As you look ahead to implementing new strategic initiatives, how actively are you engaging with the senior leaders of your organization to let them know what's coming?
This piece from Inside the Executive Suite lays out a number of questions you should be asking to understand what, who, and how you should be communicating to pave the way for successful implementation.
This series of questions provides a helpful road map for initiating change and gaining upward support for new strategic initiatives.
The initial questions focus on determining how open an organization is to independent development of new strategic initiatives.
Asking these questions help you determine where you stand as well as your best options with a current initiative.
The next set of questions pertains to understanding how to approach the conversations you need to have, and your best negotiating stance.
As a starting point, develop a short list of items that you see as must-have elements. This initial list could be based on what team members, the organization, and other internal participants have been told or have come to expect through their involvement in collaboratively developing a strategic initiative. The goal is to think ahead and consider the types of modifications that will be acceptable before executives ask for changes.
You also need to understand where the pockets of support for the new initiative lie within the organization. To further your sell-in strategy, determine:
The second part of this exploration is more vital and higher-risk: identifying potential naysayers, especially the ones with enough power to do something about their dissent. Try to anticipate the potential challengers using these questions:
The communication and buy-in path that emerges from these questions will suggest how much effort is ahead of us to gain buy-in. It will also provide clues as to whether it looks like you’ve started early enough to both secure the buy-in and launch the initiative on time.
No matter the approach you take to gain support for new strategic initiatives, the key is not putting off the selling step until later. Make this step happen early, and you’ll increase your chances of success.
“Strategic Thinking Exercises: Reimagining the SWOT Analysis” features eleven ideas for adapting, stretching, and reinvigorating how you see your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Whether you are just starting your strategy or think you are well down the path, you can use this eBook to:
Written simply and directly with a focus on enlivening one of the most familiar strategic thinking exercises, "Reimagining the SWOT Analysis” will be a go-to resource for stronger strategic insights!