Try a “Look Up” Moment in Your Next Team Meeting

Since most of my facilitation work centers around “strategy,” I’m often asked by leaders and managers a deceptively simple question: “What’s the difference between strategy and the day-to-day running of my business unit?”

It’s a great question. And if I had to boil it down to a single metaphor, I’d say: “Strategy is looking up from your day-to-day work.”

That’s right — it’s the difference between keeping your head down versus lifting your eyes up.

The “Down” of Daily Operations

Just listen to the words of getting work done: Let’s get down to business.  Put the nose to the grindstone.  Let’s get to the bottom of this.  The day-to-day operations of a business unit is vital, but it’s a different kind of work. It’s focused, it’s fast-paced, and it’s often relentless. You’re:

• Solving immediate problems
• Meeting deadlines and quotas
• Putting out fires
• Optimizing existing systems
• Keeping customers and stakeholders satisfied

In other words, you’re in the weeds. Nose to the grindstone. Hammering away.

Essential? Absolutely.
Strategic? No, not really.

The “Up” of Strategy

Strategy, on the other hand, demands a different posture. It’s about pausing the hustle long enough to:

• Think long-term
• Evaluate what’s changing (markets, competition, technology, etc.)
• Decide what you won’t do
• Align people, resources, and systems for future success
• Make choices — bold, often uncomfortable ones — about direction

It’s about climbing the ladder to get the 30,000-foot view and asking: “Are we building the right thing, in the right way, for the right future?”

You Need Both

Let’s be clear: execution without strategy is aimless.
But strategy without execution is useless.

The real power comes when leaders and teams know how to move between both modes — operating effectively day-to-day, and regularly “looking up” to ensure they’re headed in the right direction.

Try This: “Look Up” Moment

Here’s a simple activity you can bring to your next team meeting (especially when you’re starting or even in the middle of a planning session):

Step 1: Ask everyone to physically lean back in their chair and look up for 10–15 seconds. Literally. Stretch your neck. Take a breath.

Step 2: Then ask one of these questions

• What are we missing?
• What assumptions are we operating under?
• What are we not talking about that we should be?
• What’s changed in our world since we last planned?
• Where do we want to be in 12–24 months?

You’ll be surprised how a simple posture shift of looking up opens the door to more strategic thinking.

So the next time you’re grinding through your daily to-dos, take a moment. Pause. Breathe.  Look up.  Because strategy starts with seeing beyond what’s right in front of you.

Related Articles: 

Facilitating Strategic Planning: 7 Things Most Leaders Get Wrong

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