When I was in my Masters program, we did a lot of work around engaging organizations at the level of Strategic Planning. And yes, I think that getting a whole workforce involved in the strategic planning process is powerful. But we can't always involve employees from the ground floor with strategic planning. Often times, the ball is already rolling.
Today I'm going to lay out a simple way for you to develop engagement in your team around a strategic goal that has already been set. Lets say for the sake of this example that the goal is to increase customer visits by 10% over the following 12 months.
Easy steps to engagement:
1. Get your team in a room, perhaps as part of a regular staff meeting. Present the goal to them. Tell then a bit about the behind-the-scenes discussions that leadership have been having about this goal. Why is it important? What suggestions are there about achieving it?
2. Ask the team to talk about how they feel about this goal. Do they think it is worthwhile? What is enticing about it? What is troublesome about it? Is this something that this team can support? What are the upsides and downsides of meeting or not meeting this goal?
3. Begin looking into how this team has influence over the goal. "What does our department do that influences customer visits?"
4. Brainstorm a list of things that your team could do that would positively influence this goal. Brainstorm a list of things that your team could do that whould negatively influence this goal! Identify what you are already doing in support of the goal.
5. Ask your team to pick a few items (positive influences) that they have the most energy around. Ask them to spend some time researching these ideas. It may be as simple as doing Internet research, or possibly gathering data from customers on what they want. Ask them to come back and present a recommendation for one change the group could make to bring this goal to life. Tell them that they'll be presenting the proposal to you, and if possible, get another "big cheese" (Your VP, the CEO) in to listen - give them a big audience to wow!
6. Check in with the team to help them refine their proposal. Be sure that you balance feedback (because you don't want them to bark up a tree that the organization will never allow to grow) with autonomy (because this is about empowerment.)
7. Review the proposal, and give honest feedback. If the proposal(s) make sense, engage your team in implementation. The organization set the goal, but they determined the approach!
This process of making organizational strategy "real" for teams is all about giving them the opportunity to be creative around implementation. When we come to our teams with rigid rules about "how we're going to get visit numbers up" we limit creativity and buy-in for the change. What people create they will support. I've said it before, and I'll shout it from the roof tops.
And it doesn't always mean that your team needs to decide the "what." We can engage them around the "how."
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