Bringing Your Team on the Strategic Journey
And just like that, a new financial year is upon us. While most of us are still recovering from the madness that was the countdown to June 30, we now look to the new financial year that lies ahead. Many of our clients have undergone or are about to begin their strategic planning process for FY23.
When considering your business’s strategic direction for FY23, we recommended that you define why you are doing what you are doing (mission), where do you want to go (vision) and how are you going to go about achieving it (values).
With the current market challenges around employee engagement, getting your team on board with the strategic direction of your business is proving to be a challenge. Simply telling your team of your strategic plans isn’t enough, you need to bring them on the journey. Not only will this drive employee engagement but also drive your team to achieve the business’s strategic goals and objectives.
So, how do you get your team on board? We like to use the analogy of thinking of the strategic planning journey as a bus and to answer the following questions
1. Why are we getting on the bus? (Mission)
It is important that people understand why they are getting on the bus and taking the journey, otherwise, why would they board? The mission statement defines why the organisation exists, why it is important and what problem the business is solving. It provides people with clear direction and clarity that helps them understand why certain strategic goals and objectives have been set and what they are trying to achieve. The mission provides the framework of how we will get there and how we will execute the strategy.
2. Where is the bus going? (Vision)
The vision statement defines where the organisation wants to be in the future, the bus’s final destination. You wouldn’t board a bus without knowing where it was headed, the same can be said for strategy. It is crucial that all members of staff and employees clearly understand where the business is aiming to go over the next financial year, to help ensure they are making strategic decisions and that their efforts are aligned with the business goals.
Successful vision statements are logically connected to the mission as they created the foundation of the ‘why’ and the ‘where’. Answering the above questions will help define the business’s vision and mission and will ensure everyone is on the same bus going in the same direction. Without beginning your strategic planning process with a clear mission and vision, you are basically attempting to build a house without a foundation, no matter how hard you try it’s just not going to work.
If you fail to start the planning process with strong foundations, you’ll end up needing to rethink and replan the strategy down the track.
3. How will we get there? (Values)
The core values of an organisation reflect their ethics and principles, what they stand for and create deliberate practices in regard to how they achieve their goals and work together as a team, the values serve as a powerful tool. The best question you can ask yourself is, is this supporting our values as an organisation, if the answer is no then it’s not going to be a priority. The values then also support creating a cascade of behaviours for the team in how they engage internally and externally to adhesive strategic goals and business as usual.
Employees need to have a connection to the business’s mission, vision and values and feel as if they are a part of the journey, and how their activities and efforts are connected to the business’s greater strategic purpose.
If you are looking for some guidance on FY23 strategic planning and bringing your people on the journey, the team at TalentCode HR are always here to assist you and provide you with advice to get you started in the right direction. Feel free to call our team on 1300 559 585 for a discussion or email us at talentcodehr @ talentcopdehr.com.au
