How to Lead High Performing Teams Without a Strategy

How to Lead High Performing Teams Without a Strategy

As the final weeks of summer unfold, two trends bug me…

1. Spotted lanternflies have invaded our county and constantly disrupt my serene outdoor terrace.
2. Several companies have put their strategic plans on pause and disrupted their teams’ ability to add value or prioritize.

I initially wanted to find the most effective “bug spray” to fix both pesky problems. To restore my sense of order.

Then I experimented with a different point of view. What’s possible without any strategic plan?  What if, for now, our motto was “No strategy? No problem.”?

Why should you care? Because boards still expect you to perform and deliver. And, if you are unable to adapt to this level of rapid change and ambiguity, you and your teams will become vulnerable to being replaced–or displaced by (gasp!) AI.

Let’s unpack this strategic dilemma and offer some pesticide-free solutions.

I’ll start with the three most common strategy scenarios I’m seeing in the field. One might describe your situation:

Scenario A: The Strategy Stalemate.

This happens when you earnestly want to align your priorities with your organization’s goals–but the executive team is either hiding them from you or–worse–they do not exist.

Antidote: This is probably the biggest strategy challenge I’m seeing today. Ask yourself two questions: “Am I ready to have some hard conversations with our leadership team?” And, before the meeting, prepare your recommendations: “If I were to make my best guess, what would our top three priorities be?”

Once you have answered these questions, share the priorities in a SMART format with the leadership team (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound).

If you experience resistance, offer to pursue them for 90 days, then re-visit them together. It’s your best protection against a constant barrage of urgency—and it shows you’re not being seduced by shiny objects. You’re doing what you were hired to do: to think strategically, avoid shiny pennies, and stay ahead of competitors.

 Scenario B: The Profit Protector.

You want to launch some low-cost growth experiments, but you’re either fearful or unsure how to start. The team may be stuck in operator maintenance (profit protector) mode, bereft of new product and service ideas.

One of my clients, a $1.5B membership driven organization, hires great talent. They boast high team retention rates. What’s the flip side? They’re human and they strongly resist any threat to status quo. My C-level client heading the digital transformation spends more than half of her time dealing with team members’ operator-dominant mindsets.

Antidote: Gather evidence to prove the downside of postponing innovation. Your funding request should cover five basic areas: your hypothesis, funding requested, the intended learning outcomes, decision points needed for a go/no-go recommendation, and the strategic value of experimenting. Align this request with your stakeholder’s personal wins—not just the company’s strategic compass.

Michael Nichols VP of Corporate Strategy for MANN + HUMMEL, reminds us that “it’s an innovator’s job to set failure expectations early. You need to run multiple experiments at once–and remind stakeholders that you expect 90%-95% to fail.”

Afraid to go it alone? Find an external adviser to help you strengthen strategy scaffolding.

Scenario C: The AI Fear Factor.

You begin to notice teams missing important deliverables. They feel paralyzed because they think AI is coming for their jobs. Self-preservation occupies the zeitgeist. It’s evidenced by a parade of team members requesting 1:1 meetings for reassurance–even guarantees.

Antidote: You have several options here. My best clients start first with transparency. Share with your teams these key messages:

• What CAN you promise will continue?
• What can you NOT promise (such as job preservation, team expansion/contraction, regulatory changes)?
• What are you investing in their growth and upskilling–even if it means they eventually leave?

Encourage your teams to look in unexpected places for disruption. For example, Section CEO Greg Shove recently reported that “Private equity firms are buying law practices. They are forcing AI into the operations.” They are installing AI mandates. Witness how Harvey.ai is impacting traditional paralegal functions and law practices.

Instead of waiting to a surprise market entrant to ambush your business, use at least two LLMs to run Porter’s Five Forces analysis against your current model. Before you run the analysis, turn OFF any settings that allow the LLM to train on your data.

You and your teams have a right to be fearful. But that does not need to be your permanent narrative. While AI has democratized supplier and buyer bargaining power, and everyone can code, there’s also immense opportunity ahead. Startups can enter markets in less time, with less capital and infrastructure. That might apply to you, too.

 The Five Forces analysis answers critical questions, such as:

1. Where are you most exposed to AI-savvy competitors or AI agents?
2. What areas remain unique and defensible?
3. How can AI help you reimagine your go to market approach to escape the antiquated “hours for dollars” or “input measurement” pricing models?
4. What 60–90-day pilots can you deploy while maintaining your core business activity?

Need help planning some proactive moves? Here’s what I recommend:

• Incorporate these questions into your prompts.
• Run parallel queries using at least two LLMs. (I refer to this as myAI bakeoffs).
• Analyze the responses from each LLM. Keep iterating until the responses have a) been fact checked and b) align with your vision, brand and strategic intent.
• Use these outputs to kick-start your upcoming leadership discussions. Promise me you will not copy and paste their output. That is the least creative and strategic move you can make. AI lacks your tribal wisdom, stories, and core values.

When equipped with these antidotes in a strategy desert, you’ll find the resources to adapt and thrive.

No formal strategy? No problem. You’ve got three qualities that are worth more than corporate street credibility: Options, curiosity, and courage.

And please send Loudoun County (and me) a dose of courage to deal with these pesky lanternflies.

This article was written by me, and not by AI.

© 2025, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved. lisanirell.com.