Strategizing with Strengths

Image Credit: Thomas Park with Unsplash

To say that our world is rapidly changing is the ultimate understatement. “Uncertainty” is on track to becoming the word of the year as challenges to the status quo grow with every passing week. A common default response to so much unpredictability is to panic and spin with increasing anxiety.

But of course, spinning doesn’t move you forward.

A better response is to stop, assess, and plan.

By taking a moment to get your bearings, sort out the knowns from the unknowns, and identify your strengths and challenges you can make informed decisions to advance your goals.

That’s why strategic planning for organizations is so important. It carves out time for organizations to stop, take a breath and get clarity on

           Where are we now?

           Where are we going?

           How do we get there?

We had the pleasure of facilitating this inquiry recently with the Center for Resiliency at Dell Children’s Hospital. This amazing group of people are dedicated to combatting burnout among health care workers by teaching practical skills and fostering human connections.

As we often do, we started by doing the traditional SWOT analysis of identifying the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Once this was complete, we then circled back to strengths by asking:

What strengths can you leverage as you face these challenges and threats?

This is one of our favorite parts of strategic planning. When we bring attention back to strengths, you can feel something in the room change. Where the air may have felt heavy while listing challenges and threats, it becomes charged with hope and possibility as the group remembers they are not helpless to the obstacles they face. What feels insurmountable begins to feel manageable as they are reminded of the arsenal of resources, skills, talents, and experiences they can use to navigate the path ahead.

From this renewed energy then flows excitement about the future and the team is able to solidify the organization’s priorities and goals for the coming year. All the specifics get ironed out while staying anchored in the organization’s values, vision and mission.

With a plan in place, the spinning then subsides, the call to action becomes clear and each person’s marching orders are clarified.

The Center for Resiliency was no exception to this and their strengths are numerous: credibility, adaptability, dedicated staff and relevant programming, just to name a few. Guiding them as they navigated this process was inspiring. They are a powerful reminder of the significant impact a focused and passionate team can have.

Strengths can easily fade from awareness when challenges and threats become the focus of attention. Though they are continually present in the day to day work of the organization, something almost magical happens when a group stops and names their strengths out loud to each other.

Like when Iron Man dons his suit or Thor picks up his hammer, naming and reclaiming strengths is an act of power. It enables organizations to find clarity, inspiration and steadiness during turbulent times.

Next week we’ll offer some ideas about how to keep your company’s strengths front and center so that you can leverage them for success.

In the meantime, do you know your company’s strengths? Could your stakeholders easily articulate them? If not, now is a great time to discover them.