Vanilla Strategy

In this last installment of my mini-series on ‘facilitation tips from the trenches,’ I’m turning my attention to how the feedback elicited shapes the decisions we make.

Remember that I am a fan of collaborative strategy building. Multiple perspectives are protective. They reduce blind spots and build buy-in.

Except…

…when they encourage us to play it too safe. 

I see this tendency being reinforced by three common design choices:

1. We invite our closest colleagues to be interviewed or participate in a focus group about our forthcoming strategy. They are bright, thoughtful and committed people. But, is it any wonder that the folks swimming in the same pond as us advise us to “just keep swimming”? I hear clients desire to include “unusual suspects” in consultations all the time, but they rarely do — in part because our network of contacts tends to be dominated by people very much like us. And we don’t want to leave anyone out. So the guest list rarely changes.
   
2. We engage stakeholders in conversations about what our strategy should contain, and we listen for the most frequently repeated answers. We justify moving in that direction by saying that x% of participants suggested that we do abc…but what about the single respondent whose creative idea was an outlier, but would have taken us in a fantastic new direction?
   
3. We produce a document that “everyone can see themselves in” and that our diverse Board is likely to support unanimously. Can you hear it? Others’ opinions should be a springboard, not an anchor.

Then, at the end of it all, the resulting strategy feels a bit (or a lot) too “vanilla.” It’s no wonder — it has status quo baked right in.

Whenever you’re ready, here are a few ways I can help you and your team reimagine your next chapter.