How to Run a Kick-Ass Strategic Alignment Workshop

Two of my coaching clients asked me last month to conduct a strategic alignment workshop for them. But due to travel plans, I was unable to attend and facilitate and so I created this guide to assist them:?The Organizational Physics Strategic Alignment Workshop Facilitator Guide, ?which lays out the sequence of steps to follow in order to prepare, facilitate, and follow up on a successful strategic alignment workshop.

After completing the guide, I thought it would be impactful to make it available for free, as an easy download, to any leadership team that could benefit from a systematic and proven approach to creating strategic clarity and alignment.

As a side note, both clients commented that their workshops were very successful with the aid of this guide and the supporting materials. Following the steps in this guide, both companies’ leadership teams achieved a very high level of strategic clarity and alignment, as well as clearly defined individual and team objectives and key results (OKRs).

Let me know how it goes for you!

To your success,

Lex

Introduction

There is a famous saying in management circles that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Though catchy, this is not entirely true. Culture is an important part of execution, but the primary responsibility of leaders and executive teams is to establish and exe-cute the right strategy. This takes precedence over culture and everything else.Why? In essence, strategy is about adapting to—and thriving in—a changing environment. Setting and executing the right strategy enables a business to achieve its vision, energize its culture, satisfy its customers, stay agile, and generate profits. If a company fails at its strategy, it won’t survive for long.

This guide you’re currently reading is the foundation for doing all of this. Its purpose is to assist facilitators in guiding a diverse team of leaders from across a company to identify, commit to, and execute on the right strategy. It is your ultimate guide to herdingbig?cats—and doing it well.

This guide is a unique and practical tool. It is a combination of Organizational Physics principles—a systems thinking approach to managing and scaling organizations—and over a decade of hands-on experience in facilitating strategic alignment workshops for hundreds of expansion-stage companies and leadership teams worldwide. It merges solid theory with real-world expertise. It also provides you with a clear and practical roadmap for facilitating strategic planning.

Last and not least, this guide allows you to achieve the equivalent of two to three months of strategic planning and alignment in just two days.

Who Should Read This Guide

Two people in your company should read this guide: (1) the head of the company or business unit (CEO), who is the client of this workshop, and (2) you, the designated workshop Facilitator, for whom this guide is written. The CEO should not also be the Facilitator. The Facilitator and the CEO are two distinct roles that should be played by two people.

Note that the Facilitator may or may not be a part of the Leadership Team. If you are part of the Leadership Team, you will naturally be holding a dual role throughout this process.

The CEO should read this guide to become familiar with the overall process. You as Facilitator should read this guide and then actually use it as a roadmap and checklist to run a successful Strategic Alignment Workshop for the CEO and Leadership Team.

What Is the Strategic Alignment Workshop

The Strategic Alignment Workshop is a process that aims to provide the CEO and Leadership Team with vivid clarity on the right three-year Top-Level Strategic Objectives and the short-range Key Results needed to achieve them.

Before the workshop, a SWOT analysis is performed via team surveys, and participants become familiar with a framework and language for discussing strategy.

During the workshop, the results of the team surveys are used to generate shared insights and alignment on: (1) areas of entropy in the company; (2) the company’s lifecycle stage; (3) the company’s strategic execution risks; and (4) the go-forward strategy.

At the end of the workshop, you will have generated a clear, concrete, and actionable roadmap for strategic execution.

Who Should Attend the Workshop

The workshop participants should be the CEO and the Leadership Team. If there are other key high-level influencers in the company, the CEO should consider whether they should be present as well. Each core function in the company should be represented by one participant.

The number of participants is usually 12 to 15.

The basic idea behind this mix of participants is simple. If this cross-functional group of leaders goes through a well-designed process together, they can more easily recognize and agree on the best course of action for the whole company. Additionally, because of their shared participation and insights, they can also now articulate to their teamswhy?that course of action is the right one. In essence, when the heads are clear and committed, the rest of the organizational body will follow.

In-Person Versus Virtual Settings

I recommend holding this workshop in person at an off-site location away from the regular office environment. However, if you need to facilitate a virtual workshop, you can replicate my instructions for a virtual setting.

How To Use This Guide

This is a guide, not a book, so you should use it as one. You should view this guide as your roadmap for preparing for the workshop and for ensuring proper follow up afterward. Print it out. Make sure you follow the steps in order. Check them off as you go.

The Benefits of This Approach

Following the steps I have outlined in sequence will help you facilitate a very productive session that leads to both short-term and long-term breakthroughs.

This process is both highly efficient and effective. After having facilitated this workshop several hundred times, I can say that following this process is the equivalent of two to three months’ worth of strategic planning and alignment compressed into two days. It also significantly improves the quality of decision making and the team’s alignment around implementing those decisions.

Now let’s get after it. Click?here ?to download the guide.