More specifically, I discovered that FourSight is very useful in strategy development. Developing strategy is a problem-solving situation so the creative problem solving process is very applicable. In such sessions, we start by using FourSight as an assessment tool. Participants in strategy development fill out the assessment, discover their own preferences in the problem-solving process and get to know each other (better). And, we are able to frame personal energizers and pitfalls through the course of a strategy development exercise. Moreover, it brought a playful flavor to a ‘serious’ topic. Then we use FourSight as a process. In combining the assessment and the process, you can frame the different parts of the strategy challenge very clearly and support your group with specific techniques to make sure they consciously take all the steps (not only the ones linked to their preferences).
We learned from the teams we are working with that they also use FourSight during the strategy implementation and follow up, and in their day-to-day functioning as a team.
Often members of a team change in the course of 1 or 2 years. Because FourSight is a straight forward concept, we saw teams integrating FourSight in the onboarding of new team members with very limited guidance from us.
Teams also made their own ‘charter’ in how they work together and manage their own decision process. E.g. ‘we always start with a long list (collect ideas, defer judgement), then converge to a shortlist’.
Our conclusion : By investing 2 to 3 hours in a Foursight debriefing at the start of a strategy development process, you easily gain 4 to 5 hours in the decision making process later on. And it has a continued positive effect on the team functioning afterwards.
