This article was originally published by Baseline Consulting.
I always chuckle when I hear a colleague of mine recommend a "strategy session." I imagine a large executive conference room bursting with business people and a handful of IT staffers, some at the table with notepads in hand, others expectantly hovering in the back of the room. A consultant presides with his laptop powered on and an array of white board markers at the ready. A spread of cold cuts, salads and soft drinks unfolds on an ersatz sideboard, representing the main draw for the majority of the attendees.
The consultant usually begins with the requisite open-ended question, "What does 'CRM' mean to you?," and participants dutifully respond as a scribe takes notes and the brownies are passed around.
By late afternoon, the consultant has removed his jacket, and the white board is replete with sentence fragments. Attention spans have dwindled, and the mayonnaise has reached room...
