Facing into the inevitable storms that your organisation and your life will meet as you do your good work needs a robust strategic narrative aka own your sh*te or be willing to watch what you’ve tirelessly built crumble or prepare to give half of it away in divorce or worse.
We’ve been taught for decades to separate your personal self from your professional self: that corporations are entities separate from people but the word itself is ‘incorporated’. The bodies running around the organisation drive its mission, vision and its direction. We can’t separate the stories of the people who are running businesses from the organisations. People run businesses and when those people are not centred, calm and clear; businesses cannot thrive.
In more than 25 years of crafting brand stories for companies ranging from globals to locals my conclusion is: clear and committed leaders build the most creative and compelling companies. Companies we want to buy from, companies we want to work for, companies we want to support so they continue to thrive.
The challenge for the leader and the company is maintaining that clarity in the face of daily distractions.
The solution is a strong vision and a strategic narrative that drives the daily choices a company makes. Being the holder of that vision requires a strong nervous system, a strong internal narrative that can hold the space for the unfolding story to realise.
A strategic narrative is the story that drives the choices a leader and a company makes. That narrative is the ideas, values, mission, skills that forms the threads to weave the culture and strategy of the company. Bringing intention to this narrative helps the strategy to emerge so the course and direction can be set to take advantage of the natural flow of energy and resources available. This harnesses the culture to navigate the unintended consequences and course correct as needed to maintain alignment.
So how do we know how we’re in alignment with a strong strategic narrative. Our stories stand on these pillars to ensuring they stand up and can stay the course
Mission – what Working with a strong clarity of purpose.
Vision – who and why Knowing who you are (values), where you’re going (vision), what you’re for (and maybe against) and who expands you (to do your best work).
Value – where and for whom Understanding how you and your products elevate your clients and people to become who they want to become
Capacity – how Applying resources to align and realise your mission, vision and value
Our stories stand up when our strategic narrative empowers us to truly prioritise the possibilities and opportunities we receive, makes the time to craft the plans and find the courage to take the actions that aligns our vision and values with our ideal clients’ unrequited desires and unmet needs. After all we’re all in this together
For sure we tell our story but our story directs us too. Simple eh! So why are so few doing it? If you want to talk more about this check out my small book Cycles of Creation and my program InsideOut Practice