Building Effective Teams for Strategic Initiatives

Imagine a hundred cooks vying for space in a cramped kitchen, all trying to stir the same pot. This chaos complicates the task, slows down the work, and is potentially even dangerous. This is exactly what initiative teams need to avoid in order to become successful. Strategic initiatives thrive on smaller, focused groups with clear responsibilities and direct communication.

The best teams resist the temptation to simply throw bodies at an initiative, and don’t include everyone that raises their hand to be involved. The guiding principle to determining team size should be: “as few as possible, as many as necessary”. Instead of crowds, ensure the right people are involved and empowered to bring their specific skills to the table.

Just like a well-run kitchen, every team member needs a clearly defined role; outlining specific responsibilities eliminates ambiguity and ensures everyone understands their part in the initiative’s success. This further increases the sense of ownership and prevents confusion. 

The team should also be empowered with appropriate decision making authority in order for the initiative to progress at speed. Far too often, initiative teams are left waiting for external decision makers to discuss progress and make decisions that could have been entrusted to individuals on the team; either empower your team, staff it with more senior people, or have a responsive sponsor who can escalate questions quickly.

But even with the right people in the right roles, it is still easy for teams to be out of alignment. Imagine our cooks focusing only on their own work and getting in each other’s way. They shout instructions over each other and as the noise level rises, no one knows if they are being addressed, information is getting lost or distorted, and frustration is building. Initiative teams need a clear flow of information to ensure everyone stays in the loop and works together effectively.

Regular meetings can be an effective communication tool, but keep them short and to-the-point. Targeted discussions ensure everyone stays aligned and on the same page, without wasting valuable time. The best meetings are like quick kitchen huddles – focused and informative to keep everyone moving towards a shared goal. Tracking mechanisms, such as progress tracking in stratsuma, are a great way to facilitate these meetings. 

But before any of this, it’s crucial to establish a clear strategic direction. As Stuart Draper, Founder of Stukent points out: “A clear strategy gives aim for tactics. Your team very quickly wants to go after the next thing that’s going to drive sales. If you haven’t given them an overall strategy, they are going to go all over the place in different directions.” Without clarity on which direction to move in, even a team of exceptional chefs will not deliver you the results that you crave.

stratsuma helps you create your strategy, craft clear initiative charters, and track progress with confidence.