: Jonathan Haidt on the Moral Mind

Please take a look, then let’s discuss. I’ll wait for you.

* If you’re completely miffed that you can’t get into triiibes, there is a way. But I need to know you’re serious about it before I’ll tell you.

**Mr. Haidt is the author of one of my all time favorite books “The Happiness Hypothesis” which is the one book on psychology that you simply must go read. But wait till we talk about the video.

Putting the Tribes idea to work for non-profits

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I put Seth’s conference call for non-profits on my iPod a couple weeks ago and have listened to it four times so far. I guess I’m one of those auditory learners because Seth’s talk really resonated with me. I tossed and turned all night thinking about how to best apply these ideas to my local community association.

Some background: We’re the stereotypical old, boring organization who runs some kids recreational programs, tries to start a few more now and then, installs some new playground equipment every 5 years or so, and bemoans the loss of volunteer spirit in the community (reality is lots of people volunteer, just not with us anymore.)

I’ve been trying to get more action / buzz / excitement going about the work we do. New website, more focus on the neighbourhood at large rather than the association, although my email updates have had a healthy dose of ‘we need volunteers’ in them too.

Seth’s talk got me thinking of how we need to change.  Here are some initial thoughts, in the hope they might kickstart your own ideas:

- Be clear on what we want to accomplish. More community programs? More connection between neighbours? There need to be causes before there can be tribes, and we might be nurturing different tribes for each cause.

- Make it easy for people to connect with each other around these causes — more than connecting with the association.

- Make it even easier for people to tell others about their cause.

- Make it easy for people to support the cause by doing what they already do. (ie. building a squidoo lens about their hobby can still help the cause.)

So how should I change my approach?

Well, shifting away from regular ‘Next Meeting’ emails is one thing.

Focus on getting our most active members (those who are enrolled in lots of programs) spreading the word about our programs.

Get those who are most visible in the neighbourhood spreading the word about the neighbourhood.

We become “the platform”, but really more of the guide for easy ways to spread the word.

Collect permission assets along the way, with the intent of connecting people to start new projects (that they design) Maybe we don’t start projects but guide people along the way.

Celebrate the heck out of everything the tribe does — not what the association does.

I think this is what Seth calls “organizing around a tribe” in his new book.

What am I missing?

Let me know in the comments!