Things To Consider When Facilitating Strategy

To the cloud.Beautiful, if everyonecan please mute.That would be fantastic.Wonderful let me share my screenhere just for the title card.When I on second.Where is it?How?there it is.OK, share screen.Just the keynote.Bomb can everyonesee the keynote?Awesome yep, so wonderful.So today is called 133 for therecording, it's the am calland it's the second callof the strategy serieswe are now transitioninginto during strategy,actually facilitatingstrategy, and the themeis for us to becomebetter problem solvers.So the agenda, asnoted on the event,is going to be just the quick10 minutes of a presentation.And then we're going to gointo with Melinda and Rachel.Based on your questions thathave already been written.And will be facilitated by me.So I ask thateveryone, if anything,comes up during the call rightnow that you take questionsin your notes and leavethose new questionsfor after the AMA, OK,does that sound good?Know someone is onsomeone who's not muted?OK I got.OK wonderful.I want to share a quickstory with you guysand about thistime last year, wehad gotten a client come to usand ask for a bunch of stuff.From a website designto marketing collateralto video work to so many things,and it was quite frankly,very overwhelming.And we sat down with them,and this was the first timethat I had verbally proposedstrategy to a client,and this was only after a littlebit of going through core.So I was not a brandstrategy professional.I was not licensed on my Igtitle to be a brand strategist.I just basically read throughcore and jumped the gunand said, we have to dostrategy to get clarity for you.And we charged$5,000 to do that.Now I don't say that to brag.I say that to.Show this next point, which is.I want to share myscreen, so everyonehas an idea of whatthat document lookedlike if you yourself havenot done strategy yet.This is the document that wepresented to that company.I'm to go buy itthrough pretty quickly.Nothing spectacular,nothing crazy differentthan what some otherpeople are doing.And that's it.Why did I share that one?Because of a commentthat Chris made last weekof giving people referenceto what it is we're doing,so you have an idea ofwhat you're looking at.But more importantly,what stood outin that story is that atthe end of the session,my business partner at thetime looked at me and said,what was very interestingabout how you ran that strategysession is that you actedas if the deliverables thatcame up in the goal sectionwe weren't going to do.You weren't sellingto them at all.You weren't making them feellike we had an agenda in mindto get them somethingthat we wanted to do,because that's the things thatwe offered in our company.You were very neutral,you were very objectiveand you just did your bestto lead them to the bestarea of curiosity for them.And that relationshipturned out to bearound $60,000 of grossrevenue over 2019,with a net margin of50 percent, so we'venetted about $30,000for multiple engagementswith this particular company.I say that as a priming toolfor this call to set you up.For exactly what we'regoing to be talking about,which is and caneveryone see my keynote,I know I'm doing a lot ofthings at the moment, but.RNC, the keynote.Yep OK, perfect thatas facilitators.Our goal is to be a neutralparty in the engagement.That is it.We are driving the engagementduring a strategy sessionvia curiosity.A lot of us, especially with thequestions that have been asked.Are really wound upabout the framework.And I want to empoweryou with that storyto know that yourgoal as a facilitatoris to be as curious as possible.And this is somethingthat I learned directlyfrom Melinda and Chrisright after goingthrough the core programand watching videosbefore running that session.And what stood out, likeI said, was the factthat there was noother interest in mindaside from leading themto, as I call it, nirvana.So we need tounderstand some thingsbefore we start askingquestions to Melinda and Rachelthat can sometimesget in the way of usbeing this neutral party.And this is a culmination of.Some things that Chris told methat I learned from Melinda, aswell as just my ownstudy and background.The first thing iscognitive biases, ok?Everyone has them.What are they?What?OK.There are errorsin the way that wethink that deviate away fromlogical or rational decisionmaking.So as humans, thereason why we evenhave cognitive biases,not necessarilycan someone OK, wonderful.They're not necessarilybad, good or ugly.They're just there to help usas human beings make decisionsduring times of uncertainty.The problem is, cognitivebiases in the placeof strategicthinking can lead usto an area that isn'tthe best form of solutionfor the client.This falls both on the clientand us as facilitators.The ones that Iwant to talk abouttoday very quickly becauseI'm only dedicating 10 minutesto this presentation is.Confirmation bias, theavailability, heuristic,bandwagon effect,correlation versus causation,anchoring bias, observerexpectancy and serial positioneffect, which is a bonus,it's not necessarily a bias.Why am I bringing these up?Because these comeup in strategyall the time and we haveto be aware of them.So as we enter thestrategy session,we don't fall victim tothem and they lead us astrayaway from whatwe're trying to do.The first one andthe most popularis confirmation bias, which isbasically the only informationthat we're seeking outduring an engagement.During a conversationduring our researchis information thatalready supportswhat we think and ourworld view and potentiallyleading us to dismiss anyother kind of informationduring that engagement.So if you're a designer,the way this comes upin the middle of the sessionis that the referencepoints that you haveare strictly designed.So even the way inwhich you communicateand the way in whichyou hear suggestionsthat may be oriented towardsmarketing or businessfrom the client is dismissive.So we have to understandthat our own confirmation maylead us to not heareffectively and notbe as curious as we want to be.OK, the second one is theavailability available,the availability heuristic.Basically, this isus making a judgmenton whatever informationis readily available to USbased on our memory.This is very dangerousbecause again,let's say that you've beendedicating your entire monthto creating Instagram carousels,and now all of a sudden youhave a strategy session.And for those that arefamiliar with core,there's an engagementsession in the goalsthat talks about marketing.And the first thingthat comes to mindfor you is thebest thing to do isto create Instagramcarousels, because that'sthe most readilyavailable thing basedon your memory andthe informationyou have on your mind.So basically, we just grab onto the first available thing.Another problemis you have to bevery clear on reading the room.Let's say that for those thatare in the United states,you have a strategy sessionafter the Super Bowl.And your clientshave dedicated timewatching Super Bowl commercials.And then in thestrategy session,all their suggestions are basedon what these big brands aredoing because it's the firstthing available to their mindbased on memory.But it may not be thebest suggestion for themas a company or for theirstrategic direction as a brand.So we have to be clear on whatan availability heuristic is.The last one wasnot the last one.The next one is very simple.It's the bandwagon effect.The more peoplesupport the idea,the more people are likelyto support that idea.This comes up in astrategy session,usually when you havea CEO in the buildingand he's very dominantor she's very dominant,and a lot of people justbandwagon onto that idea,and no one has free reignto suggest anything else.So we have to be verycautious of that.Also, you may be supportingan idea because of the realmthat you live in as adesigner is a creative that'svery popular at thetime, and that'swhat you end up suggestingversus the best potential ideafor the strategy session.Again, another bias thatwe have to be aware of.Correlation versus causation.Pretty well known, but we'lltalk about it very quickly.Two things during the sessionmay affect each other,but that doesn'tnecessarily meanthat they cause each other.I know many of us haveheard things like, well,such and such company down theroad redid their entire websiteand their salesjust skyrocketed.So they make a causation betweena new website and new sales,which doesn't necessarily, whichisn't necessarily the case.The case may be thewebsite is better.It has better landing pages,it has better funnels.Therefore, there's a correlationbetween increased salesand website.So now all they'reworried about ismaking a website versus whatcould actually be best for themas a brand.And we need to be very awareof that, both as facilitatorsand when we see it comeup from the client.A lot of this is just groundedin non-verbal communicationand verbal communication.That's the way that weidentify these things.OK anchoring bias,we've heard thisfrom Chris usuallydone in sales,but it's when the firstpiece of informationholds the mostimpact and affectsthe decision making process.The way this affectsstrategy is usually wehave to overcome theanchor of self-diagnosisthat the client already does.At the beginningof the engagement,they're callingyou for a website.They've alreadyanchored in their mindthat all they need to bettertheir brand is a website,so we have to overcome thatby asking better questions,listening better and kindof diluting that anchor.It may be correct at theend of the strategy session,but we shouldn't base ourentire strategic processof that initial anchorthat was presented.OK observer expectancy, thisone is very, very powerful,and you probably doit unconsciously,observer expectancyis a bias thathappens completely reactionary,and it stems from usas facilitators subconsciouslyinfluencing our participants.So I want you to thinkof the strategy sessionas like an experiment,and the goalis strictlycuriosity and gettingto the best end resultfor their brand.However, because of your schemaand your well of knowledge,let's say that again during thegoal session, you're a designerand they say, oh, we need anew logo and your reactionto them saying that is a lotmore energized, a lot moreexcited.You even gasp, right?That's an observerexpectancy bias.Now you're leadingthem to believethat is the best solutionfor them as a brand,for them, as a companyversus being very neutral,taking all data equallyand objectively.So you don't wantto influence youwant to just expand on whatthey're asking and continuingto be curious.So be beware ofthis one for sure.OK the last one is what's knownas the serial position effect,and this is justversus it being a bias.It's something thatI want you to keepin mind as afacilitator, usuallyas a teacher, facilitator,public speaker, the firstand the last thing presented arethe best remembered for memory.So we have to be consideredthat when presentingor when conducting strategyto put a lot of emphasison the most important things atthe beginning and at the end,because when they leavethe strategy session,we want the things thatare front of mind for themto be the most importantand the best takeaways.So going Meta herefor a second, I'mpriming you rightnow with this beingthe foundation ofthe call for youto have these communicationconsiderations in mind,so you have a betterunderstanding of whatMelinda and Rachel sayand do as they answer.Let me make sure mytimer how much time, OK,this is going on.Perfect OK.I want to go very quicklythrough the communicationmodel.And I'm going to flythrough this stuffbecause I don't wantto hog up the call.But in essence, what we'redoing in a strategy sessionis this the client is actuallythe sender were the receiversand they are feedingus messages that wehave to decipher and givethem feedback to make surethat we're listening correctly.The first objective is that wehave to eliminate the noise.And noise is eitherexternal or internalexternal being the actuallocation, the disruption,but internal being thingslike cognitive bias,the way you think, the wayyou, the way you're coming in.Have you done research aboutthe company before coming in?Are you already primed in away that's too noisy for youto listen effectively?And then throughoutthe strategy session,we want to continueto provide feedbackto clarify that message.And the two waysthat we can do thatis by being criticaland being curious.Being critical is tochallenge the thingsthat they are saying to makesure that they have reasonfor why they're saying it.And if it fits in thewhole strategic process.Curious is just,you want to continueto get more informationabout what they're sayingand continue to have them speak.So the more the feedbackgets closer to the messageand then they relateto one another.That's when we findstrategy together.OK so I know we talk a lot aboutthere's these cognitive biasesand there's this communicationmodel and it's like, Oh my god,how am I supposed to do allthat in strategy, right?This sounds like a lot.OK, we've talked a lot aboutlistening and question asking.We're going to coverit very quickly again,so things can make sense asMelinda and Rachel answerquestions.And I want to go metahere for a second as well.These next two sectionsare straight from contentthat I've made on Instagram.So what Chris promptsus to do is actuallyhelping in lessening the processof us creating more content.So listening the goal youhave to make the other personfeel heard.There is there is nothingcrazy elaborate about that,except they need to feellike you're listening.Listening is not just anaction, it's a reaction.So you have to activelyportray that you'relistening to the person.So the three things wewant to do in strategyis listen to understand.Expand the information andthen solidify the informationthat's being presented.This is known as activelistening or, as in his book,never split the differencefor value listening.And the three waysthat we can do thatis to restate,summarize and extend.OK, so we restate byrepeating what we just heard.We've done this a lot onprotocols in your own wordsto make sure thatyou and the clientare in alignment onwhat's being saidand that they're clearin explaining it.And these are techniquesfor us to do that.So let me make sureI'm clear on this.This is what I heard.So what I'm hearing is andasking for confirmation,did I hear that correctly?Is this the directionwe are trying to take?Is this what'smaking sense for you?So that's restating.The second one is summarizing,so I do this a lot,but it's the recap.Just to summarizein some, is thisthe takeaway that you want meto understand in this session?Is this the takeaway thatyou want your clientsto understand in from this?When when we I'm sorry yourcustomers to understandwhen we put this brand into theworld, am I hearing this right?Is this recap correct?And then the last thingis extend a lot of times.We just don't want totake the informationthat they provideus in face valuebecause they havetheir own biases.And you're there toprovide clarity for them.So you want to takethe information.And like I call it, stretchit to reach closure.So with that, whatdoes this mean?What does this do?If that's the case,why is that happening?OK, you want to crystallizewhat they're saying?You want to getreally, really deep.