I read a lot to stay current and to be inspired. I saw this recently from Peter Bregman on the Harvard Business Review blog. It was too good not to share.Peter was facilitating a strategic planning workshop (as I often do) for a client. Members of the team, representing different parts of the company, were presenting their ideas for the coming year. Peter graphically represented what he heard in terms of the proposed directions like this.

What concerned him was that despite there being a clear and agreed upon broad direction for the overall organisation, the ideas were not aligned. He reminded the group of the direction that they had input to and had agreed upon. He then drew this.

He challenged them to make some decisions and consider the need to forgo some opportunities. Some of the team shifted direction, some ideas got canned. Peter then drew this.