How a different approach to annual planning helped CRV’s sales and marketing team build shared understanding, strengthen accountability and improve cross-functional collaboration.
The challenge: A strategy without shared alignment
CRV’s sales and marketing team of around 40 people had grown without a clear, shared view of what they were collectively trying to achieve.
As CRV entered the next phase of its strategy – connecting its products, services and people to deliver Operational Excellence through Exceptional Customer Experience – leadership recognised that stronger alignment was needed before the strategy could translate into everyday ways of working.
Beneath the surface, silos between functions, blame between teams, and a tendency toward operational rather than strategic thinking persisted.
The initial brief was straightforward: help the team set its goals for the year.
But early conversations revealed a more fundamental challenge.
The approach: Building understanding before making plans
In my initial conversations with Lynda Coppersmith, CRV’s National Sales and Marketing Manager, it became clear that the challenge wasn’t simply setting goals.
Before the team could plan effectively, they needed a shared understanding of what they were trying to achieve, how their different functions contributed, and what was getting in the way.
The brief shifted from setting goals to connecting the people who connect the business.
Using practical tools from the DUCTRI design thinking approach, I facilitated a process that gave everyone a voice, surfaced tensions and trade-offs, and helped the team see connections they hadn’t previously recognised.
One important insight was that consistent salesperson onboarding and development – previously viewed largely as a support activity – was actually central to delivering the team’s customer experience and growth ambitions.
We brought the insights together into a shared set of priorities, providing a stronger foundation for the team’s operational planning the following day.
Rather than starting with solutions, we first built the shared understanding needed to move forward together.
The impact: From individual responsibilities to collective ownership
The most meaningful changes showed up in how people worked together afterwards.
Managers began taking greater ownership beyond their individual responsibilities. One redesigned a core system with the sales representatives’ experience in mind rather than simply prescribing requirements. Sales team leads stepped more fully into coaching their people rather than operating as just another member of the group.
Conversations began shifting from “that’s not my problem” towards “what impact am I having on this outcome, and what can I do to help fix it?”
The shift extended beyond the immediate team.
For the first time, sales and operations held a joint planning session ahead of a major seasonal delivery involving more than a million units distributed nationally. The conversation surfaced blind spots between departments that hadn’t previously been discussed together.
The experience also influenced senior leadership. Lynda’s own manager, initially sceptical about the need for external facilitation, subsequently suggested using a facilitator for the senior leadership team’s annual planning session.
As Lynda reflected:
“You draw out stuff I didn’t even know was in my head. It was the process of creating an understanding of what’s really going on, what we need to focus on, that made the difference. We collaborate more now, think more broadly about the business, and take more personal accountability. That’s been a real shift. Working with you is a no-brainer.” – Lynda Coppersmith, National Sales and Marketing Manager, CRV
The original request was to help create a plan. The more valuable work was helping create the conditions for people to make that plan work.
Turning strategy into action
Good strategies and ideas are only the beginning. Making them work requires shared understanding, collaboration and the ability to turn intentions into meaningful action.
In Innovation in Action, we share practical approaches, real-world stories and tools to help people navigate complex challenges and implement change that sticks.