What are Game Plans?

This article introduces the idea of Game Plans and how they help drive focus and clarity for teams.

A Game Plan will outline to the whole organisation what needs to be done to execute against the strategy at a function or team level

• provide the context for teams and departments to share how they will contribute to the organization strategy.
• are transparent - they show everyone the methods used to move towards the shared goals.
• manage obstacles and dependencies across teams and departments as well as strategic questions
• can be formulated as part of your function or team’s OKR discussion and vice versa.
• are living documents for each area of the business and it reflects their current focus.
• combine the vision, business targets, culture and change targets into one holistic view

How do Game Plans differ from pure OKRs?

• clarity around the context for the team to set better targets.
• an explicit way of dealing with questions and obstacles that need to be resolved in order to reach the outcomes.
• the ability to manage the dependencies between different teams
• the wider context and thinking of the team for others to see.
• information to see if the strategy and changes have been internalized in a deeper fashion.
• both culture and business outcomes into a concrete coherent document.

What are the core components of a Game Plan?

• Vision & Purpose - what is our team 'why'?
• Values, Drivers & Principles - how do we as a team want to be seen across the organisation?
• Obstacles & Dependencies - obstacles and interlocks with other teams that may prevent us achieving our goals, including any business risks we have identified .
• OKRs - our short and medium term execution focus for the coming period.
• Methods & Plans - how we will execute against our plans
• What we choose to not focus on - areas we have identified as important, but not a focus for this current period.

Game Plans are designed to work for your organisation - so you can add in additional components to help drive your strategy execution.

When do I create my team Game Plan?

A Game Plan is created for the year. 

Vision & Purpose; Values, Drivers & Principles are likely to remain fixed for the year.

Components such as OKRs, methods, obstacles and dependencies are more dynamic - they are set quarterly, and worked on frequently.

Where do I create a Game Plan?

Game Plans are created in the Team Context Sharing page. 

How do I create a Game Plan?

Game Plans are created within your time and will be created, often with involvement with other stakeholders, click here for a suggestion how to run a Game Plan workshop with your team.

Once you have gathered all the information during the Game Plan workshop, complete a  Context Card for each of the 6 components (click here to find out how to create a context card).