goldilocks and the three strategy retreats
Goldilocks was in high demand for all the obvious reasons. In her early thirties and well-educated, she was known for her insightful analysis, her terrific people skills, her wide network of industry contacts, and a very impressive CV. Her particular expertise was in supply-chain management for the furniture industry. Quality furniture and wooden ornaments had been passions of Goldilocks’ since her early childhood.
Her industry was in turmoil with mergers, takeovers, liquidations and even de-mergers the norm. Headhunters were active, trying to pull together highly capable executive teams for the major players, and Goldilocks found herself with three significant job inquiries all at the same time. Valuing transparency and ethics, she informed all of them about the interest from the others, and requested some insights into their strategy development processes. All of her suitors invited Goldilocks to their strategy retreats to get a feel for their companies. And Goldilocks’ decision about a future employer became straightforward.
Too much
The first strategy retreat was a case of just way-too-much information: Wall-to-wall, 60-minute presentations from every one on the executive team, all justifying the work of their functions with absurdly complex slides that could not be read from the middle of the room, let alone the back. And there was no time to talk to anyone else in the company, except during the lunch breaks, when most people would retire outside to rest their hurting brains. Goldilocks left the conference semi-impressed by the detail presented, but with little confidence in the workplan (too confusing, even to a very smart executive!), and with no coherent understanding of the claimed strategy.
Too little
Now the second strategy retreat was completely different, but no more appealing: a case of way-too-little evidence. There was a nice, positive catch cry: “Our Furniture Strategy Has Legs”, and three big strategic initiatives; one of which was incomplete, and the other two supported by nifty animations but flimsy data — something bland but vaguely threatening about a pressing need to reduce costs; something else about aligning offerings with the needs of nine different market segments, but no clear prioritisation. The entertainment and food were first rate, and there was a great safety update, but Goldilocks left the retreat completely unconvinced by the lack of strategic “direction”. Sure, she’d played “team games” but hadn’t been introduced to the people she would need to be working closely with, or been asked to offer any feedback on the strategy.
Just right
Fortunately, the third retreat was just right. The C-level leadership team appeared on stage in brief segments to outline the key initiatives their teams were developing or delivering. They sought feedback from the floor and each of them answered unrehearsed questions. Participants sat with people from other functions, and were asked to share high-value insights in conversation. They posed questions about competitors, markets and capabilities across the industry, which were then put to the leadership team for spontaneous commentary. The conference ended with the leaders sharing what each of them had learned at the conference. By the time Goldilocks had joined this firm, two weeks later, the C-Suite leaders had already sent an email to all conference participants letting them know the adjustments that the leadership team had made to their own strategic initiatives as a result of the great feedback they’d received at the conference.
Conferences reflect the real culture
Unsurprisingly, the three conferences reflected the leadership and communications styles (in short, the cultures) of the three firms. Moreover, the conferences’ encouraged the assembled teams to align their own communication styles with those demonstrated — a kind of osmosis with predictable outcomes: Too much information; not enough rigour; or “just right” interactive interrogation of the commercial agenda throughout the organisation. Each conference sets an example that the leaders in attendance will follow.
Goldilocks, of course, fit right in at her new employer, and she performed brilliantly in the difficult years that followed. Her peers across the industry were impressed with the intuitive ways that she responded to one of the toughest bear markets ever seen.
In my experience, many senior leadership teams don’t pause to think through the ways that the annual conference telegraphs the actual leadership culture to the extended leadership team. How the conference establishes and demonstrates that culture, and sets a leadership tone. So many organisations choose to run staid, information-loaded or catch-cry-based get-togethers, instead of truly engaging all of the attendees with the senior leaders as they actively consider the state of strategy implementation in the organisation.
Meeting design is crucial to organisational change and performance.
My Top Tips for Strategy Conferences:
- Create a social vibe from the start, and design a few truly engaging group conversations about the material the audience will hear
- Focus on what needs to change, and augment that with information that you know your people want — not too much of it!
- Limit the “lecture” material and give it a clear, simple, understandable theme: the immediate work-stream strategic priorities for the assembled team
- Let them at it — gather valuable feedback about what’s happening out there
- The most senior leaders in the room should be listening and responding more than telling, both at the meeting, and in the follow up
And a suggestion for a little bit of extra reading, if you want to dig deeper around these ideas: