Many of our initial client engagements are a request for facilitating Team Building initiatives strategically. The conversation goes something like this: “Can you help us bring our management team together? We are not clicking on all cylinders right now”.
What they lack most is a strategic planning initiative in facilitating team cohesion and thus most team-building initiatives fail in many organizations.
While our answer is always, “Of course we can support you”, but before we commit to a traditional experiential team building workshop, we engage in a series of diagnostic questions to be certain that team building itself is the right answer.
Often, we discover that what is holding the team back are 3 key areas:
- Lack of alignment to Common Purpose and Mission.
- A Strategic Plan to support their Common Purpose and,
- An understanding of how individual members of the team are expected to contribute to the overall performance of the team
Engaging members of the team in the Strategic Conversation and planning is the absolute best Team Building initiative a management team can take for their organization.
When we begin Strategic Planning with a group, we often start with a team conversation around the purpose. We ask four key questions that help align individuals to Mission and Purpose.
The answers to these questions provide an opportunity to build shared understanding and common commitment for a team in a strategically planned way.
4 Questions to Identify Your Common Purpose to Build your Team Through Strategic Planning:
- Who are our customers or clients?
Without these individuals or groups, we would not otherwise exist.
- What do our customers need of us?
What are the products and services we offer that our customers and clients need?
- What is our value proposition?
What value do we bring to our clients in the delivery of our products and services? How do we fulfill the client’s need in ways that bring value to them?
- What makes us extraordinary in the delivery of our value proposition?
What is unique and special about our value that would make our customers or clients choose us over anyone else? What is our “wow” experience?
There are, of course, other advantages to using Strategic Planning as a management initiative to facilitate a team-building process. For example, through the planning process, teams have the opportunity to work towards agreement and alignment on fundamental strategic priorities and core strategies for the organization.
Team members also participate in the development of a clear plan for executing on business priorities when they are part of the strategic planning process.
This supports role clarity by identifying responsibilities, accountabilities, and timelines. That said, we believe it all starts with shared understanding and a common commitment to Mission and Purpose.
- What are your team’s common mission and purpose?
- How do you know that the team is aligned with your purpose?
The best management initiative to facilitate the team-building process starts with strategic conversation and planning. When was the last time you had a team conversation about your mission and purpose?
Dave was co-founder of kesa along with Mark Bosworth. His first career was as a highly successful national champion college basketball coach. He shifted his career with Mark when they started KESA in 19989. Dave retired from KESA in 2019 but we still enjoy access to his best thinking. He brings an extraordinary amount of experience and insight into his Blogs and we know you’ll gain as much as we and our clients did from his perspective.