Getting An Outside Look

It is almost inevitable that a group of people working on a strategy will develop a sense of "group think" that can blind the team to objectivity. Having experienced the lack of healthy outside opinion, I've realized first hand the huge miscalculations that can be made in a strategic plan.

From a coaching perspective, getting an outside opinion is a valuable step to achieving success when crafting a plan to fulfill a goal. Most of us have "outsiders" who are friendly sympathizers and supporters of what we do but do not live daily in our world. Intentionally soliciting the opinion of such outsiders is actually one of the most strategic steps you can take in crafting a fool proof plan. Sometimes these outsiders are right under our noses but we are missing them and missing their valuable objective input.

Here are some tips on engaging outsiders to take a look at what you're doing:

• Is there someone who lives and works in what I call "a parallel universe" to your work that you can engage in helping you assess a strategy. Such "parallel universe" contexts are people working in similar fields, people who observe you on a regular basis yet not connected to your business or professionals from other disciplines who also work at developing projects similar to the one you're working on.
• Is there someone who has achieved what you are attempting to reach? If there is, are they accessible and willing to take a look at your context?
• Find someone with a lot of wisdom who has been around for a long time and ask them to take a look at what you're doing. In our culture, we tend to right off these people but they have been around the corner several times and have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share.
• Find a young person who is not from your generation and have them look at what you're doing and offer feedback. On the opposite spectrum from the previous tip, young people have a very different perspective and tend to be more idealistic and dream bigger and understand their culture and popular culture much better. Having their input can jog some things you haven't seen or expected or even thought possible.
• Approach the competition! If you and your team are tough enough and open enough, approach the competition and get their opinion. Short of fearing a possible sabotage in the advice that might be given, more often then not, healthy competition is desired and a healthy competitor could offer some excellent observations.