Read this if: you want to drive change in your SME or team, and you want to be sure your ambition doesn’t just sound clear, but actually delivers results — for customers, employees and your organisation.
How to run a short workshop that gets your ambitions truly clear (Or: what is it you actually want?)
There’s one slightly provocative question I ask in almost every company — and it’s rarely answered right away: “What do you really want to achieve?”. Taking it head-on is often necessary to make people think beyond the usual, surface-level answers.”
Often, there’s silence. Sometimes I get ten different answers. That’s when I know there’s a need for a deeper conversation about ambition. Some people think in numbers (like 20% growth); others think in abstractions (like more impact or agility). All valuable, but rarely a basis for real results. Ambition is rarely the problem; clarity often is.
As Carine Lucas and Peter Verhasselt write in Van Ambitie tot Adoptie – digitaal transformeren met impact: “The North Star of the digital project is a compact set of clear ambitions.”
That statement applies not only to digital transformation, but to any form of change or innovation. Without a shared direction, any plan ends up as a collection of loose initiatives — and the chance that they will ever truly shape your ambition is very small.
A short, well-facilitated workshop can be a huge lever. A short, well-facilitated workshop can be a huge lever. Not to create pretty sentences, but to have the conversation that gives direction — where teams reflect on their purpose and from there start moving together again.
Why ambition is more than an inspiring poster
Ambition is not an end goal. It’s the bridge between today and tomorrow, between the reality you work in now and the future you want to create. Yet in many organisations, ambition is reduced to a mission slide, a slogan on a wall, or a sentence everyone knows but no one feels.
Ambition is far more fundamental. As I wrote earlier in Build a company that stands firmer than the Leaning Tower of Pisa: “The foundation consists of direction, vision, goals, boundaries and measurement points.”
Ambition belongs there: not as inspiration, but as an orientation point. It determines the direction of your business, the choices you make, and the boundaries within which teams can act autonomously. Real ambition only becomes alive when teams understand it, take ownership of it, and can translate it into daily decisions.
Here is how it is different: it's about actually moving toward a goal, , instead of just knowing which way you want to go. It all starts with the executive and leadership teams. They must be able to name the ambition, understand it, and translate it into choices. Only then does ambition gain direction, and only when that direction is lived does it gain meaning. Clearly formulated ambitions are the key to a well-running company and to thoughtful, measurable investments.
Why it’s so difficult to clearly state an ambition
It seems simple: ask one question and the ambition becomes clear. In practice, people dont' often don’t talk about ambition — they prefer to talk about solutions.
1. We think in solutions, not in direction.
Immediately solving a problem is deeply ingrained in human nature: it supports our need for control, certainty and safety. So when teams are asked what they want to achieve, they often think directly in solutions — based on experience, preference, or past successes.
The result: discussions drown in ideas, tools, or projects, while the core question — what do we really want to achieve — remains untouched. Work becomes fragmented, people lose sight of the bigger goal, and efforts sometimes get wasted.
2. The instinct to solve something individually gets in the way of connecting.
Once people are convinced their idea is the best one, the conversation shifts from “what do we really want to achieve” to “how do I prove my solution works”. We start selling our solution instead of discovering together what the real goal is.
Without an explicit, shared conversation about ambition, an unspoken battle of ideas emerges — which undermines collective clarity and slows the team down.
3. The solution of the most convincing voice wins.
Often, the person who speaks most convincingly — usually an extrovert, or the manager — determines which solution is chosen. The rest of the team nods along because, well, it was discussed. But is it the best solution? Usually not, or at least not fully. It’s a compromise that only partially reflects the ambition, and often no one even notices. How could they? The ambition isn’t clear.
Important: this doesn’t mean we should stop thinking individually or offering ideas. It does mean though that, before talking about solutions, the ambition must be clear and shared. Only then does true focus emerge, the team takes collective ownership, and everyone moves in the same direction.
1 to 1.5 hours to bring the core of the ambition to the surface
It sounds almost too simple: extracting the core of your team’s ambition in 90 minutes or less. This limitation is exactly what makes it powerful — if the session is well facilitated, ... Without a facilitator, the conversation risks drifting back into solutions or generic statements.
In that short, guided time frame, something remarkable happens:
- People dare to say what they really think, instead of searching for the “right” answer.
- The conversation stays concrete and focused; teams quickly get to the core without getting lost in abstractions or solutions.
- Structure and pace create momentum: ideas get organised, linked to the ambition, and felt across the group.
Ambition is not a document written in silence. It stems from s a collective conversation that creates energy and direction. A well-facilitated session of 1 to 1.5 hours works best with 4 to 8 people who bring diverse opinions and responsibilities. That mix brings rich insights, multiple angles, and ultimately an ambition that is widely supported.
To make this possible in that timeframe, I use three simple yet powerful questions. They may look easy at first glance, but they are designed to go deeper than surface-level answers — and they reveal exactly what matters: value, ambition and momentum.
The three questions every leader should dare to ask
Whether you’re working with executives, team coaches or employees — these three questions truly get the conversation moving. The answers differ in detail, because everyone speaks from their own reality. Yet, surprisingly often, the core is the same — whether you talk to a leader or a team member.
The questions are a starting point. It’s important to probe further, ask why, and dig into what people say, so they move past their first statements and the reasoning behind them becomes visible. That creates a shared reality and ownership. For this process, I often use a whiteboard (for remote teams or digital natives) or post-its.
Question 1 — Value: Why do customers pay your invoices?
This question confronts teams with their reason for existing, not their activities. It sharpens the value from the customer’s perspective.
Common themes that emerge:
- What customers truly find valuable
- What customers expect when they pay for a product or service
- Why customers come to you and stay with you
Too often, teams answer in product terms (quality, speed, expertise), while the real value lies in the customer’s experience: calm, trust, clarity, simplicity. Bringing this to the surface creates focus on the core of your value proposition — crucial for any growth strategy or digitalisation journey.
Example:
A financial services provider thought the value of their operations lay mainly in the availability of their service. And that was certainly important, but it was also mostly an internal view. During the workshop, they realised that customers primarily look at their own experience: reliability and the speed of processing their financial flows were both critical.
Question 2 — Ambition: Place yourself two years in the future
Imagine this: you’ve had a good night’s sleep, you wake up, go through your morning routine, grab your coffee or tea, and head to work with a spring in your step. It becomes the most fantastic day. What does that day look like?
This question activates the human perspective on success. It’s inspired by the “Miracle Question” from solution-focused coaching. It’s not about targets or KPIs, but about the feeling created when everything aligns.
By activating this imagination, you quickly arrive at the ambition: what does it look like in two years? What are customers doing, what are employees doing? Ambition becomes not only a market goal but also a code of behaviour — crucial for sustainable, human-centred change.
Example:
Applied to the example, here’s what different participants might say:
- Operations Leader: Everything runs smoothly, bottlenecks are gone, and the team feels ownership of the processes.
- Sales / Account Manager: Customers get fast and reliable service, trust grows, and there’s time for new opportunities.
- CEO: Calm operations create room for strategic decisions and reinforce that value is being delivered.
- COO / Growth Lead: Operational costs decrease thanks to more efficient processes, without harming customer satisfaction; there is room for scalable growth.
- Operations employee: Work is clear and structured, letting you directly contribute to customer satisfaction and efficiency.
- Front office / Customer service:Customer questions are handled quickly and correctly, supported by systems and colleagues.
Question 3 — Momentum: What needs to happen to get there?
This question translates ambition into concrete actions. It’s not yet about solutions, but about collecting ideas: a starting point for the next step.
This question creates shared ownership over the actions needed to achieve the ambition. People propose the next steps themselves, massively increasing the odds of execution. At the same time, the sense of urgency strengthens: things need to happen.
Example:
Applied to the example, here’s a selection of ideas that might surface during the session:
- Preserve strong habits:
- Continuous monitoring of lead times and reliability in existing processes.
- Maintain communication with customers at well-functioning touchpoints.
- Change or let go:
- Eliminate or automate inefficient manual steps.
- Reduce unnecessary internal reporting or meetings that don’t add customer value.
- Replace old software or systems that create bottlenecks.
- New focus or structure:
- Introduce weekly dashboards for lead time and customer satisfaction.
- Create a new role or team that proactively identifies bottlenecks and informs customers.
- Experiment with “fast response teams” for urgent customer questions.
- Standardise processes so employees have autonomy while quality and speed remain safeguarded.
- Improve customer interaction:
- Implement feedback moments to learn where delays occur.
- Make customer communication simpler and more transparent so speed and reliability become tangible
- Growth-oriented thinking:
- Organise capacity and processes so the team can scale without extra errors or delays.
- Launch new services or products only if they fit within the efficiency and reliability standard.
- Cultural actions:
- Recognise and reward teams when they contribute to speed and reliability.
- Encourage internal knowledge sharing so best practices are widely accessible.
The example shows how the conversation about value and ambition translates into concrete actions. And the beauty is: this model is not limited to operations. It works for any team that wants direction, focus and shared ownership.
Putting this into Practice:
Applied to the example, here’s a selection of ideas that might come up during the session:
- Curate your panel well: the more diverse the perspectives, the stronger the outcome.
- Share the workshop agenda in advance so both extroverted and introverted participants can prepare their thoughts.
- Facilitate actively: stay curious about underlying thinking patterns, note everything down, and don’t dismiss anything.
- After the workshop: process the data, report back, and help the group converge toward a shared ambition.
What makes this approach different
IIn a world full of frameworks and strategy templates, this approach stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness:
- Clarity over long discussions – the core of the ambition becomes visible in an hour.
- Making value and ambition concrete – clarifying what truly matters for customers and employees, as a solid foundation for your business.
- From insight to action – creating momentum before solutions are even discussed.
- Shared ownership – everyone contributes to the image of the desired future and feels responsible for the steps.
What makes this approach special is that it not only creates clarity but also energy.
It breaks people out of their usual patterns, makes them think and act with intention, and installs a new pattern: from insight to movement.
A clearly formulated ambition is the raw material of any change.
What follows after such a workshop is renewed movement: people who know what they’re aiming for — individually and together — and why. That makes change not only easier but also more sustainable.
The power lies in the connection between thinking and doing. Ambition only becomes valuable when it becomes visible in choices, projects and behaviour.
Example:
To translate this into my own practice: in my work with companies, I ensure ambition doesn’t stay stuck in plans, but becomes visible in structure, processes, tools and behaviour. From strategic decisions to daily execution: the ambition remains the starting point that guides decisions, collaboration and development.
n this way, ambition becomes not a promise, but a working principle — the engine of sustainable evolution: improvement in processes, collaboration and results, in the short and long term.
This closes the loop: from clarity to movement, from ambition to results — and then back to ambition.
Reflection:
- Can you articulate your company’s ambition clearly?
- And would it be the same as what your employees see as the ambition?
Remember: an ambition describes the desired future state — what you truly want to achieve. A solution is just one path to get there.
The power lies not in the answer, but in the conversation that follows.
Ready to get started with your team?
Every successful change begins with three simple but often forgotten conditions: clarity of direction, trust in the process, and rhythm in execution. These are exactly the three things often missing when companies get stuck or want to accelerate change.
With the tools in this article, you can start immediately.
But if you want real speed and concrete results, it pays to have the conversation facilitated. An external facilitator keeps things sharp, reveals the essence, and ensures everyone is heard — so ambition doesn’t stay on paper but turns into action.
BAt ThriveTogether Consulting, I guide short, focused ambition workshops: practical, human-centred and directly linked to your business goals. They often kick off a larger trajectory, but they also stand perfectly on their own — no obligations, real impact.
Need a hand? Schedule a short introductory call — and discover how one hour of clarity can replace months of doubt. Contact me.
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash