How to prepare your team for a strategy session
The most common mistake teams make before a strategy session is treating the preparation as optional. They show up with good intentions and an open mind, but without having thought through their own positions in advance. The session then spends the first hour doing the work that could have been done individually beforehand, and the time for actual decision-making shrinks.
Send the pre-read and actually read it
If the facilitator sends a pre-read document, read it before the session. This sounds obvious but it is not universal. The pre-read exists to give everyone a shared starting point so the session does not have to establish context from scratch. A team where half the members have read it and half have not is harder to facilitate than one where everyone has.
If you have questions or disagreements with the pre-read, note them down. Those reactions are useful input for the session.
Know your own position before you arrive
Before the session, spend 20 minutes writing down your own view on the central question. Not a polished argument, just a rough answer. What do you think the right direction is and why? What are you most uncertain about? What would change your mind?
This exercise is useful because it forces you to commit to a position before the social dynamics of the room influence you. It also makes you a more useful participant, because you are reacting to the discussion rather than forming your first opinion in real time.
Clear your schedule for the day
A strategy session where half the participants are checking messages or stepping out for calls is not a strategy session. It is a meeting with a strategy session happening in the background. If the session is worth attending, it is worth attending fully.
This applies to the facilitator as well. Amelia does not take other calls on workshop days. The session gets the full day.
Preparation is not about arriving with all the answers. It is about arriving ready to think clearly with the people in the room.