Strategy In A Day

Strategy in a Day is a one-day facilitated session for teams, boards and stakeholder groups to gain traction on critical initiatives or resolve long-standing challenges. 

Engaged Strategies’ proven process uses structured conversations and activities to surface ideas, concerns and passions. Teams finish the day with immediately actionable steps, clear priorities, and true alignment. They build trust and momentum while doing real work.

 DISCOVERY

Before the session, we meet with you and key members of your team to discuss goals, challenges, and opportunities.

What we learn shapes a conversation guide that team members use to interview each other before the session, exploring their vision, ideas and insights. These one-on-one conversations surface things that may never come up in a group setting and deepen relationships as team members learn more about each other.

People who don’t always see eye to eye are often surprised by how much they already agree on, setting the stage for openness to new ideas. It also saves time: your team arrives with some alignment already in place, ready to contribute.

MAPPING STRENGTHS AND OPPORITUNITIES

We start the day by mapping your strengths, goals and ideas using an engaging, positively framed process called SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results). Unlike a traditional SWOT analysis, which tends to shift focus to weaknesses and threats, SOAR keeps the energy positive and the thinking creative.

DESIGNING A CLEAR AND COMPELLING FUTURE STATE

Using future-back thinking exercises, your team imagines and articulates the future it wants, one-to-three years out.  Together, we define: 

• The results your team wants

• What others will say about your team

• How team members will feel about the work and its impact on customers, members, the community, and the organization.

This process allows your team to connect emotionally to that future, align on the strategy to get there, and take real ownership of it.

PRIORITIZATION

With that alignment in place, your team reviews what it has mapped and sorts ideas into ‘Must Do’ or ‘Nice to Do,’ keeping the focus on what matters most. Team members agree on priorities, make trade-offs together, and build a plan to pilot ideas worth testing.

BUILDING A ROADMAP

We end the day by defining the “how” for each priority initiative:

• The desired results

• The steps and timelines to get there

• How success will be measured

• Who’s responsible

You'll walk away with a roadmap grounded in a compelling future state, with clear ownership and practical steps to keep the plan moving after the day ends.