How to run a strategy day that produces real decisions

Ruth has facilitated a lot of strategy days. The ones that work and the ones that do not have very little to do with the venue, the catering, or the quality of the slides. They have almost everything to do with how the day is structured and what the group is actually trying to decide.

Start with the decision, not the discussion ¶

The most common mistake is designing a strategy day around topics rather than decisions. 'We will discuss our market position' is a topic. 'We will decide which two customer segments to focus on for the next 18 months' is a decision. The second framing is harder to agree on in advance, but it makes the day dramatically more productive.

Before the day, the facilitator (or the most senior person in the room) should be able to list the three to five decisions that need to come out of the session. If that list does not exist, the day is not ready to happen yet.

Manage the room, not just the agenda ¶

Every leadership team has a dynamic: someone who talks too much, someone who defers, someone who agrees in the room and dissents afterwards. A good facilitator knows this going in and designs the session to work around it. Small-group work before plenary discussion is one of the most reliable tools, because it gives quieter voices a chance to form and express a view before the dominant voices set the frame.

The stop-doing list ¶

No strategy day is complete without a conversation about what the business is going to stop doing to make room for the new priorities. This is the conversation most groups avoid because it involves saying no to things people are attached to. It is also the conversation that determines whether the strategy is real or just aspirational.

Ruth builds this into every session she facilitates. It is usually the most uncomfortable 45 minutes of the day and the most valuable.

What to do in the 48 hours after ¶

Decisions made in a room evaporate quickly if they are not written down and distributed fast. Within 48 hours of the session, someone needs to send a written summary of every decision made, every action agreed, and every owner named. If that does not happen, the day will be remembered fondly and acted on barely at all.

If your team is due a strategy day and you want someone else to design and run it, the workshop facilitation service is worth a look.