Outcome · A question changed the direction of a programme
The one question that changed the direction of a programme.
A global consumer goods brand. All functions in one room. An agenda about what to build next – and no shared picture of where they were actually going.
The situation
The conversation stayed close to what already existed. Teams came prepared – with priorities, with lists, with opinions on what was missing.
Not because people lacked ambition. But because no one had asked them to think bigger.
The turning point
I could see the group was stuck in detail before they had agreed on direction. So I shifted the question.
The moment
What if you were free to dream? No budget. No org constraints. No timeline. Where would you actually take this?
The room changed. People stopped defending their lists and started building on each other's ideas. What had felt like a prioritisation exercise became a conversation about what they wanted to create together.
The ideas were bigger than anyone had arrived with. And they were shared.
That conversation reached leadership. And instead of continuing with the original agenda, a decision was made:
pause.
Build a proper vision for the whole programme – before deciding what to build next.
What became possible
The vision became a shared anchor. Not a document — but a reference teams could actually use to make decisions and navigate trade-offs.
Before the vision, every meeting was a negotiation. After it, teams had something to align on that belonged to everyone.
What this shows
When people are only asked what to do next, they think about what they need next.
When they're invited to imagine what's possible, they start thinking together.
A shared vision doesn't start with a strategy. It starts with the right question.