The New How

Part II. The QuEST Process for Collaborative Strategy

We started this book with the notion that we need to change how business works. If business is to thrive, institutions must move from an us-versus-them opposition to an us-versus-opportunity stance. By doing strategy creation collaboratively, we are demanding that each of us take responsibility for the shared outcome, to improve business performance. We will move fast, get aligned, and welcome the creative conflict as we work together.

Part I, which we’ve just finished, covered how we need to show up at work to enable the creative and productive act of collaborative strategy. We focused on the role each of us has, and what we need to do as leaders.

We’re about to enter Part II, which covers the actions we need to take to reach the needed outcome. There are four stages of collaboration: Question, Envision, Select, and Take, or QuEST. These stages are shared in the four chapters that follow.

First up is “Question,” which focuses on seeing the full picture of what needs to be solved. We’ll learn a process for making sure the problem we have identified is the right problem, as well as getting a clear picture of “what is true,” so we have a solid basis for how to get from where we are to the future we decide we want. The most crucial aspect of this phase is getting early organizational understanding of the problem.

The second phase is “Envision,” where the emphasis is on creating options from a full marketplace of ideas within the organization. ...