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“Working with Eric was a pleasure. We developed a good rapport and established a level of honesty and trust. I valued his counsel and recommendations. I find Eric to be very competent in a variety of disciplines. He is able to correctly diagnose organizational problems and suggest solutions that are on point. I found Eric to be a professional with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior. I would not hesitate to engage his services again in the future.”

Kathy Lueckert,
former Corporate Services Director,
Department of Planning and Development,
City of Seattle
(Kathy is now Director of Planning and Finance for Advocacy and Communications at World Vision.)

“I've worked closely with Eric on developing and presenting the Leadership Eastside community leadership program. He has that rare blend of extensive real-world experience along with a very strong background in theory and research. He moves easily between big picture strategy and the tactical details. Eric brings a superb ability to plan, execute and follow-through, both as a behind-the-scenes planner and as an upfront instructor and facilitator.”

Annalee Luhman,
founding board member,
Leadership Eastside

 

Conflict and change: The blog

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1 July 2009

Strategic conversations

I've helped many groups to discuss and decide what to do on strategic issues. I enjoy working with clients to frame the issues, figure out what information people need, and design an agenda to "get into it." It's gratifying work.

 

Except when we must produce a "strategic plan." When we focus on what will go into the plan, the life drains out of the process and out of me. Too much of the time goes into writing and editing the document—often at the expense of the actual strategic conversation.

 

A CEO client yesterday told me she doesn't like strategic plans either. She prefers short lists or graphics to capture the decisions and direction and does indeed keep the graphic from her most recent strategy process on her desk at all times. (Now that's "living the plan.")

 

I think of strategy conversations as a cloud. From that cloud comes decisions, actions and changes that are the concrete results of the strategic conversation.In the strategic conversation, you wrestle with the current situation, desired state, values, vision, mission and such—all as dictated by your situation and goals. Then, from that conversation comes the decisions, actions and changes you need to make to realize the new or modifying direction.

 

Of course we need to "memorialize" the conversation and keep track of what was discussed and decided, but you don't need a big plan to do that.

 

The most important thing is to have a good strategic conversation. That takes planning, reflection, effort and time. If you do that well, the decisions, actions and changes come a lot easier.