by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“Strategic Clarity is the combination of a compelling vision and astute, timely decision making”

Christine quickly established a strong rapport with SuperGuard’s two second generation family members. Based upon her input, these owners became excited about the prospect of pursuing Blue Ocean markets; where there would be little or no competition. They’re contrary to Red Ocean markets which are often awash with much competitive blood. SuperGuard was about to become more unusual than most firms, since Christine persuaded these two owners to become Co-Visionists (unlike traditional CEOs or “bosses”). Harry acted as catalyst-integrator, while Melissa acted as company-wide communicator – it’s tough to find such vital capabilities in one person.

Since SuperGuard had adopted the enlightened leadership (EL) principle of no more than seven on its leadership team, Melissa also wore the Promotionist hat; where she leads the firm’s sales, PR and after-sales activities, too. She was going to attend the forthcoming strategy session along with her other six leadership team colleagues, which included her Co-Visionist Harry and five other Strategists – Expansionist-Roger, Innovationist-Mark, Provisionist– Maureen, Operationist-Dan and Humanist-Rachel.

In any event, Christine had encouraged them to attend an offsite venue for an initial half-day envisioning exercise, 8.30am to 1.00pm. This would act as a preliminary brainstorming, breakthrough session. She’d already briefed Harry as session facilitator and he was now sitting in front of six leader colleagues in a U-shaped formation that were all raring to go. Some preliminary chatter about everyone’s week so far helped to warm things up somewhat.

With Christine sitting in the back of the room as a helpful observer, Harry stated the purpose of their meeting: “To explore fresh strategic growth from a Blue Ocean and other perspectives, so as to pursue less competitive markets than our current cut-throat situation.”  He invited initial reactions that he noted on a nearby whiteboard. Not only was this a positive way to get the ball rolling, but it was also intended to fully draw participants into the conversation. He listed a total of seven suggestions, including his own.

Harry then invited his six Strategist colleagues to split into two groups of three and requested that they discuss the seven items among each grouping. He pointed out that they were at liberty to consider additional ideas, too, if they had particular merit. After about 45 minutes they were expected to regroup and share their top two from the listing. Harry and Christine rotated between the threesomes to ask questions and make suggestions. Before you knew it, they all re-engaged after 45 minutes and agreed upon a reduced list of four between them.

He now orchestrated a lively, free-ranging discussion of all four prioritized items. At a certain point, Harry asked participants to confidentially note down their most promising, ultimate choice and hand it to him on a folded slip of paper. Although there were differences, the top vote went for…To create Super Guards that would be festooned with radios, cell-phones and monitoring devices. Such elite guards would be assigned to large building complexes with arrays of cameras that could be monitored either in a local security room or through SuperGuard’s Operations Center. This security activity lived up to the company’s name in every way.

Splitting into threesomes once more, each sub-group spent the next 30 minutes pinpointing and discussing the pros and cons of such a venture. These were again listed on their whiteboard for everyone to see: nine pros and seven cons. After further discussion, another confidential vote quickly revealed the team’s considered top three in both columns. Harry now asked them to form into three pairs, where each pair took-up one pro and one con, so that all items on the finalist listings were covered.

For their remaining half-hour each pair began deliberating over their assigned items. At meeting’s end, each pair shared their conclusions so far, which created an opportunity for colleagues to question and then add to those views. Harry then called for an adjournment and he invited everyone back in two weeks for updates and further deliberations. This would allow time for pairs to return with more researched conclusions.

They were encouraged to consult with outside experts, if they so wished. Harry then invited them all for lunch to celebrate a job well done so far. It was a particularly enjoyable lunch because they all felt they’d accomplished so much. There were positive feelings about the new business option they had chosen within a Blue Ocean marketplace setting. Everyone was curious to see how far they would get in two week’s time!