Circle of the 9 Muses

Chapter 15

Use this framework when you want to communicate your strategy message in a way that creates high engagement and participation.

For this exercise you will need:

• Awareness of a strategic message you wish to communicate with impact; or one in which you would like to engage the best thinking of the team to help define and develop.

In the previous chapter, we explored how leaders move people forward with creative tension. Here, we will add some additional levels of meaning to the story. Between the current reality and the desired future state is the strategy—the journey that will get us from here to there.

Think about the next critical strategy message that you need to share with your team, one that will require everyone to rally and align to make the work happen. How do you intend to share that message?

Many leaders are tactical, make-it-happen kinds of folks, so it is very likely that your message will include the key metrics, goals, and accountabilities that people need to meet. That's a great start.

What if you communicated that message as a narrative?

I have spent much of my career helping organizations position their strategic imperatives in a way that generates high engagement, and I'm about to share one of my secret recipes with you. Strategy is a story, and it is defined by aspiration, goals, heroes, and monsters (which, more often than not, are our own ...