You may not have had the opportunity to host a full strategy session in Q4 last year. While, we really emphasize the importance of carefully planning a full two-day session, we understand that many organizations face realities that sometimes get moved or skipped altogether.
In case you have not yet held your strategy session for your team, we really encourage you to stop, take pause, and plan a condenses 2-3 hour session to discuss and plan for these four areas:
1. Self-Assessment:
Ask your team (and yourself) to answer a few simple questions:
What parts of my job am I the best at? Enjoy the most?
What areas do I have opportunities to learn, grow, and improve?
What aspects do each of my co-workers (and my boss) excel at?
What aspects do each of my co-workers (and my boss) need to assess for improvement?
What resources would make my job better/improve my performance?
What’s one thing I really need to learn or conquer in the next quarter?
2. Start/Stop/Continue:
This exercise is a rapid-fire brainstorm of areas to Start doing something new, Stop doing something you’re currently doing, or Continue doing something that’s going well.
Get out a flip cart and take notes.
Post sticky notes all over the table.
Create a Google Doc with ideas.
Just do something to rehash and assess the past year and make definitive decisions about what your next quarter (or year) will look like.
3. Target Clients/Target Sectors:
Not everyone is your client. If you’re a generalist, you’re probably not doing any one thing really well. Take a look at your past 1-2 years of client work and ask your team these type of questions:
What work do we really enjoy doing? (What’s challenging, exciting, creative, worth it?)
What types of client work/projects/services are best suited for our team?
What clients pay? (This is a biggie!) Paying, paying on time, and paying appropriately are huge!
What type of new work aligns well with what we’re currently doing?
What resources (or staffing) do we need to consider to continue to grow?
What marketing outreach, campaigns, or materials do we need to develop to make this happen?
4. Lead Generation/Build the Funnel:
This is my favorite part!
Ok, so how are you going to get there? You should have a pretty good idea of what you’re good at, what you like doing, and what type of clients you’re going to be targeting. Now you need to set SMART goals to establish exactly how you’re going to build leads, engage your target audience, and SELL in the coming year. We have some great ideas of how to accomplish in-person selling (business development-link to the communications blog) and utilizing digital tools to accomplish your objectives! Marketing Strategy should align perfectly with your business goals: Where are you heading? And how can you best steer your vessel to get there?
