ABC’s of Uniting Culture & Strategy at Year End

Strategy and culture go together like needle and thread—one simply not effective without the other. Setting aside time now to prioritize your year end reflection will help cultivate alignment with your team so you’re focusing on what really matters to your business. It's more important than ever for leaders to step back, reflect, and turn learnings into action. As the year comes to a close and we begin to prepare for 2023, now is a great time to get really intentional about bringing culture and strategy together.

Here are four ways you can wrap up the year and set 2023 up for success.

A is for Appreciate

It's easy to see someone’s skills or expertise and say, “Hey, nice job!” Which is a great first step, but can come off as inauthentic when that’s as far as it goes. 

I was facilitating a retreat with a company that had been through a lot of change. They were struggling to find alignment between the "old and new guard”, which was now presenting as significant resistance. In a facilitated conversation we began to peel back the layers of this challenge and the team's courageous conversations surfaced an unmet need: a need to feel valued. A simple “thanks for your work” wouldn’t have been enough, but as team members shared what they appreciated about each other as human beings and how each individual is making a difference in the work, the team began to break through barriers.

You can unite strategy and culture at year end by letting people know how their work and unique approach has contributed to achieving the mission.

B is for Build Belonging

One of the most fundamental needs that humans have is to belong. We're social creatures, and we crave a sense of belonging at home and in our work. 

A leader approached me about some 1:1 coaching because they kept running into the same communication block with their team. Conversations about strategy would often spiral into defensive reactions from team members. We worked together to unpack a few specific scenarios and ended up identifying a common thread: a feeling of rejection and therefore an unmet need for belonging. This leader was able to change everything by adopting a couple of simple communication strategies that accounted for each team member's need to belong. 

You can unite strategy and culture at year end by facilitating collaborative conversations that put the need for belonging at the centre.  

C is for Contemplate

It's easy to be busy and forget what we've learned from our experiences, but taking the time to contemplate leads to learning that we can apply in the future

A company approached me about designing and facilitating their exit interview process. They wanted a neutral third-party to create the conditions for honest feedback because they wanted to learn from mistakes and unlock strategic growth. After the interviews were complete, I led a debrief with the leadership team. We reflect on what happened, the successes and the challenges. We used employee feedback to surface blind spots for the leadership team, but we didn’t stop there. Contemplation unearthed learnings and strategic priorities that would be critical to the sustainability of the organization. 

You can unite strategy and culture at year end by bringing the team together to share stories of what’s worked, where we got stuck and what we’ve learned.

D is for Decide

Contemplation only gets us so far—we build clarity and alignment and then real magic happens when we use our learning to make decisions about what’s next.

I was invited to do some work with a board of directors who wanted to make decisions about their mission, vision and values. Many different perspectives and passions had been getting in the way of building consensus—they wanted an external facilitator to guide their process. In addition to making key decisions, stronger teamwork and collaboration was a goal they identified for the process. I facilitated each session with tools and processes for collaboration, which made space to explore lots of ideas and then began to zero in on the best way forward. It turned into an exceptional team building exercise. One participant said, “we work better together now than we did before.” 

You can unite strategy and culture by building consensus and making decisions that will take the team to the next level in the coming year. 

Culture and strategy are the dynamic duo. How are you bringing the two together in your own organization at year end? 

I’d love to be part of your year end celebration and help you make the most of bringing culture and strategy together. 

In November & December Optimal Affect has 5 spots available for leaders who want to celebrate their team and the successes of the year, while also reflecting on what you’ve learned and deciding how to apply those learnings in the new year. 

Reach out to ask about claiming 1 of 5 half-day facilitations for your team: https://www.optimalaffect.ca/services