In Destination on the Left’s solocast episode, we share the process that our team recently developed to reset our forward-thinking mindset. We found that when you challenge yourself and your team to move past the perceived limitation of uncertainty and stay focused on the future, many opportunities will appear. This solocast is an opportunity to discuss our company’s experience and the tools we used to get back on track during the pandemic’s challenging times.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

How to assume a solutions-oriented, forward-thinking mindset during this challenging pandemic
The meeting agenda we use for our team strategy meeting
How to implement the processes from Gino Wickman’s “Traction” in your own organization
The benefits of performing a SWOT analysis to generate forward-focused questions that guide your team’s discussion
How to use Traction’s IDS process to solve unique business problems that arose during your strategy meeting
How to create a forward-focused gameplan and define every team member’s role so you can execute with maximum efficiency

Working Together to Plan for the Future

Strategic Meeting

One of the first pieces of our process is the meeting strategy. Using techniques from Gino Wickman’s book Traction, we run through financials, new projects, accomplishments, upcoming projects, and our current business plan that was updated in May. Our business plan depicts the Traction model, which includes our core values, mission, vision, marketing strategy, and 3-year picture. This segues into a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). From there, we move to forward-focused questions segment about our team and performance as an organization. Then, we used those questions to identify goals that will carry us through the end of the year and into 2021.

Identify and Solve Your Issues

The IDS format is another Traction piece that we have used to maintain a forward-thinking mindset. With this method, you first identify the problem you want to solve, then collect feedback from your team, and work together to figure out the best solution. In our case, it was whether or not to renew our lease given the current circumstances of COVID-19. We weighed the pros and cons of working from home, and the IDS process prevented us from talking in circles so we could reach a solution. Once everyone on your team understands the gameplan and knows their role in how you’re going to move forward, you will build momentum extremely fast.

Additional Resources: