If you were a staff member in an organization and your leaders were launching a new project or initiative—especially something reasonable people can view lots of different ways, like strategic planning or team building—how would you want them to communicate to you?
You would likely want to know …
- What the heck’s going on?
- Why does this matter?
- What’s my role?
- What’s going to happen in the short term that I need to plan for/schedule around?
- What’s going to happen in the longer term, so I’m not surprised?
As a leader, you answer these questions with a six-part framework. Use this framework to think about the content of messages you intend to send—whether verbally, via email, or via carrier pigeon. (Caution: The latter method is rather slow, but it’s a great attention grabber!)
1. Define reality
Tell in plain and precise terms what’s going on in the organization right now. Cover opportunities and challenges.
Example
- Increase in demands on our team.
- Staff resources have not increased commensurately.
- People are frustrated with re-doing certain jobs.
- Team members working too many hours.
2. Cast vision
Paint a clear and concrete picture about the ideal organization of the future that has realized the most important opportunities and overcome the biggest challenges.
What will you be achieving? How will people feel? Be sure to appeal to shared values.
Example
- Our team’s resources best matched to the organization’s needs.
- Management team’s ideas and talents constantly engaged and in use.
- We’re working fewer hours while producing consistently top-quality work of which we’re proud.
3. Explain team’s role in achieving the vision
If your organization is like many, your team’s already overextended. Now you’re asking them to participate in another project. So be considerate: Justify the project.
Tell why the project’s valuable to the organization. What’s in it for the team? This can be the rallying cry that wins early buy-in.
Example
- Getting to the vision requires the entire management team’s ideas and talents.
- I want and need your input. I genuinely believe we’ll achieve the best results when we thoroughly debate and then move forward together with a plan for achieving the vision.
- First step is ensuring we’ve got the problem accurately defined.
- This is worth doing well, so I am engaging outside help to assess what’s going right and what needs improvement.
4. Tell what to expect next
Again, your team’s probably already overextended. So again, be considerate: Tell them exactly what you need them to do, and how much work’s involved.
Example
- The assessment is simple: Our consultant will call and ask each of you the same questions.
- I think we’ll get the best-quality input at this stage if we give everyone a chance to speak freely. So your answers will be confidential—only the consultant will know who said what, and I’ll sign an agreement saying I’ll never ask him to tell me who said what.
- The consultant will compile everyone’s responses, without names attached, into a briefing document.
- What comes next depends on what we learn from the assessment. At this time, I intend to at a minimum share the briefing document with the entire management team.
5. Tell what to expect in the longer term
What’s this project leading to? Is it an end in itself, or a means to an end?
Within the limits of your limited ability to predict the future, and without unwisely committing yourself to a course of action you haven’t fully considered, try to give a sense of where the project’s going to lead.
Example
- At this time, I intend to get the entire management team together for a planning session where we figure out as a group how to achieve the vision.
- If we do this, we’ll have a big head start because of the assessment. A lot of the initial airing of views, defining of the problem, and preliminary brainstorming of solutions will already have taken place.
- The briefing document, in fact, will function as an agenda for a three-part conversation:
- Here’s where everyone is starting.
- Now let’s find a way to get where we all want to go, from these varying starting points.
- And let’s ensure we’re all wanting to go the same place.
- I’m confident in our team, and I predict that with this careful preparation, we’ll have a stimulating and even enjoyable planning conversation that will move us quickly toward successful implementation.
- We’ve all seen strategic plans sit on the shelf. I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that doesn’t happen here. Our consultant is also a business coach talented at keeping teams like ours on task while implementing plans, and I may well engage him to keep us on track and get us to success at the best possible speed.
6. Invite questions
Make a show of reserving time for questions, so people have some degree of comfort that they really, truly are free to ask them.
Example
- This is a lot of new information, and I expect you’ll have questions. I want to answer them, so I’ve made extra room on my calendar in the next two weeks. Call me with questions, large or small. If you’re questioning whether to ask a question … ask it.
Reflection Questions
Write your change message using the following prompts.
- Name the project in two or three words.
- Define reality: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
- Cast vision: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
- Explain team’s role in achieving the vision: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
- Tell what to expect next: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
- Tell what to expect in the long term: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
- Invite questions: List up to 3 things you want to communicate.
- One
- Two
- Three
Sample Strategic Conversation Plan
- Define Reality
- Increase in demands on our team.
- Staff resources have not increased commensurately.
- People are frustrated with re-doing certain jobs.
- Team members working too many hours.
- Cast Vision
- Our team’s resources best matched to the organization’s needs.
- Management team’s ideas and talents constantly engaged and in use.
- We’re working fewer hours while producing consistently top-quality work of which we’re proud.
- Explain Team’s Role in Achieving the Vision
- Getting to the vision requires the entire management team’s ideas and talents.
- I want and need your input. I genuinely believe we’ll achieve the best results when we thoroughly debate and then move forward together with a plan for achieving the vision.
- First step is ensuring we’ve got the problem accurately defined.
- This is worth doing well, so I am engaging outside help to assess what’s going right and what needs improvement.
- Tell What to Expect Next
- The assessment is simple: Our consultant will call and ask each of you the same questions.
- I think we’ll get the best-quality input at this stage if we give everyone a chance to speak freely. So your answers will be confidential—only the consultant will know who said what, and I’ll sign an agreement saying I’ll never ask him to tell me who said what.
- The consultant will compile everyone’s responses, without names attached, into a briefing document.
- What comes next depends on what we learn from the assessment. At this time, I intend to at a minimum share the briefing document with the entire management team.
- Tell What to Expect in the Longer Term
- At this time, I intend to get the entire management team together for a planning session where we figure out as a group how to achieve the vision.
- If we do this, we’ll have a big head start because of the assessment. A lot of the initial airing of views, defining of the problem, and preliminary brainstorming of solutions will already have taken place.
- The briefing document, in fact, will function as an agenda for a three-part conversation:
- Here’s where everyone is starting.
- Now let’s find a way to get where we all want to go, from these varying starting points.
- And let’s ensure we’re all wanting to go the same place.
- I’m confident in our team, and I predict that with this careful preparation, we’ll have a stimulating and even enjoyable planning conversation that will move us quickly toward successful implementation.
- We’ve all seen strategic plans sit on the shelf. I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that doesn’t happen here. Our consultant is also a business coach talented at keeping teams like ours on task while implementing plans, and I may well engage him to keep us on track and get us to success at the best possible speed.
- Invite Questions
- This is a lot of new information, and I expect you’ll have questions. I want to answer them, so I’ve made extra room on my calendar in the next two weeks. Call me with questions, large or small. If you’re questioning whether to ask a question … ask it.
Photo Credit: GLady via pixabay