THE TOOLKIT
The Strategiscope™
Demonstrating a big picture perspective is key for executives. When you are able to communicate vision and strategy, you are perceived as more competent, inspiring, and passionate. While there are numerous ways to communicate a broad perspective, (e.g., The Big Picture, The Strategic Update, etc.), The Strategiscope™ focuses on your ability to understand your job and communicate it’s relevance on teams and departments, including the industry as a whole. There are 4-5 elements to this template depending upon how broad you want to communicate.
- Your View: Communicate your viewpoint on an issue or project. Deliver a concise summary about one of your initiatives, recommendations, solutions, or ideas.
- Team View: Using that same topic from the previous box, now delivery a message representing your team’s viewpoint on it. It may be a perspective that is inline with your opinion, or it can be a dissenting point of view.
- Departmental View: Think about how the department or business unit might view the issue. What’s the larger perspective on it? How might others in your area view the topic?
- Company View: Think about how the company might view the issue. What’s the organizational perspective on it? Perhaps, some conjecture may need to go into this message, as we may not always know our company’s view on issue, but based on your experience, “How does the company view the item?”
- Industry View: Share the view at an industry level. From an industry standpoint, how does your idea pan out? Are there industry trends that compliment your viewpoint, or are they counterintuitive to your perspective?
Objectives
The ability to understand and communicate impact on various parts of the business and industry is a desired skill in the workplace. The Strategiscope™ is a communication template is a framework that helps accomplishes the following objectives:
- Organizes your thoughts for greater structure and clarity.
- Encourages conciseness improving understanding and retention.
- Demonstrates a strategic mindset across multiple facets of the business.
- Motivates others using visionary messaging.
Directions
The following is a simple process for filling out the The Strategiscope™ form. Basically, you complete each box by providing a perspective from that entities viewpoint. You can fill in the template from the top down or bottom up.
- Write out your viewpoint on situation, project, issue, or any subject you want to address. Be clear and succinct with your thoughts as the box doesn’t allow for too much detail. You can discuss a major initiative, business recommendation, new solution, or business idea.
- Think about the same topic; now write out a few sentences representing your team’s perspective on topic. It may be a perspective that is inline with your opinion, or it can be a dissenting point of view.
- Think about how the department or business unit might view the issue. What’s the larger perspective on it? How might other groups view the topic?
- Think about how the company might view the issue. What’s the organizational perspective on it? Perhaps, some conjecture may need to go into this message, as we may not always know our company’s view on issue, but based on your experience, “How does the company view the item?” You can reference company initiatives, organizational values or competencies, website copyright, senior level messages, or your general observations.
- Share the view at an industry level. From an industry standpoint, how does your idea pan out? Are there industry trends that compliment your viewpoint, or are they counterintuitive? Are others in your industry doing this? What about other industries?
Instructions
When you are ready to speak, you can either “scope up” or “scope down” meaning you can go from the bottom to the top or top down depending upon the audience, situation, and your ultimate goal. This process below is a bottom-up approach.
- State your view. Provide your opinion, perspective, or commentary on the topic.
- Share your team’s view on the same topic. It can be consistent with yours, or your team may disagree. It’s important that you represent other viewpoints accurately.
- State the departmental or business unit view. This may also be multiple viewpoints represented.
- Share the company’s view. You can reference a company view from any type of organizational document (e.g., employee handbook, collateral material, yearly goals, etc.) or messaging (e.g., state-of-the-company address, strategy conversations, meetings, etc.).
- Describe the industry view. This can include large scale trends, new technologies and/or innovations, or general observations regarding the industry or general business direction.