Last week, I wrote about one reason not everyone in your organization will be able to see themselves clearly in your strategy. Today, we’ll explore a second reason.
Sometimes, in an effort to make a strategic plan thorough and inclusive, we see it as an inventory of everything we currently do.
A strategy is not an inventory—it’s a filter.
Continue reading “Filter not Inventory”I often hear clients talk about the importance of all staff being able to “see themselves in the new strategy.”
It’s an appeal for relevance and inclusion, and I get it. But it’s the role of strategic leaders to help each person see themselves in the strategy—it’s not the role of the strategy itself to reflect everybody’s work.
Continue reading “A Flattering Mirror”Strategic planning is not just for corporations—lots of my one-on-one coaching work feels like strategy-building for individuals too. And that’s a space I’m curious about—as group activities that also apply to individuals, and vice versa.
So over the next few weeks, I’m going to write about what strategic planning is and isn’t, and I’d invite you to view it through both an individual and collective lens, as I suspect it will apply to both.
Continue reading “Strategic Leadership”During the recent holidays, our family noted how babies and toddlers seem to grow in spurts — whether in height or in their developmental milestones, growth appears to accelerate during particular patches, and it’s often during vacations. (Then we agreed it’s probably because that’s when we have time to pay attention to what’s happening…)
Looking back over your life, can you notice seasons of accelerated growth? I’m curious not just what was happening to you during those times, but who you were spending time with. Can you recall the presence of guides along the way?
Continue reading “Expert Companions”“We cannot create what we can’t imagine.” ~ Lucille Clifton
Writing a new year’s post on January 6 seems fitting this year, as I’m easing into 2025 rather than running headlong into it.
I would normally be writing about my guiding word of the year (it’s “rooted”), but honestly, my 2024 word didn’t stick at all, to the point I needed to refer back to last year’s early January blog post to remember what it even was (“expansive” that kept autocorrecting to “expensive” — both were true)!
Continue reading “Imagination over Resolution”