What are some innovative approaches to developing a strategic vision?

Visual tools are important in coaching because they offer a unique and powerful way to engage clients' imagination and intuition. Unlike verbal communication alone, visual tools provide a tangible representation of thoughts and ideas, making them more concrete and easier to process. These tools enable clients to organize complex information, identify patterns, and uncover connections that may have been hidden or overlooked. Additionally, visual tools have the ability to evoke emotions and create a deeper impact, allowing clients to communicate their vision more effectively and engage others in a collaborative and interactive way.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Peter Drucker Visual tools offer a powerful means of creating and communicating a strategic vision. Employing techniques such as mind maps, infographics, or vision boards can help leaders and teams visualize their aspirations. Through imagery and symbolism, a visual representation can inspire collective understanding and commitment, making the strategic vision more tangible and compelling.

Leveraging visual tools is crucial in strategic vision development. I have successfully employed tools like mind maps, flowcharts, and strategy canvases to simplify complex concepts. For a real estate project in Dubai, visualizing the market dynamics through heat maps facilitated a clearer understanding of potential locations for mixed-use developments, optimizing the strategic vision.

Legoplay is a creative method for developing a strategic vision. Through collaborative model building, it promotes dialogue and integrates diverse perspectives. Lego bricks aid in making abstract ideas tangible, allowing for creative exploration and supporting metaphorical representations. The resulting models serve as visual narratives and can be flexibly adjusted, facilitating the continuous improvement of the strategic vision. Overall, Legoplay establishes a shared foundation of understanding and encourages active team engagement in the process.

the most effective way to support executives develop a strategic vision is a blend of team coaching and creative workshops where executive can get engaged in designing a tangible models of how the vision would look like. during the workshop a blend of creative activity and problem solving games will help executive capture the learning and come up with a clear vision that serves the whole system . the part of team coaching is to help executive think, act and design systemically.

Design thinking shines because it puts the human experience at the center of problem-solving and solution creation. By empathizing with users and stakeholders, design thinking allows clients to gain insights and understand their needs and motivations on a deeper level. This human-centered approach fosters innovation by encouraging clients to think outside the box, explore multiple perspectives, and generate creative solutions. The iterative nature of design thinking, with its emphasis on prototyping and testing, enables clients to quickly validate ideas, gather feedback, and make improvements. This iterative process reduces the risk of failure and increases the chances of developing impactful and user-centric solutions.

"Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success." - Tim Brown Applying design thinking to strategic vision development encourages a holistic approach. It involves empathizing with stakeholders, defining the challenge, ideating creative solutions, prototyping, and testing. This iterative process fosters innovation and ensures that the strategic vision aligns with the needs and expectations of those it impacts.

I wonder what could enable development of a strategic vision. In my opinion, definition of vision is derived from purpose and meaning. The vision can determine the mission of the leadership team. Next layer is what values will determine governance and choices. Strategy can respond to how the business can deliver on the promise by its distinctive approach and measurable milestone of success. Vision is less of strategy and more about making an impactful difference. Strategy is the unique path to realise the vision.

Scenario planning helps clients by providing a structured and strategic approach to navigate uncertainties and prepare for the future. By exploring different possible scenarios, clients can gain a comprehensive understanding of potential risks and opportunities in their environment. This helps them identify early indicators and signals for change, enabling proactive decision-making and adaptation. Scenario planning also challenges clients to question their assumptions and biases, fostering a more open and flexible mindset. By analyzing the implications and actions for each scenario, clients can develop robust strategies that are resilient and agile, ensuring they are well-prepared for whatever the future may hold.

Elevate your strategic vision development by infusing cutting-edge methods. Consider immersive experiences, like virtual reality simulations, to immerse stakeholders in potential future scenarios, fostering a deeper understanding of strategic pathways. Harness artificial intelligence and data analytics to analyze trends and identify emerging opportunities, providing a data-driven foundation for your vision. Implement gamification elements to inject an element of competition and creativity into the strategic planning process, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. These innovative approaches not only enhance the strategic vision but also ignite a dynamic and forward-thinking mindset within the organizational?culture.

Improvisational conversation into scenario planning can help clients expand on the possibilities than being in the box. Disney uses the most basic "YES AND.." improvisational technique and not 'BUT..." to explore different perspectives and possibilities. I remember in my training, having used this with attendees helped expanded many new, creative ideas as part of their strategic planning.

Diverse perspectives are crucial for enhancing strategic vision as they bring fresh insights, alternative viewpoints, and a broader range of experiences to the table. When clients seek diverse perspectives from different sources, they are exposed to varied ideas and opinions that challenge their existing thinking and assumptions. This helps them avoid falling into the trap of groupthink, where everyone in the organization thinks similarly and fails to consider alternative possibilities. Diverse perspectives also help clients identify blind spots and mitigate confirmation bias, ensuring a more well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of their business environment.

Collaborating with a pharmaceutical client, I emphasized diverse perspectives in strategic planning. Engaging with professionals from clinical trials, technology integrations, and regulatory affairs ensured a holistic approach. This multidisciplinary input resulted in a more resilient strategic vision for global expansion in the clinical research sector.

Our perspective can be narrowed by surrounding ourselves with the same type of people. Try seeking out activities where you meet new people with different perspectives. You’ll find out in time what matters to them. It’ll allow you to look at your own assumptions anew. You’ll feel more open to choosing a different path once you know how many different ways there are out there.

Learning from experimentation is crucial for clients because it allows them to gain valuable insights, adapt their strategies, and drive continuous improvement. Through experimentation, clients can test their assumptions and hypotheses in a controlled environment, enabling them to validate or challenge their existing beliefs.By collecting and analyzing data from these experiments,clients can make informed decisions based on evidence rather than relying solely on intuition or guesswork.Learning from experimentation also helps clients embrace failure as an opportunity for growth.When clients encounter setbacks or unexpected outcomes, they can identify the reasons behind them, learn from their mistakes, and iterate their strategies accordingly

In the fast-evolving field of Agri-tech, embracing experimentation is paramount. Working with startups in Israel and Australia, we implemented small-scale pilot projects to test innovative farming technologies. The learnings from these experiments informed the strategic vision, ensuring scalability and sustainability in a rapidly changing industry.

I big part of my coaching programme focused on experimentation. We discuss what happens in day to day life. We reflect on the pinch points, the frustrations, what went well. Then we seek to make gentle tweaks using tools and simple practices to improve their effectiveness. Crucially we reflect at this point at what worked, what didn’t and decide how to approach it next time. We keep going over and over this across all areas of their life. Difficultly is seen as information on how to proceed rather than it being internalised. Something needs changing or honing. It might be simply to sit with the discomfort more. This way a client is able to set intention, take action, reflect on how it went and go again. This leads to massive results!

Thinking big and outside-the-box is the most important aspect of any type of strategic vision. It's in the very name of the exercise itself: Vision. Not tactical planning, how to execute, or any type of linear problem solving, but rather how to take an organization or team from where it currently is to heights never dreamed of. Many tools exist for this that all accomplish the same task. Whether it's about defining a BHAG, 10-year plan, or 10X strategy, use an approach that forces the team to think BIG, and dream of going places that are way beyond just 10% better first and then figuring out how to get there second.

Consider fostering a culture of continuous curiosity. Encourage your team to stay informed about emerging trends, technologies, and industry shifts. Actively seek insights beyond your immediate scope, stimulating a proactive approach to anticipating changes. It will ensure your strategic vision remains dynamic and adaptable, positioning your leadership for sustained success.

Arrange a brainstorming meeting for all internal stakeholders, another brainstorming meeting could be done with external stakeholders. Brainstorming meeting would focus on what the strategic directions could be, current situation and challenges faces the business, and solutions to the current challenges that would support the growth to achieve the strategic directions. After brainstorming, same group would assess each point and screen into a strategic plan for the business. The strategic plan would be then cascaded into annual action plan for each business line/department.