Use tension as an asset
Tension is the asset. Otherwise a strategy workshop is just a nice excuse to talk nonsense and spend time out of the office.
"Necessity is the mother of invention."
The best way to turbo-charge strategic transformation is to inject an enormous amount of tension into the mix.
Tension is the secret elixir of change; comfort has the opposite effect.
And this is exactly why professional futurists focus a lot, on multiple possible futures.
- Because, there's the most probable future, that's pretty much guaranteed to play out if nothing changes (usually more of the same kind of organisational behaviour with the consequence being a slow and steady predictable collapse).
- Loads of possible futures, where change outside of the organisation's control slowly makes the organisation less relevant as legacy advantage is whittled away.
- And then an ideal future, an aspirational vision of what the future could look like with a renewed mindset and some deliberate choices that get the organisation there.
Magic in the gap
Capturing these different futures in a workshop is however not where the real magic lies.
What's of significant value instead, is in the gap between them and the tangible emotional tension that this builds within the organisation.
An ideal future state without an honest acknowledgement that the current trajectory of the business is forecast to be disastrous, lacks the power of motivation to get it built.
Transcending comfort-zones takes a jarring realisation. A true and honest facing of stark realities. A 'dark night of the soul' kind-of moment where a clear, collective decision is made (with no going back) that the only way is forward...towards a new future.
Tension is the needed asset.
Without it - a strategy workshop is in danger of just being a nice excuse to talk loosely and spend time out of the office.
Related:
Jon Cherry