CTFN Takes on Strategic Planning for Third Team Media
Strategic Planning and goal setting is an integral part of any organization. This enables teams to design and forecast their goals in within a certain time frame and help set expectations for the team in order to lead the organization in a unified direction. The Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network conducted a Strategic Planning Workshop for Third Team Media team last March 10, 2017 at their office at IMEZ Building, Pueblo Verde, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines.
Third Team Media is a digital marketing agency specializing in social media marketing, content creation, search engine optimization, web development and the like. It won the Silver Stevie Award in the Services Company of the Year category in the first annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards which are the first business awards program in recognizing business achievements in the Asia-Pacific region.
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| Third Team Media |
The strategic planning workshop started with a leveling off expectations and training rules followed by a Getting To Know You Activity called Paper Airplanes. Here the participants think of a question and place it on a sheet of paper to be formed into a paper airplane and then let it fly. Participants get a random paper airplane, unfold it and start answering the questions. It’s a fun way to know each other deeper in a non-threatening way.
To jumpstart the participant’s creativity, the facilitator brought out Lego cubes in different sizes and facilitated several projection exercises to help craft what the participants feel and think about their company in the present, and in the future as well as how they see themselves working with the company. This activity can be a powerful exercise since it allows participants to tap their creativity and let it speak for itself in creating an environment necessary to strengthen the team and achieve organizational goals. A short lecture about Organizational Energy was conducted that tells how much emotional, cognitive and physical potential the team has in order to achieve its goals. This was then followed by a hearty lunch ending the first half of the workshop.
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Third Team Media staff getting creative with Lego during a strategic planning workshop
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The afternoon session started with some stretching and an energizer to help energize the team followed by several exercises to craft the Vision Statement, Mission and Values of the organization. Each participant got to contribute his or her insight on what the company’s vision, mission and goals should be, and a facilitative discussion was done to align interpersonal values to that of the company. The ideas and values taken from the Projection Exercises in the morning was used to augment the participant’s feedback and responses in order to create a more synthesized whole. Once the crafting of the Mission-Vision-Values was done, a SWOT Analysis was then done. SWOT Analysis is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding the four elements that every business or organization face. It is particularly powerful exercise since it presents a structured way to help brainstorm ideas and uncover opportunities as well as eliminate threats that the team might tackle.
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Third Team Media SWOT Analysis during a strategic planning workshop
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The facilitator drew separate spaces where the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats should be and the participants started drawing up colored sticky notes and place it on their respective places. Green Sticky Notes represents Strengths, Pink for Weaknesses, Yellow for Opportunities and Orange for Threats. The team was able to generate numerous statements when talking about the team’s strengths and weaknesses. This showed the team’s awareness of its top qualities and best characteristics as well as the team’s frustrations and short comings. The Opportunities and Threats were a bit of a challenge since it invites the participants to think externally, think about what is beyond them and how other factors might come into play. The last activity the Action Plan was done in order to solidify their ideas and solutions generated from the SWOT Analysis and create a good action plan to be aligned with the company’s new mission, live with the principles and move closer to its vision.
This article is written by Christopher Douglas Avila, an affiliate facilitator of the Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network. He was the main facilitator in the Strategic Planning Workshop for Third Team Media held at IMEZ Building, Pueblo Verde, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines last March 10, 2017.
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