When developing your IT Strategy every interaction with a stakeholder is an opportunity not only to engage and understand but also to test out and sell what you’ve already discovered and the emerging thoughts you have around the IT Strategy.

To make sure you make the most of any interactions with stakeholders it is worthwhile honing your ‘elevator pitch’ on why you are creating an IT Strategy and why it is a valuable thing to do. Having this ‘to mind’ can really help in those unplanned, serendipitous moments where you bump into someone that could be an important stakeholder. I lost count of the times as a consultant that i might bump into someone in the office, in the kitchen, getting lunch or whenever and the ensuing conversation, catalysed by my ability to succinctly talk about the why’s and what’s of the strategy and replaying and testing out some key themes have then led onto more useful conversations whether that’s suggestions of other people to talk to, or useful reflections or counters to the nascent positions or opinions that i was starting to form.

When thinking about what your ‘elevator pitch’ is it is worth thinking about:

• What your real goal is, hint hint, the answer is not “i’m creating an IT Strategy”
• Explain what you are doing to achieve it
• Engage with a question
• for bonus points, make sure you have anecdotes and key themes that you have uncovered up your sleeve, you never know when you might have an opportunity to replay things to a different stakeholder and get their views

Elevator Pitch Template (Sort of)

I find this sort of template a useful structure to help me think about what my elevator pitch needs to be:

Because of [Context] we need to [Tangible Strategic Outcome] So i’m/we’re creating an IT Strategy that will [Tangible Strategic Outcome]. We’re currently [key actions done so far and in progress] and will be [key actions to come]. I’m interested in what you think about [engaging question]

(and optional bonus)

it has been really interesting so far we’ve had conversations around [key issues or themes from engagement so far]

Tip

If you find it difficult to fill in the template above it is probably a sign that you aren’t clear enough on why you are creating your IT Strategy, what your process is and what your intended outcomes are, so go back to the drawing board until you can comfortably encapsulate those things into this template.

Summary

In this newsletter we’ve discuss why it can be useful to think about what your IT Strategy ‘elevator pitch’ is and how you can make sure you’ve got one up your sleeve.

Course, Newsletter and Podcast

In my upcoming How to IT Strategy Course we will go into more detail about how to ensure you create a great IT Strategy. You can sign up here for early access to the course when it launches and an early bird discount.

You can subscribe to this Newsletter so you don’t miss out on the next instalments. If audio is more your thing you can get the companion ‘How to IT Strategy Podcast on Anchor, Spotify , Apple Podcasts and all major Podcast Platforms