4 Moves to Turn Strategy into Action

 A discussion with John Kundtz of Spotlight Consulting

Mention “strategy,” and it can feel like a step away from reality. After all, what’s the point of making a five-year plan if you are only going to print it, 3-hole punch it, snap it into a binder, and stash it on a shelf until the next strategy session?

But you’ll have to admit that actionable strategy is often missing from our frantic focus on tactics. Yet some of us have a hard time setting tactics aside (for instance, quickly pushing out social media responses or making pragmatic but short-sighted decision about a trade show) to ask those layered questions that strategy demands.

Why is it so hard to pull away from busy tactics to ask big questions?

I put this question to John Kundtz, founder of Spotlight Consulting. At Spotlight Consulting, John has a 25-year track record of helping companies—from Fortune 25 to startups—build a strategic vision leading to action. John recently heard a similar question from a client:

“We always talk big, lofty ideas, but nothing happens.”

Static strategy, printed, bound, and sent to the morgue of a binder on the shelf, is not what John does with his clients. His dynamic sessions hash through strategy in real time with the people responsible for making a difference. These are people who are eager for results and invested in the work. These are the directors, VPs, and general managers who do not suffer fools. Setting strategy with these folks needs to point toward continuous progress.

Kundtz uses four moves to make sure that big plans turn into action and revenue.

#1—Recognize that people want strategy

“People at senior levels love talking about and engaging in strategy,” said Kundtz. Strategy occupies the minds of senior management and others responsible for an organization’s movement forward. Defining “forward” and defining “movement” are all pieces of strategy, so the more clarity, the better.

But interest in strategy can drop for employees further down a chain of command, where people settle into “just doing their jobs,” which means work that is well-defined. Strategy feels less-than-urgent.

Most of us prefer to put out fires rather than to think about some far-off future. Most of us let the “important & urgent” quadrant rule our calendar while promising time with a wink to the “important and not urgent” quadrant (Figure 1).

Kundtz designs his sessions knowing tactics and urgencies loom larger than strategic plans for many employees. He combats this misunderstanding by giving strategy conversation the immediacy of tomorrow.

Kundtz uses a couple of tools to win around others who prefer tactics to strategy. The Situation Assessment and SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) aligns the leadership on where the company is today and begins to show gaps in knowledge and opportunities to grow. He also constantly points to his roadmap for actionable tactics at the other end of the process. This roadmap helps assure those who feel they don’t have time for strategy that their time will be valued and put to good use.

In the end, everyone wants to know how their actions and tactics add up to something lasting. That is what a strong strategy does: it points action and tactics in the right direction.

#2—Build trust

Getting participants to trust that you are not wasting their time is one of the first big obstacles.

“It helps to be hired for the task by the CEO,” said Kundtz. “But you still have to engage everyone” that this is a worthwhile time investment. That’s why Kundtz starts with discussions with key stakeholders.

“I meet with people ahead of time,” said Kundtz. But those meetings are not always easy. One of his clients had a “grumpy guy” who needed to be part of the strategy section. No one thought Kundtz would get buy-in from Grumpy Guy, but because of Grumpy Guy’s knowledge and longevity, it was essential he had a voice in the process.

So, Kundtz scheduled the meeting.

“I got an earful,” said Kundtz. “But I listened and acknowledged what he said.” This up-front listening laid the groundwork for the topics that came up in the strategy session meeting. In the end, Grumpy Guy became an advocate for the renewed strategy, which won respect from the rest of the team.

Those one-on-one listening sessions do double duty: they collect information and set the tone and expectations for the rest of the sessions. This is the beginning of how to build trust.

#3—Design a strategy discussion with specific goals/outcomes

Designing a two-day strategy workshop ensures each session has its purpose. Productive strategy discussions don’t magically materialize in a room full of doers; a lot of preparation is required to make it all work.

All the material and discussions from the stakeholder meetings are used to set the agenda to help ensure every voice is heard and that alignment takes place. Transparency is a key beginning point and runs through the entire meeting. Reviewing goals together for the entire session helps build buy-in. It is also important that each participant understands the group goal so they can choose to participate.

From the SWOT session to the sessions centered on revisiting and “grounding” the discussions on values and goals, each session starts with an expert presentation and then opens into processing as a group what needs to happen next. None of the sessions will be on autopilot or mere presentations. All sessions are designed for maximum engagement, to uncover the strategy, and then to fully embrace that strategy with actionable steps and tactics.

#4—Run a tight meeting

“I don’t like to use the word ‘facilitation,’” said John. Lots of people facilitate meetings, according to John. Much of the work is done prior to the session.  In a recent meeting, John found that the pre-work and pre-meeting discussions started a series of internal conversations that bubbled to the surface in the group strategy session. The result was a discussion larger than any one person’s thoughts. New things come out of the meeting, perhaps, especially from new voices.

Before the meeting ever starts, John works with the CEO or person who hires him to make sure that if the team is meant to produce the strategy, the team will produce the strategy. That’s part of the transparency factor. “I never dictate,” said John. Instead, he remembers previous conversation bits and interjects them into the conversation at the right moment. John is the one to ask how the new ideas align with the bigger goals they mentioned earlier.

Getting a team together to rubber-stamp what the CEO says is not Kundtz’s goal. That’s why facilitation is only the beginning of what he wants. The goal of these strategy sessions is for the team to recognize what it wants and then sign up for the tactics to get it where it wants to go.

Where strategy gets dead-ended

Before designing your own strategy session, it’s good to recognize the places where strategy can float off into space. Many of these pitfalls have to do with expectations that are met—or unmet:

• Participants come to present but refuse to participate. “Presenting for the sake of presenting,” said Kundtz. “It’s got to be heading somewhere.” That is why each sub-session of a strategy session has its own purpose. And that purpose, when presented transparently to the group, helps people see and agree with the objectives, which elicits participation.
• “Good talk, but nothing happens” is something Kundtz has heard about strategy sessions. He combats that prevailing notion by breaking strategies into bite-sized tactics and be very specific on next steps.  Don’t let people leave the meeting without knowing that something is going to happen.. However, each tactic has fallen from the strategy, not vice versa.
• Keep the roadmap front and center. Kundtz is transparent all the way through and steps in decisively to pull the group away from rabbit trails.

These four moves help turn dedicated tacticians into doers aligned with bigger strategies.

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