Reflective Relay
If we frame strategic intent as a shared tension, and we invite teams to interpret, reframe, and critique it through structured dialogue, then strategy becomes a living narrative. More coherent, adaptive, and grounded in reality.
Most strategy fails not because it’s wrong, but because it’s unrelational. Meaning is assumed to cascade. Leaders broadcast intent, teams nod, and everyone quietly translates or resists in their own way. Reflective Relay flips this. Strategy becomes a co-authored act of interpretation, passed through multiple lenses, interrogated through tension, and reframed with lived insight. The aim is not agreement, but situated coherence.
How to use this pattern
A sequence of interpretive moves that reshape strategy as it travels:
Frame Intent as Tension, Not Solution
Leaders present strategic direction as a dilemma, not a declaration.
Use framing like: “How do we increase consistency without crushing initiative?”
Avoid fixed outcomes. Offer a stretch, not a slogan.
Invite Situated Reframing
Teams respond in their own voice:
What does this sound like in our context?
What tension do we feel that this misses?
What metaphor or story reflects our version of this?
Surface Critical Reflection
Teams share contradictions, exclusions, or gaps.
Use prompts like:
“What’s not being said?”
“What labour is being assumed here?”
“Who benefits or loses in this framing?”
Leader Reflects with Vulnerability
No defence. Just listening. Then:
“What surprised me?”
“What assumptions do I need to revisit?”
“Where is coherence forming—and where is fracture productive?”
Co-define Provisional Coherence
Instead of alignment, the group names:
shared tensions worth holding
hypotheses worth testing
areas where multiple logics can coexist
Pass the Relay Onward
Invite another team or group to run the same process. Each relay adds texture, not just feedback. Coherence builds horizontally.
Affordances
Turns strategy into shared language and shared tension
Surfaces assumptions, emotions, and consequences that top-down plans miss
If used performatively e.g. leaders listen but don’t reflect or shift
Stances
Inquirer. This stance prompts the person initiating or receiving the relay to ask "what is the core question or tension this insight addresses?" ensuring that the shared learning sparks further curiosity and exploration rather than just being a statement of fact.
Challenger. This stance encourages participants to respectfully question the framing or assumptions behind the relayed insight, ensuring it's robust and applicable to new contexts, preventing uncritical acceptance of ideas.
Synthesiser. This stance helps to connect the relayed insight with other knowledge or experiences, weaving it into a broader understanding and identifying emerging patterns across different parts of the system.
Noticer. This stance is crucial for sensing the subtle impacts of the relayed insight, observing how it resonates (or doesn't) with others, and paying attention to unspoken responses or new questions it provokes.
Facilitator. This stance guides the actual process of the relay, ensuring smooth transmission of information, creating space for discussion and clarification, and adapting the format to best suit the receiving audience.
Steward. This stance nurtures the overall health and continuity of the Reflective Relay practice, ensuring that insights are consistently shared, valued, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of the community's knowledge.
Shaper. When an insight from the relay sparks an idea for a small, tangible experiment or change in practice, this stance helps design and articulate that specific probe.
Craftsperson. This stance ensures that the insights being relayed are communicated with clarity, integrity, and contextual relevance, making them genuinely useful and actionable for the recipients.