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Building a remote culture that enables your team is no easy feat. If you succeed you’ll unlock the agency and autonomy that comes with a well managed remote operation. If you don’t succeed you end up burning out from bad habits.

In this biweekly podcast you'll hear, from both Alix and guests, all about remote teamwork from a zillion different angles. It'll be focused on fresh perspectives, and always include suggestions for you to put new practices into place.

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Hosted by Alix Dunn

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Episode 9 | Demystifying strategic planning with Dave Algoso

E09
/
June 28, 2023

In this week’s episode, Alix sits down with social change strategist and facilitator Dave Algoso to demystify strategic planning.

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about the episode

Having a clear strategy can dramatically improve the way your team functions. But developing a clear strategy? It’s not always so easy. In this week’s episode, Alix sits down with social change strategist and facilitator Dave Algoso to demystify strategic planning. They discuss the elements of a good strategic planning process and identify common pitfalls to help you avoid going astray.

Whether you’re kicking off a formal strategic planning process or just trying to figure out a way to keep your remote team moving in the same strategic direction, Dave’s guidance will help you build a better, more intentional process to reach your goals.

After you listen, find Dave at algoso.org and say hello here.

our key takeaways

1. Consider the time horizon

If the last three years have taught us anything, it’s that long-term plans can be totally upended. In fact, Dave insists that the days of 5 or 10-year strategic plans that take 6 months to create are not worth the effort. Instead, consider more lightweight planning processes every few years, or, better yet, build strategic planning and assessment into your org as an ongoing function, rather than a one-off process. With shorter time horizons for strategic planning, you’re more likely to stay on track and more able to be responsive to the changing world in which you operate.

2. Tap your team’s expertise in thoughtful ways

When strategy conversations happen remotely, they can feel less like big events and more like just another Zoom call. This makes it harder to be engaging for staff and get the engagement necessary to build meaningful connection and buy-in. There are big benefits to remote processes versus old-school retreats. More time for reflection in between sessions, and more diverse modes of engagement too. But you need to be intentional about making sure there are ways to hear from your team. You need their expertise and, after all, they’ll be executing it so need to be really clear on how it is constructed.

3. Build a container

A strategy workshop shouldn’t be one-and-done. To build a thoughtful plan you need to build a container, whether your planning process is fully remote or hybrid. Consider how you connect the dots between remote workshops or from an in-person retreat to continuing online planning. What 1:1 conversations need to happen between big workshops? What small groups can be activated to continue the momentum?

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Get your free Remote Ready starter kit.

Discover the 5 states of remote (and which one you’re in)

Find out the #1 dynamic that holds teams back

Get a sneak peek of our signature course

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.