How do you get all the brains working on the same goal?
As we near the end of one quarter, we need to get ready to message the strategy and focus for the next one.
So it's worth asking how everyone in the company can contribute to the company's goal. (Hopefully there is a clear company goal. If there isn't, fix that first.)
Let's say the overall company goal is to grow revenue by 30% next year.
In the next quarter, what does that mean for...
- product?
- marketing?
- customer success?
- ops?
- etc
As product leaders, we're used to thinking about how product can drive the business forward via product outcomes. But what about other teams?
Here's one exercise idea to help unpack this:
(1) Draw out the whole customer journey—including before/after your key conversion step
(2) Add baseline metrics and goals ("increase from X% to Y%") for key steps in the journey
(3) Have each team in the org brainstorm how they might contribute to the company goal, in that part of the customer journey, from their perspective.
Each team has obvious, direct points of contribution. But the really interesting ideas happen when they look outside their usual wheelhouse, e.g. when customer success asks how it might influence conversion rate.