Clarity is a fundamental element of great strategy, organisations and relationships. At its core, clarity is simply the state or quality of being clear, coherent, intelligible and free from ambiguity. It exists in multiple forms – as a quality of something (e.g. clarity in the way we communicate), and/or an outcome (e.g. achieving clarity on an important issue). In our article on the power of...
Be crystal clear on your organisation’s purpose
I have recently been reading about the history of outdoor clothing and gear company, Patagonia. There are a number of stories about Patagonia that perfectly illustrate the power of purpose in business. Examples include: Suing the US President over the reduction of protected national parkland.Abandoning their most profitable product line due to environmental concerns.Telling their customers: don’t...
The six questions that every high performing organisation needs to answer
I hear and read about a lot of organisations and teams that wish to be ‘high performing’. This is a great goal, but identifying this ambition is the easy bit. The hard bit is working out how to translate the relatively abstract concept of high performance into concrete strategies for achieving it. There may be lots of organisations talking about it, but there are relatively few...
Breaking the ice
Icebreakers can be a great way to kick off a meeting or workshop. Our strategy workshops always start with an icebreaker, and we typically use them after major breaks in longer sessions. Done well, they lift the energy levels in the room, help people to start communicating, break down barriers and build trust and teamwork. Why use icebreakers? Icebreakers, put simply, are activities that are used...