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This is the implementation post for advances. In a different post, we explore important considerations leading up to the day of the advance. Also, we touched on Office Advances in a previous post titled, “Creating Intentional Workplace Culture”.
So, let’s spend some time together outlining the day of activities and tools which can be used to have a successful advance.
The section below is a duplicate from the “Office Advances: Lead Up” post. I placed it here because it is important, but If you are already familiar, just skip this section and move to the next section.
Have you ever been a part of a great strategic planning session? Be sure to post in comments about this. I would love to hear your thoughts about great strategic planning sessions.
In my opinion, a great strategic planning session does these four things:
- Builds team
- Solidifies purpose and direction connected to a larger plan (something larger than ones self)
- Provides ideas people can envision coming to fruition and engages them in that process
- Creates energy and excitement about the future
The team, given some parameters, creates ideas and energy around where they want to go. Buy-in happens, interest in seeing initiatives be successful is owned by the team, and we can end up impacting what we hoped to impact in even more astounding ways. Grassroots interest and ideas, guided by parameters and a larger picture strategy. Not initiatives handed down from on high.
Wow. That sounds great. But how?
Let’s agree on a few parameters before we jump into the process:
- Every team is different and in a different place. If there is a mismatch between an advance initiative and the readiness of the team, it will not go well. The team must be ready for what is coming.
- Every unit has different leadership styles, and their leaders have different styles.
- Every leader and team has different skills and different level within those skills. See assistance and support when needed.
- Culture is everything. Check out the post on culture. Without an intentional culture, our foundation is weak.
- An advance that does not go well can sink morale, and opportunities to lead through change. This is serious business.
Here is a list of advance activities:
- SWOT Analysis
- TOWS Matrix
- Projects List
- Project ranking
- Action Teams
- FUN activity
Let’s take a deeper look into each of these activities. I will first introduce the activities, then I will provide details later in this post so you can see the process, then the implementation details. So, when you are reading and ask yourself, “How?”, hold on to that for later in the post. Let’s do this.
- SWOT Analysis
Most people know about the SWOT and maybe have done one before. SWOT is an acronym for
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
Here is an example of SWOT from Mindtools.com, one of my go-to strategy sites:
Notice that there are external and internal foci related to each quadrant. Strengths and weaknesses are internal, opportunities and threats are external. This helps a team place their thoughts in the correct quadrant.
Engaging the team in the SWOT during the advance:
It is essential to engage extroverts AND introverts in this process. Care should be taken to ensure the extroverts do not dominate the process. Therefore, I like to use a sticky note process. This ensures an equal voice in the process. Everyone gets sticky notes, writes their thoughts, and gets to contribute. We will cover how later in the “Process” section below.
MISSTEP ALERT: Beware that the SWOT analysis is NOT a strategy. It is simply a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. There is no strategy yet…it is a list. Hence, the next section, TOWS
Everyone places their sticky notes on a board to be condensed and organized into themes for use in the next step.
The process might look something like what you will find on these slides: SWOT slides
Next is the TOWS Analysis:
Yes, you guessed it. TOWS is SWOT backward. Genius, right?
TOWS is where critical thinking, strategic understanding, and visioning come in to play. This is where the team really gets to vision what they want to see happen in their office, with their services, and what they want to spend their time working on. This is the exciting part.
We are using the list from the SWOT to develop strategies to either maximize or minimize each quadrant of the TOWS., thereby minimizing or maximizing the impact of the items in each quadrant of the SWOT.
Here is an example of what a TOWS Matrix looks like:
Here is an example of how you might use an opportunity and a strength to develop a strategy and code it for future use:
After the TOWS, we then create a Project List:
The Project List is a refinement and organization of the application of the strategies listed in the TOWS quadrants. This is a list of possible actions the team can take to help address the SWOT Analysis. All strategies and ideas are listed on the projects list. BEWARE, it could be very long…and repetitive.
A little repetition is not bad, in fact, it helps teams see that they are thinking alike in some ways.
Remember, this is a list of all of the ideas the team creates related to how they want to address the SWOT analysis. The next step if it is not done while making the list is to collapse and remove duplicates.
Once we have a clean list, we can ask the team to rank the importance of the ideas. I like to use sticky dots, give everyone five or so, and tell them they cannot place more than one dot per item. Here is what that might look like (with only one project listed. Notice the corresponding code of S2; O1:
Prioritization:
Now, the leadership team needs to reflect upon how the team voted. Using what the leadership team knows about the budget, institutional priorities, and current capacity, a project ranking happens and a project plan is created.
Action Teams:
Next, action teams are created. An official charge is created, the middle is empty, then a few guiding hopeful outcomes are shared, and some available resources. Anyone interested in working on the initiative is invited to participate, and the project moved into development. The task is for the group to develop the “HOW” for approval and resourcing before implementation.
The Bottom Line:
The team is working on projects that matter to them, are aligned with the institution and unit, and interests of leadership. Everyone is bought in and wants to see success.
Wait…there is more:
FUN
If you have read the post on workplace culture, you know how FUN fits in. Do something fun.
- Bowling
- Make clay candy dishes
- Go to an Escape Room:
Advance, Don’t Retreat. Have FUN. Comment on LinkedIn or in the comments below.