The Programme Approach
Listen here (or read below)
This programme provides you with guidance, templates, and lots of different exercises. You’ll like some of them, but maybe not others; some of them will be relevant today, and others will work for you better at a later date. You have complete flexibility to jump from one module to another. Take what you need to make progress today and keep moving forward; you can circle back or revisit other exercises another time. This is a journey, strive for ‘good enough’, keep moving forward, testing, learning and adapting as you go.
The Elements
The Personal Strategy Map is the main artefact and container for describing your Personal Strategy on one page;
the 3-6-9-12-Month Plan details what attention you will put to your intention over the next year divided up into 3-6-9-12 months. As you work on each module, update your Strategy Map and 3-6-9-12 Month Plan. These artefacts sit at the centre of the system.
Personal Strategy Map
The Personal Strategy Map is a whole-of-life approach that seeks congruence and alignment between what’s really important to you and the choices that you make in the various aspects of your life.
The outcome of these choices is to live a life that serves your purpose and aspirations. The vision provides a near-term milestone to becoming more purposeful and self-fulfilled. The structure of the strategy has three pillars: at the core of the strategy map is Self, and either side of this is a pillar on Relationships and a pillar on Work and Contribution. Each of the pillars contains a set of intentions, prioritised into three. Your intentions represent the choices that you are making in line with your aspirations. Those things that will enable your intentions are also a part of each pillar. The foundation that the whole strategy rests upon is your values, those things that matter most to you and that motivate you, support your choices and guide your behaviour.
Values
What you really value in your life is the foundation of your strategy; values shape who we are and how we make decisions. The values that you prioritise as the basis of your Personal Strategy reflect what is really important in your life for your Self, in your Relationships and at Work and are what you need to nurture and manifest to build your strategy upon. This is a very good place to start. You will most likely refine the prioritisation of your values once you have identified your priorities in each pillar.
Purpose and Aspirations
Your purpose and aspirations sit at the top of the strategy map, representing your direction, legacy and motivation. When you understand your ‘why’, the ‘what’ and ‘how’ follow more easily. Purpose is the rationale, the why for what we do and the reason we get up in the morning. Your aspirations describe who and what you want to become (versus what you want to do). Your purpose may not emerge immediately so be prepared to return to this module to explore and uncover it throughout the programme. You can also start here.
Vision and Intentions
To use a map to navigate life you need to have a good idea of your destination and expected timeframe. The clearer your vision of where you want to get to, the easier it will be to elicit and map your pathway.
The intentions that you prioritise in each pillar will build towards your vision, aspirations and purpose. These intentions are the priorities that you will put your attention to in your personal strategy practice and are restricted to a maximum of three. The guidance supports your reflection and preparation before embarking on developing and defining your statements of intent and identifying the enablers and actions to make your strategy happen in the three pillars of the Personal Strategy. Consequently, it is recommended to view this module before doing the work in the pillars.
Self
It is highly recommended that you work on the Self pillar before the others; identifying what’s important for your best self creates the conditions for you to be able to show up more fully to yourself, with others and in your contributions. It always starts with yourself! Three interconnected elements of your well-being, your best self and your best life are considered.
Relationships
The priorities in this pillar reflect your strategic intentions in your significant relationships outside work and the mutual benefit that can be expected. The priorities here are all about you taking responsibility for the quality of your relationships and what you need to do so that they are aligned with your aspirations.
Work and Contribution
The priorities in this pillar will be dependent on the stage of your career, your role and how you choose to serve or contribute to the wider community. You may want to identify how these priorities align with your organisational performance objectives, expectations, or targets. The three key areas explored are increasing your strategic contribution in your current role or situation, creating something new and contributing meaningfully to a wider, more purposeful context.
Enablers
The enablers identify what you need to put in place, embrace or reinforce in order to support your strategic choices. They could include your leadership impact and visibility, physical capacity, financial requirements, emotional support, physical considerations, your environment, boundary setting and expectations management, building/utilising your community of support and network and disabling the detractors.
Intentions into Action
Having a strategy map is not enough; you need to use it on your journey to your destination. Strategy happens when you pay attention to your intentions. It’s the activity of dynamic planning, adjusting, and course correcting from trial and learning along the way. This is a live and active process. The 3-6-9-12-Month plan provides a structure to start and sustain positive change that you are prepared to explore and invest in.