{"id":27797,"date":"2021-01-25T15:22:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T21:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesv4.aligntoday.com\/blog\/5-easy-steps-to-create-a-motivational-strategic-theme-for-your-team\/"},"modified":"2023-07-20T06:59:36","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T11:59:36","slug":"5-easy-steps-to-create-a-motivational-strategic-theme-for-your-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aligntoday.com\/blog\/5-easy-steps-to-create-a-motivational-strategic-theme-for-your-team\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Easy Steps to Create a Motivational Strategic Theme for Your Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

A great theme song sets the scene instantly. All it takes is 2 notes of the Jaws theme or the opening notes of the Star Wars march to send shivers down our spines and conjure a wealth of emotions.<\/p>\n

A great planning theme<\/a> plays a similar role. A creative Theme brings an emotional connection to strategic planning, explained Coaches Jason Rush and Morgan Stanley during their webinar for Align on “Creating Themes that Create Results”.<\/p>\n

A lack of urgency and focus is the most common reason strategic plans fail<\/a> at implementation. Themes foster a fun and competitive spirit to create focus and excitement around execution.<\/p>\n

If you’re hoping to get your team on the same page for execution, follow these 5 simple steps from Jason and Morgan for creating a great Theme.<\/p>\n

1. Come up with a Theme name<\/h3>\n

The catchier the better! Make it something people won’t easily forget.<\/p>\n

2. Address the Priority<\/h3>\n

The theme should represent your team’s core constraint and reflect the opportunity or problem you are addressing.<\/p>\n

3. Set a Measurable Outcome<\/h3>\n

If your goal is well-structured, you should tie your theme to the metric associated with success. Sports and Olympic Themes work well because they have scoreboards and levels of achievement.<\/p>\n

4. Keep it Visible<\/h3>\n

Themes help build a culture of transparency<\/a>, where key outcomes are tracked for everyone to see. A theme should start with a memorable kickoff, include decorations or visible displays (a Zoom background while remote!), and weekly check-ins. Themes help strategy come alive with visibility driving focus.<\/p>\n

5. Reward Success<\/h3>\n

Themes can be extra motivational when tied to a celebration or prizes. Even if fun rather than monetary, incentives create a competitive spirit around strategic goals.<\/p>\n

Hear from the experts!<\/h2>\n

Petra Coaches Jason Rush and Morgan Stanley have helped countless organizations achieve results with strategic planning and Themes. They have Theme creation down to a science. Check out their full webinar for Align for all their tips!<\/p>\n

For additional ideas and examples of Themes, Jason and Morgan recommend Scaling Up Themes<\/em><\/a> by Verne Harnish and Andy Bailey.<\/p>\n