It’s 4:30pm on a Friday and your team has to make a critical decision by the close of business but you’re on an overseas flight, unreachable and u

How to Write a Strategy Statement Your Team Will Actually Remember

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2024-09-19 14:30:17

It’s 4:30pm on a Friday and your team has to make a critical decision by the close of business but you’re on an overseas flight, unreachable and unable to help. The team has two options on the table and both seem equally compelling although each have long-term consequences if they get it wrong. How will the team know, without being able to check in with you, which call is the right call to make?

Strategic planning is a necessary process but, ultimately, distributed teams need to make decisions with limited time and information. If your Strategy is trapped in a lengthy Powerpoint document or worse a single executive’s head, teams will be more likely to drift off-strategy over time and/or be slowed down as they need to run every decision by one person who owns the strategy.

Busy teams need simple heuristics, or rules of thumb, to guide their decision making. One tool we recommend is an Even Over Statement. These are simple phrases that teams can pin up on a wall and use as strategic touchstones in their work.