4 Questions to Focus Your Strategies (and Messages)

Competing priorities, side distractions, and disparate audiences can make it difficult to maintain a clear focus in strategy development. How do you work through the divergence to bring your strategy (and the messages you use to communicate that strategy) into sharp focus?

Whether your strategy and messages are directed to shareholders, clients, a single employee, or another party in a negotiation, consider these four questions for effectiveness, outcomes, and impact.

1. What do you want people (your audience, those who will be impacted by your strategy, etc.) to Think?
   – For instance, as you read this blog post, my objective is for you, the reader, to think about the ways Think-Feel-Know-Do make sense in guiding strategy and message development.
2. What do you want them to Feel?
   – In this post, my aim is for you to feel empowered as you approach strategy and message development (and to feel impressed, of course, at my ability to boil it down like this for you).

3. What do you want them to Know?
   – My objective here is for you to know these 4 questions and remember them.

4. What do you want them to Do?
   – I’m hoping that you will use these 4 questions to guide your strategy and message development.

Think – Feel – Know – Do.
People act and respond on all these levels.

Try it out. Let me know how it works for you…it has worked for dozens of my clients and their leaders.

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